By Mark Baldwin
Surrey needed only four overs on day three this week to complete the trouncing of Warwickshire by an innings and 97 runs at The Kia Oval and move a big step closer to successive LV= Insurance County Championship titles.
Their 22-point victory, Surrey’s eighth of the season, will push them at least eighteen points clear of second-placed Essex, even if their only rivals for the championship pennant can gain maximum bowling points and also go on to beat Middlesex at Chelmsford later in this round of matches. Both counties will then have just two games left in the campaign.
Warwickshire, who lost seventeen wickets to Surrey’s irresistible pace battery on the second day, were bowled out for 138 after resuming still 109 runs behind the 2022 champions and long-time Division One leaders at 126 for seven.
They had been asked to follow on the previous day and Dan Worrall struck with the fifth ball of the morning to remove Henry Brookes for seven, fencing to second slip, and the match was soon over.
Worrall also sent back Dan Mousley in his second over, the left-hander thin-edging to keeper Ben Foakes to depart for 61. Mousley had resisted stubbornly on the second evening but added only a single to his overnight score as Surrey closed in ruthlessly.
Victory came just fifteen minutes into the day’s play when Jordan Clark castled last man Chris Rushworth for six with the last ball of his second over.
Worrall finished with five for 25 and outstanding match figures of eight for 59, while Clark took four for 26 in Warwickshire’s second innings and five wickets overall.
Kemar Roach’s second day four for 64 did much to send Warwickshire sliding to 161 all out in their first innings, in reply to Surrey’s 396, and Tom Lawes was Surrey’s other wicket-taker in their five-pronged pace attack with two for 27 first time around.
Surrey captain Rory Burns said: “That was a great performance from us pretty much from start to finish. In particular, I don’t think I’ve ever witnessed a day like [Monday] when the wickets just kept on coming for us.
“I think we were expecting the pitch to get even better for batting as the game went on, over the four days, and having had to bat first after losing the toss. I certainly didn’t expect what happened yesterday but it’s pretty easy for me as captain when I’ve got a bowling attack as good as ours.
“It was good to have Kemar back and Dan was exceptional. He’s a real leader out there and is a brilliant bowler with lots of skills, but I thought Jordan also put in a really good performance in this match and there is a lot of excitement in this group about what is to come in the next few weeks.
“It’s been great to get back as a squad because in the past month or so we’ve been here, there and everywhere as players. Some of us have played in the Metro Bank One-Day Cup but we’ve had a lot of players away elsewhere and so we were buzzing to be back together again in the dressing room.
“Essex are a very good side and we expect them to do well [in their game against Middlesex] over the next few days. It could be a tight race to the finish between them and us but we simply have to concentrate on what we do and the desire is certainly there in our dressing room. We love playing four-day cricket for Surrey.”
“We were out-bowled and out-batted on a really good cricket wicket on which 250 to 300 was probably about par,” Warwickshire first-team coach Mark Robinson said. “They got virtually 400 and then we just kept getting out and yesterday was a day we didn’t want. This morning was just an inevitability, after what happened [Monday].
“Dan Worrall was outstanding throughout the match and Jordan Clark too bowled extremely well but we came into this match a little bit light due to injuries and unavailability. Kraigg Brathwaite only arrived [from the West Indies} the day before this game, Ed Barnard had never batted at No 3 before and Chris Benjamin has not had that much cricket in this format recently, but none of that is an excuse because we should be better than we have been. We still should have had more quality as a team than we showed here.”
