A sparkling seam-bowling display from Surrey dismissed Warwickshire for 161 before sturdy fifties from Stuart van der Merwe and Josh Blake pushed the Three Feathers into the lead on day one of their final Second XI Championship fixture of the season.
The trio of James Taylor (4/37), Matt Dunn (3/56), and Seb Stuart-Reckling (3/35) were on song throughout the first innings, extracting appreciable movement in the air and off the deck to share all ten Warwickshire wickets.
Blake’s decision to insert their hosts on the first morning in Birmingham proved to be a fruitful one as the new-ball pairing of Taylor and Dunn struck thrice inside six overs, leaving the Bears three for 22.
Dunn found the first breakthrough, grabbing a spectacular reflex caught and bowled to dismiss ZA Malik without scoring. Taylor joined in from the other end, having Isaac Mohammed (4) caught in the slip cordon by Kieran Coyne before Dunn got NV Gorantla caught by Ollie Sykes at first slip.
Keeper K Smith and number five L Gekis then counterattacked their way to a 39-run partnership before the former was strangled down the leg side by Stuart-Reckling for 38.
Eight runs later, Warwickshire lost their fifth wicket of the morning session as MG Booth was clean-bowled by Stuart-Reckling without scoring.
Gekis, who was now joined by TO Wylie, carried on batting beautifully, and in an aggressive manner, as the Bears sixth wicket pairing took them to 115 for five by the stroke of lunch.
Warwickshire’s highest partnership of the innings – 47 runs – was broken immediately in the afternoon session when Taylor got Wylie (10) caught wonderfully by a diving Sykes at first slip.
Despite losing their sixth wicket, Gekis did not change his approach and raced to his half-century while skipper JB Lintott tried his best to stick around.
Lintott’s resistance was eventually ended on 10 as Taylor got one to nip back sharply and found the gap between Lintott’s bat and pad. Bowling in great rhythm, Taylor removed BSM Blakemore next ball and collected his fourth wicket of the innings.
Gekis, having fought brilliantly for his 71 off 88 balls, was the next to depart as he clipped Dunn straight to the waiting hands of van der Merwe at midwicket. Soon after, Stuart-Reckling snatched his third and Warwickshire’s final wicket of the innings, getting C Mullapudi caught by Tommy Ealham for two.
The Bears got off to fast start with the new Dukes, sending back both Surrey openers cheaply. Arjun Gill (6) snicked left-arm seamer Mullapudi through to the keeper after Ollie Hunt (10) was strangled down the leg off the bowling of Blakemore.
Skipper Blake, however, brought calm to the middle while Sykes reverted pressure back onto Warwickshire, smashing six boundaries in next to no time.
The powerful left-hander’s cameo was cut short for 32 off 25 balls when Faheem Basharat found his outside edge and had him caught behind.
With Surrey three for 58, left-handers Blake and van der Merwe batted with immense composure and seized control of the game, adding a terrific 105 runs together to take Surrey into the lead.
Positively for the hosts, their captain Lintott broke the big partnership, bowling his counterpart with a brilliant googly for a well-made 53, deep into the evening session.
Ealham (4*) and van der Merwe (63*), however, batted out the remaining 31 balls in the day, ensuring Surrey closed on 170 for four, leading by nine runs.
