Surrey Second XI put in a commanding performance against their Essex counterparts on Day one at the LSE Sportsground in New Malden.
Essex won the toss and elected to bat first on a decent looking wicket, opening batters Pepper and Rymell got the visitors off to a solid start before Nathan Barnwell and Justin Broad picked up a brace of wickets each to remove the top four and reduce Essex to 81-4.
The spin of Daniel Moriarty and the seam of Tom Lawes then did the damage to the middle and lower order. Moriarty’s wily left arm spin was too canny for the Essex batters, three times they perished trying to smear him to the deep only for Surrey to hold on to the steepling catches. The pick of Moriarty’s wickets was an over the wicket dismissal of Ben Allison, the ball looping, gripping in the wicket and turning just enough to take the edge, Cameron Steel holding a sharp chance at slip, one of the three catches for Steel on Day one. Moriarty finishing with stand-out figures of 4-40 but it was a team bowling performance with the rest of the wickets shared around the seam unit.
To bowl Essex out inside the first day was very pleasing for Surrey, and to reach the close on 97-3, trailing by 91 runs with seven first innings wickets in hand constitutes a strong start to the match. They will be looking to capitalise on this position by batting long and deep on Day two to try and put the game out of Essex’s reach. Justin Broad and Tom Lawes will start with willow in hand at 11am on Tuesday.
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