Rothesay County Championship, Division One, Kia Oval (day one)
Essex 325-6: Walter 101, Elgar 92, Allison 40; Lawes 2-64
Surrey: Yet to bat
Surrey 2pts, Essex 2pts
Paul Walter blunted Surrey’s five-pronged tempo assault for nearly 5 hours with a affected person 101 as Essex reached 325-6 after being put in on day one of their County Championship match at the Kia Oval.
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Dean Elgar, the previous South Africa Test opener, additionally batted with nice talent and dedication to hit 92 in a first-wicket stand of 183 with Walter which initially rocked Surrey again on their heels.
Surrey fought again with six wickets within the second half of the day – together with 4 inside 17 overs from the 71st
But Noah Thain, with some good photographs in his 33 not out, noticed it to stumps alongside Simon Harmer.
Walter’s dismissal at 248-3, leg-before to Sean Abbott after going through 184 balls and hitting 14 fours, was rapidly adopted by the wickets of Charlie Allison for 40, Matt Critchley for eight and Michael Pepper for 17.
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Allison was leg-before to Matt Fisher and Critchley held at the second try by Rory Burns at first slip off Tom Lawes.
Those three wickets had been all taken with the previous ball, earlier than Gus Atkinson eliminated Pepper with the second new ball.
Walter, a late developer as a cricketer, didn’t rating his maiden first-class hundred till he was 27 however now – at 31 – has matured into one of the home recreation’s most constant top-order gamers.
His sixth Championship century was accomplished simply after tea, with an off-driven 4 as Surrey belatedly launched Dan Lawrence’s off-spin, and it shouldn’t be forgotten that when Walter signed skilled phrases with Essex in 2016 at the age of twenty-two, he was seen as a bowling all-rounder who batted within the decrease order.
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Surrey’s finest probability to interrupt the Walter-Elgar partnership didn’t come till 138 runs had been on the board, however Abbott spilled a caught and bowled alternative when Walter, on 53, mishit one straight again to him.
An Oval crowd which swelled to five,700 underneath cloudless blue skies noticed Atkinson take the brand new ball in his first aggressive match since final December’s Boxing Day Ashes Test in Melbourne, his preliminary six-over spell conceding solely 18 runs.
Atkinson bowled sharply at occasions however needed to wait till his 18th over for his first wicket, a nip-backer beating Pepper’s defences after the Essex keeper had added a helpful 47 with Thain.
For the primary 24 overs, Surrey’s seamers operated as a pack from across the wicket to the 2 left-handed openers however Elgar and Walter had been greater than equal to the tactic.
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Abbott’s drop additionally meant they needed to wait till the forty seventh over for the breakthrough, which got here when Jordan Clark – from over the wicket – had Elgar caught at the wicket by Ben Foakes with one angled throughout him.
Tom Westley, again after a two-match absence with a broken finger, struggled for 27 balls over his single run earlier than bottom-edging an tried pull at Lawes into his stumps.
That was 194-2 however Walter and Allison then added 54 for the third wicket both facet of tea to frustrate Surrey additional.
Burns’ staff had been rewarded for his or her collective resolve, nonetheless, throughout a closing session that noticed them bowl themselves again right into a recreation that guarantees to be a hard-fought affair.
Report by ECB Reporters’ Network, supported by Rothesay.