12-04-2025
Pope and Sibley build Surrey's lead over Hampshire
Rothesay County Championship Division One, Kia Oval (day two)Surrey 253 & 136-1: Pope 56*, Sibley 55*; Abbott 1-26Hampshire 219: Prest 44, Gubbins 43; Worrall 3-37, Clark 3-54Surrey (4pts) lead Hampshire (3pts) by 170 runsMatch scorecard
A trio of Surrey stars part of England's past, present and possibly future put the defending champions in charge on day two against Hampshire at the Kia Worrall, who played one-day international cricket for his native Australia back in 2016, but now a naturalized Briton, again suggested he might be a shout for the winter Ashes series down under with 3-37 as the hosts bowled out Hampshire for current Test vice-captain, Ollie Pope (56 not out ), a little short of runs in his first three innings this term, struck a 67-ball half-century, while team-mate Dominic Sibley, a man of the pre-Bazball era, followed his century of the opening day with 55 not out, the pair sharing an unbroken stand of 80 before bad light brought a slightly premature close at 136-1For Hampshire, Tom Prest and Nick Gubbins both got beyond 40 without pressing on and they will see this as a chance missed on a pitch of few demons
Overnight batters Gubbins and Mark Stoneman struck a crisp boundary apiece in the opening two overs of the morning, but thereafter excessive caution rendered them all-but stroke-less against some naggingly accurate bowling from Worrall and his fellow score crept into the 80s as runs became a trickle before drying up altogether. Matthew Fisher twice whistled the ball past the flailing blade of Stoneman and pressure told as Gubbins tickled one from Dan Lawrence around the corner to Pope at leg then trapped Stoneman in front with a full delivery and when Toby Albert edged Jordan Clark to Lawrence at third slip three wickets had fallen in 47 balls for only six was the bowlers' stranglehold, when Prest flashed one over third slip's head for four it marked the first boundary for 26 emerged from lunch with a different mindset marked by four boundaries in the first nine balls, more than in the whole first Dawson though soon perished, a deserved wicket for Fisher, and skipper Ben Brown spurned a reprieve when dropped at slip by Sibley, edging the next ball to the safe hands of Ben Foakes.
At 118-6 Hampshire were looking at a sizeable first innings deficit, but Prest and New Zealander Brett Hampton played positively, the latter caressing a wide, full ball from Kemar Roach to the extra cover fence. A 50-stand was in the offing when Hampton fell for 26 made at more than a run a ball, Pope grabbing a fine low catch at slip from one which went from inside edge onto the returned to have Prest caught by Ryan Patel at short leg from a ball which flew off the meat of the bat and would have left the young batter in need of emergency dentistry had he not got his hands up in fact Surrey's lead was limited to 34 owed much to Abbott's swashbuckling 37, including a six over backward square, Lawrence ending his revelry with one which turned to bowl him through the made the breakthrough when Surrey batted a second time, trapping Rory Burns lbw, but not before the openers had added 56 with few batted with greater fluency than 24 hours earlier, though surviving a close call for a run out before moving to 50 from 90 balls with seven soon followed suit, propelled to the landmark with the aid of successive sixes off Sonny Baker, the latter stroke just clearing the fielder at wide Reporters Network supported by Rothesay
