Will MacPherson at Lord’s.
Since tea, not much has really happened. Trott and Laurie Evans have quietly accumulated, while wicketman Steven Finn has a rest. James Harris hit Trott on the helmet and there’s been plenty of short stuff for the former England man. They’re 99-3 and, as I type, Finn is making a long-awaited return.
Graham Hardcastle at the Oval.
That bad light has come slightly earlier than I expected. The umpires got out to the middle and decided that the floodlights had taken over from natural light.
Just as I was about to press send on this blog, however, there is better news. They are back out in the middle with the players following. We have lost five overs, so 21 to bowl.
Graham Hardcastle at the Oval.
Lancashire will be the happier of the two dressing rooms at tea following a shortened first session of this match having removed Rory Burns and Kumar Sangakkara to leave the Surrey score at 49-2 from 25 overs, with Tom Bailey and Jordan Clark taking the wickets.
Lancashire’s seamers have been tidy enough without looking over threatening, but they were gifted the wicket of Sangakkara, who was drawn into pulling at Clark with the first ball of the last over before tea and miscued him to a tumbling James Faulkner at long-leg. Zafar Ansari is 24 not out and Kevin Pietersen unbeaten on one. We have 26 more overs to be bowled, but I’d be amazed if we see all of those given the overcast conditions and with the floodlights being on since pretty much the start of play. Surely, bad light will come into play at some point.
Will MacPherson at Lord’s.
It’s gone a bit dark so we’ve taken tea three balls early. It was very gloomy all of a sudden, but the lights aren’t on. No more wickets, just a couple of customary dabs off the hip from Trott, as well as a lovely cover drive. Finn’s first spell was really excellent – 10-4-31-3, with two more drops, a little barny with Javid and the umpire and plenty of bats beaten. He’ll be back straight after the break no doubt.
Will MacPherson at Lord’s.
And, almost straight away, another wicket. It’s the same combo – c Robson b Finn as the bowler gets his revenge. Thinking he should have had Javid caught behind earlier, Finn forces him to fend to short leg where Robson dives forward brilliantly to take the catch. He really enjoyed that one, unsurprisingly. 56-3 and Warwickshire in a bit of trouble.
Will MacPherson at Lord’s.
Middlesex have their second and we’ve had a bit of drama here. On 16, Ateeq Javid appeared to edge Finn through to keeper Simpson, but umpire O’Shaughnessy’s finger did not go up and the batsman stood his ground as the Middlesex players celebrated. Nothing doing and a disbelieving Middlesex mob had to return to their positions wicketless. Finn was the slowest to do so and seemed to have a few words for just about everyone as he dragged his feet back. Might hear a little more about that, one senses.
Anyway, couple of overs on and Webb has fended him to Sam Robson under the lid at short leg. It was short and quick and appeared to take the glove or bat handle. Webb – on Championship debut - had played a pair of lovely drives through mid-off and down the ground but had to go and has been replaced by one IJL Trott. Always a pleasure, never a chore, Trotty.
Graham Hardcastle at the Oval.
Tom Bailey has just picked up Lancashire’s first wicket, that of Rory Burns caught behind as he fished outside off-stump. Surrey are 26-1 in the 11th over. Bailey has built pressure nicely, with his first four overs all maidens. We are playing under floodlights at present. Prior to that wicket, there had been few alarms for Burns and Zafar Ansari aside from a few plays and misses.
We are due to have tea at 4.40pm, which will be approximately halfway through the allotted 51 overs. Kumar Sangakkara is the new man at the crease.
Will MacPherson at Lord’s.
So we’ve had half an hour’s play here and Warwickshire have just lost their first wicket as captain Varun Chopra was caught by a diving Ollie Rayner at second slip for 14. They are 37-1. Ateeq Javid has opened with Chopra and was dropped on four off Steven Finn by Neil Dexter at third slip. Toughish chance but should have been taken. Both batsmen had leaned into a nice cover drive each. In the last post I said I didn’t know why Westwood was out, but it’s because he’s injured. The new man is his replacement Jonathon (with two “O”s, not two “A”s) Webb. He got a beauty from Finn first up that beat the bat. The cordon is now five strong.
Since we last spoke we’ve had a tour group of teenagers from Ohio in the media centre, which was great fun. They were utterly flummoxed by just about all things cricket, with the maiden over and the both-teams-wear-white concepts proving particularly hard to fathom. They were impressed by the tales of the Lord’s teas, mind.
Graham Hardcastle at the Oval.
Lancashire have won the toss and and will bowl first. You won’t see that call made too often on this ground, but it is very overcast. It should be an interesting few hours. With Gary Wilson playing for Ireland this week, Ben Foakes is debuting for Surrey behind the stumps. As previously mentioned, Australian all-rounder James Faulkner debuts for Lancashire and comes in for Arron Lilley, the off-spinner who took five wickets and hit a half-century in their most recent win against Derbyshire.
Will MacPherson at Lord’s.
Sensational stuff here – toss delayed as the ground staff cleared off the last of the water. When it eventually happened at 2.40, Middlesex won it and James Franklin chose to field. Starting at 3pm as advertised – the pitch is a bit green and there’s no prospect of the clouds parting any time soon. Messrs Finn, Harris and Roland-Jones will be excited.
Jonathon Webb in for Warwickshire to open in place of Ian Westwood, and to be honest I’m not quite sure why. For Middlesex, Nick Gubbins is a bit unlucky to miss out I reckon, but Eoin Morgan had to come in for someone. After his Ferrari-smashing antics on Friday night, Dawid Malan still not quite ready for the Champo, it seems. Nice problems for Middlesex to have, these.
Excited to be able to tell you about some cricket shortly.
And good news too from Graham Hardcastle at the Oval.
We have good news. The rain has stopped and there will be 51 overs left in the day from 3pm.
Will MacPherson at Lord’s.
PLAY KLAXON. Weather permitting, toss at 2.30, play at 3. We’ll have 51 overs today. The groundsmen have downed teas and upped tools to get the covers off, and the Middlesex boys are warming up on the Nursery. It’s brighter and dry, but it’s mighty cold.
Graham Hardcastle at the Oval.
As the mopping up process gets underway at the Oval, I have just been looking back at the scorecard from Surrey’s last home Championship match against Lancashire, at Guildford in 2012.
It was a rain-affected Division Two draw lit up by a blistering 234 not out off 190 balls from Kevin Pietersen, who took a particular liking to Simon Kerrigan and hit the majority of his eight sixes off the left-arm spinner. Kerrigan finished with 1-152 from 23 overs a year out from his forgettable Test debut here.
I’m interested to see how Kerrigan bowls against Pietersen this week if he gets the chance to. He has made an encouraging start to 2015, including a four-wicket haul in the second innings of last week’s win over Derbyshire at Southport, and the Lancashire camp are confident he will relish the challenge.
Tom Smith, talking to the Manchester Evening News in the build-up to this match, said: “Keggsy is very strong mentally. He knows his game and knows what he wants to do. That day at Guildford, KP played one of the most incredible innings. He is a great player who has scored runs all over the world, and it was just one of those days.
“Keggsy almost got him out first ball. KP edged him just wide of first slip. If that had gone to hand, it would have been a different story. It wasn’t just Keggsy who suffered, I can assure you of that. Some of my deliveries disappeared out of Guildford that day! Keggsy is strong enough to come back from that. He knows how good a bowler he is, as do we, and we back him 100%.”
Will MacPherson at Lord’s.
Good news! Sort of. At half one, the umps came out to have a look and, with it much brighter and the rain stopped, called Mick Hunt and his lads to remove the covers. They started to do that when the rain returned, albeit very lightly. They are doing a further inspection at 2pm, but there is optimism: the Middlesex players are crossing the ground for a warm-up. The hope would be for cricket in an hour or so. I think, even as I type, that that new band of rain has passed. Much, much lighter again, and getting towards the playable stage. The drainage here is famously good, too.
There’s been a series of entertaining Lord’s tours passing through the media centre as we await play. Some lovely anecdotes and stats courtesy of the guides but, strangely, I think I might be appearing in a few tourists’ photo albums – or on Facebook profiles as is the way these days. Been papped, haven’t I.
Will MacPherson at a watery Lord’s.
There had been a good deal of optimism that we could have some play by about 1.30 here. The skies had lightened and the rain abated. But it’s back, on both counts. Dark, dank and damp once more. The rain is as heavy as it’s been since I arrived and the pavilion is barely visible from the media centre. Minging, as they say. My guess would be no toss or inspection for at least an hour.
Graham Hardcastle at the Oval.
It’s a dismal scene at the Oval, where it’s still raining and an early lunch has been called for 12.30pm. All the training equipment is set up for the players, foam stumps, cones, five-a-side football nets, the lot. Unfortunately, I can’t see them being used for a while.
It’s pretty difficult to assess the severity of the rain from inside the press box at the Oval due to the tinted glass. I walked outside 10 minutes or so ago and it wasn’t too heavy, but one thing I say is that there’s a heck of a lot of water on the covers which stretch right across the width of the outfield.
Will MacPherson checks in from Lord’s.
I apologise for telling you to watch the Test match; it seems I set the procession ball rolling. I trust you’ve all appropriately averted your eyes.
Anyway, news from Lord’s: we’re having an early lunch at 12.30. The umpires didn’t even bother coming to the square to do the inspection - they called it as they saw it from the comfort of the pavilion. It’s still dark, it’s still dank and it’s still damp. Hopefully, though, we should be ready for some cricket around about the 1.15pm BST mark. That’s actually what that wise old sage the press box steward guestimated when I arrived this morning. Warwickshire’s players are currently milling across the outfield preparing for the famously fine Lord’s feed. There are a few more spectators here now, but not many.
It’s not supposed to rain this afternoon. Here’s hoping.
The covers are on at the Oval, writes Graham Hardcastle.
I’d be surprised if we see any play before lunch. It seems to me as though the rain is not that heavy at the moment, but the ground staff are battening down the hatches. I hope we don’t get the weather they are expecting us to get.
Will MacPherson at Lord’s.
Morning all from a very mizzly Lord’s. It’s fair to say that this a far cry from the scene of six days ago, when the latest – and one of the finest – Peoples’ Monday enraptured the 20,000-odd who were here. There’s basically no one here right now – a few hardy souls are braving it atop the pavilion, and I can see six people in the Allen Stand. With good reason, too. It’s wet and damp, and the covers are still on. It’s dark, as well. The covers came off at 10.30ish before being whisked back on. It’s not really raining, it’s just wet – you know? I imagine this is what appears in Australian minds when they think of British weather.
We have a delayed start and just had an 11 o’clock inspection. Mick Hunt and his team – who produced such a belter last week – joined umpires O’Shaughnessy and Bodenham out in the middle for a five-minute meeting of minds – lots of crossed arms and looking around involved - and settled on another meeting at 11.45. It’s annoying, but it’s fair. Dark and damp really not a great combo.
Team news-wise, looks like Eoin Morgan is back for the hosts, in place of Nick Gubbins. Joe Burns has been shifted up from four to open, so Morgan will slot into the middle order. Warwickshire lost a bum-squeaker to Sussex down at Hove last week but have kept faith with the same XI.
So, I’ll let you know what happens at 11.45. I’m excited and you should be too. Contain that excitement by watching the Test match.
Preamble
Good morning and welcome to the county blog from myself Graham Hardcastle at the Oval for the top of the table Division Two meeting between Surrey and Lancashire. Unfortunately, it is currently raining here.
We also have Will Macpherson at Lord’s, where Middlesex host Warwickshire in Division One. A win for second-placed Middlesex would be their fourth from six and leapfrog them above Durham, who have already played six and have a week away from four-day action.
Elsewhere in Division One, Hampshire host Worcestershire at Southampton, while struggling Nottinghamshire play Sussex at Trent Bridge tomorrow.
There are three other matches in Division Two starting today. Derbyshire face Gloucestershire at Derby, Essex host Leicestershire at Chelmsford and Glamorgan and Northants meet at Cardiff.
Back at the Oval, this is Lancashire’s first visit here in seven years. They arrive with a 32-point lead having won four out of their six matches, including beating Derbyshire at Southport last week. They hand a Championship debut to Australian all-rounder James Faulkner, who featured in Friday’s T20 Blast defeat at Derby but gets down to the serious business of trying to advance his game against the red ball as he looks to add to his one Test cap, against England here in 2013. New team-mate Simon Kerrigan also remembers that match well!
A draw would not be a bad result by any means for them against a Surrey side including an upstart called Kevin Pietersen following three weeks out with a calf injury. Surrey beat Kent at Beckenham last week.
