Rothesay County Championship - Day 4: Surrey 421 & 259/5dec drew with Hampshire 333 & 101/2

Surrey 15pts, Hampshire 13pts

Mark Baldwin, ECB Reporters Network, supported by Rothesay

Dan Lawrence added a dismissive 64-ball 101 to his first innings 218 from 190 balls but not even his batting heroics could prevent Surrey’s weather-hit match against Hampshire at the Kia Oval from being drawn.

In truth, with 92 overs lost in all to bad weather over the first three days, it was always going to be difficult for Surrey to force Rothesay County Championship victory after starting the final day 145 runs ahead on 57 for two in their second innings.

But at least Lawrence’s remarkable hundred, which featured five sixes and seven fours, plus a fine unbeaten 105 by Dom Sibley, gave them a chance to declare at 259 for five at lunch to leave Hampshire a fourth innings target of 348 in 64 overs.

They finished on 101 for two, content to bat out time after a new burst of 6-4-10-2 by Reece Topley left them wobbling on 19 for two.

Ali Orr and Jake Lehmann, though, then stayed together for 34 overs either side of tea to put on 82 for Hampshire’s third wicket. Opener Orr ended 53 not out from 121 balls and Lehmann an unbeaten 26 from 103, with hands shaken at 5pm with 20 overs remaining unbowled.

Surrey thought they might have had Lehmann leg-before on 2 when off spinner Will Jacks slid one on with the arm into the left-hander’s pads from around the wicket, but the Australian survived.

And the only other scares came when Lehmann, on 6, edged Jordan Clark over Rory Burns’ hands at first slip when he drove flat-footedly at the seamer and just before tea Tom Curran swung a full ball into Orr’s pads but did not win the appeal.

Lawrence became only the second player in championship history to score both a double hundred and hundred at better than a run a ball in the same game, following Graeme Hick for Worcestershire against Glamorgan at Abergavenny in 1990.

He is also only just the third Surrey batsman, after Mark Ramprakash in 2010 and Scott Newman in 2005, to hit a double hundred and hundred in the same first-class match.

Lawrence’s thrilling assault helped Surrey to rack up 202 runs in 32 overs during a morning session in which Hampshire’s only focus was to get their over rate up into positive territory – so as to avoid any points deduction – while also trying their best to stem the scoring rate.

Resuming on 57 for two, Surrey lost nightwatchman Matt Fisher for 12 when he hit Felix Organ’s off spin straight to short mid wicket and Lawrence, joining Sibley, was immediately into his stride.

Unquestionably in prime form after his magnificent first innings 218, and the unbeaten 94 he scored in Surrey’s narrow Vitality Blast defeat against Hampshire last Friday evening, Lawrence took just 35 balls to reach his half-century.

Organ, as in Surrey’s first innings, suffered at his hands with several sixes disappearing over the legside boundary but it was James Fuller’s fast-medium which brought the most extraordinary of Lawrence’s stream of sweetly-struck strokes.

Crouching down on to one knee, Lawrence simply flicked a ball that was at least a couple of feet outside his off stump to deep square leg for another six. It took him to 88 and, by then, Hampshire’s bowlers were finding it almost impossible to bowl to him.

After he fell to Delano Potgieter, after 21 overs of mayhem, Ollie Pope was caught on the deep mid wicket ropes for a single and it was Sam Curran who stayed with Sibley until he completed his own hundred with perhaps the best two shots of his entire innings.

In the penultimate over before lunch Sibley pulled Potgieter for six to go to 96 and then, next ball, drove him powerfully through cover to beat two fielders patrolling the long boundary side of the ground. Curran by then had also pulled Potgieter for six.

Rothesay County Championship - Day 3: Surrey 421 & 57 for 2, Hampshire 333. Surrey lead by 145 runs

Bruce Talbot, ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay

South African Delano Potgieter led a determined rearguard by Hampshire’s lower order to frustrate Surrey on day 3 of their Rothesay County Championship match at the Kia Oval.

The 29-year-old came in when skipper Ben Brown was sixth out and bottom of the table Hampshire still needed 99 runs to avoid the follow-on.

Potgeiter played and missed regularly but dug in to add 52 with Jake Lehmann, 43 for the ninth wicket with James Fuller and then 48 with No.11 Kyle Abbott to help Hampshire to 333 and the unexpected bonus of two batting points, with Potgeiter contributing a highly valuable 84 not out off 171 balls.

Surrey had 16 overs in their second innings before the close and reached 57 for two, losing their out of form skipper Rory Burns (10) when he unluckily played on to Abbott and lost his middle stump before Will Jacks was well caught low down in his follow through by Fuller off a leading edge.

There is rain forecast on the final day but Surrey will feel there is enough time to put Hampshire under pressure in the fourth innings.

Jordan Clark took 4 for 64 and Matthew Fisher, who was named in England’s initial 15-man squad for the first Test last week, enhanced his chances of playing in the second match on his home ground next Wednesday with three wickets at sustained pace. 

Jacks took two wickets but the absence of Indian leg-spinner Rahul Charhar, whose arrival has been delayed by visa issues, was felt when Surrey were trying to winkle out Hampshire’s tail.

Surrey were frustrated by the weather too. There were only 24.4 overs on the second day when bowling conditions were ideal and just 6.5 were possible before 12.45pm today because of two downpours, meaning a total of 92 overs have been lost so far in the match.

In that brief passage of play nightwatchman Baker edged Reece Topley to second slip and either side of lunch Clark picked up two wickets. Tom Prest was caught at slip withdrawing the bat and skipper Ben Brown lost his leg stump to a ball angled in from wide of the crease. 

Having reached a 75-ball fifty Lehmann’s next 19 runs came off 64 deliveries while Potgeiter needed treatment after being struck on the chest by Clark’s lifter early in his innings.

But their seventh-wicket stand used up 23 overs and it took a brilliant catch by Topley, diving to his weaker right-hand side at backward point, to end Lehmann’s four-hour vigil and give Fisher a third wicket.

When Felix Organ shuffled across his crease to Clark Hampshire still needed 38 to avoid the follow-on, but Potgieter got some excellent support from the tail.

He drove Will Jacks over long-on for six to save the follow-on and although James Fuller was stumped when he tried to loft Jacks over the top the ninth-wicket pair added a precious 43.

The occasional delivery was still bouncing disconcertingly but there was little sideways movement and even with the new ball Surrey struggled to break the last-wicket stand. 

Finally, Abbott was run out by Dan Lawrence’s throw from cover but Hampshire’s recovery was complete.

Rothesay County Championship - Day 2: Surrey 421, Hampshire 122 for 3. Surrey lead by 299 runs

Bruce Talbot, ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay

Surrey’s hopes of building on an impressive first day’s work against Hampshire were thwarted by the rain at The Kia Oval.

Only 24.4 overs across two periods of play were possible on day two in the Rothesay County Championship which ended with Hampshire 122 for 3 in reply to Surrey’s 421, trailing by 299.

Play got underway at 1.45pm and the thousands of youngsters visiting the ground as part of Surrey’s popular Schools Day did get to cheer two wickets in the 59 minutes that were possible.

When they returned for a further 11.2 overs at 6pm Nick Gubbins brought up his third fifty of the summer but fell to Jordan Clark for 51, but Jake Lehmann and nightwatchman Sonny Baker got through to stumps in the best batting conditions of the day.

The highlight of the first mini-session was some fine bowling by Matt Fisher, who picked up Toby Albert and Ali Orr in an impressive spell before the rain returned.

Hampshire had resumed on 17 for 0 but batting was a hazardous occupation with lavish sideways movement and the floodlights on and Fisher, from the Vauxhall End, took full advantage.

After taking the total to 30, Albert (16) had little chance keeping out a good-length ball which pitched on middle and jagged away to hit the top of his off stump.

Orr, making his first Championship appearance of the season, was then unsettled by a delivery that swung back sharply from Fisher and a thick inside edge looped up to mid-on where Tom Curran took an easy catch.

When play resumed more than three hours later Gubbins and Lehmann extended their third-wicket stand to 58 and played positively.

Gubbins loves batting at The Kia Oval and lodged his eighth fifty there, three of which he has converted into a hundred.

But any hope of making it four ended with the next ball which Clark speared into his pads to win an lbw verdict and earn Surrey a first bowling bonus point.

Bottom of the table Hampshire still need 150 to avoid the follow-on and Surrey will be encouraged by a much drier forecast for the last two days as they look for their second Championship win of the season.

No interview after day two.

Surrey v Hampshire – Day One: Surrey 421 all out v Hampshire 17/0

Mark Baldwin, ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay

Dan Lawrence scored an exhilarating maiden double hundred as Surrey, put in by Hampshire, took early control of their Rothesay County Championship meeting at the Kia Oval.

Lawrence’s 218 from only 190 balls, in Surrey’s 421 all out, featured five sixes and 31 fours and his strokeplay was a magnificent mix of touch and power.

At stumps Hampshire were 17 without loss in reply, from 5.2 overs, grateful that a further scheduled 5.4 overs were lost to bad light.

The partnership of 255 in just 37 overs between Lawrence and Ollie Pope, taking the game away from a wilting attack, was a Surrey fourth wicket first-class record against Hampshire.

Pope made an excellent 76, from 103 balls and with 12 fours, before being suckered into a hook at Sonny Baker, bowling a spell of short stuff from around the wicket, and gloving through to keeper Ben Brown.

Sam Curran briefly flickered with four fours in 20 before being caught in the deep off Felix Organ.

Lawrence reached his 100 from 99 balls, with a swept four in Organ’s second spell, and received his county cap on the outfield at the tea interval from Surrey director of cricket Alec Stewart, in front of his teammates.

At the time he was on 150 not out, from 139 balls, and it was important for Surrey that Lawrence continued to bat on beyond his double hundred after Pope’s dismissal was followed by the exits of both Curran brothers – with Tom leg-before to Delano Potgieter for just one.

Indeed, Surrey’s innings fell away somewhat as none of the lower order could stay with Lawrence for long and he was eventually ninth out, caught at mid on trying to hit Kyle Abbott over the top.

By then Lawrence had also lost Jordan Clark (8) to the second new ball, which was taken at 409 for six, and Abbott then quickly removed Matt Fisher, also caught behind for a duck, later in the same over. The innings ended when last man Reece Topley was held at third slip off Abbott.

Overall, however, it was rich entertainment for an opening day crowd of almost 5,000 that included a post-lunch influx of more than 250 ticket-holders from England’s finished Test against New Zealand at Lord’s, who all gained entry by paying just £5 alongside the presentation of their Test match tickets.

Put in on a vivid green, well-grassed surface, Surrey’s top order initially had to fight hard against a Hampshire seam attack led by the ever-skilful veteran Abbott and boosted by the release of Sonny Baker from England’s Test squad.

It was the introduction of the relatively unheralded Potgieter, however, which brought Hampshire almost immediate reward when he nipped one through Rory Burns’ defences with his second ball to bowl Surrey’s captain for 14.

Potgieter, a 29-year-old South African seamer, had replaced Baker at the Vauxhall End after a four-over new ball burst by the young paceman, and he struck again in his fifth over when a distraught Will Jacks sliced a wide and very full delivery to point off the bottom corner of his bat.

Jacks made only 10 in his first red ball innings of the season, but Lawrence then helped Dom Sibley to add a further 45 for the third wicket either side of lunch.

James Fuller ended Sibley’s 102-ball vigil, leg before for 39 to the last ball of the 32^nd over, before Lawrence and Pope thrillingly seized the day for Surrey.