It is a funny old game. The last time Kevin Pietersen batted, he hit 36 fours and 15 sixes off 396 balls in scoring 355 runs against Leicestershire here in early May. Having recovered from a calf injury, he strode to the crease on Sunday and made two off three, edging a beauty from Kyle Jarvis to first slip.
Pietersen could do little about his dismissal during a day badly affected by weather. Three balls into the evening, he was undone by a rising delivery which left him off the pitch and was comfortably taken by Paul Horton, leaving Surrey at 52 for three in the 26th over.
It came as part of an extremely fruitful nine-ball spell for the Division Two leaders either side of tea as some tight bowling from Tom Bailey, the debutant James Faulkner and Jordan Clark forced Kumar Sangakkara into a top-edged pull at the latter.
This was a tricky couple of sessions for Surrey, whose top order struggled in swinging conditions having been invited to bat from 3pm, although the fifth-wicket pair Steven Davies and Jason Roy rescued them by sharing an unbroken 71 in 12.3 overs.
Lancashire recovered from the former Zimbabwe Test bowler Jarvis conceding 11 runs in the second over of the match to restrict their second-placed hosts to a run rate of less than two runs per over before tea. The opener Rory Burns, stuck on the crease, was caught behind playing away from his body at Bailey, who had bowled four successive maidens with the new ball.
To get Pietersen, who is likely to play one more Championship match against Leicestershire before fulfilling his Caribbean Premier League contract with St Lucia, so cheaply would have been a huge relief to Lancashire for a number of reasons, not least that his last innings was such a big one.
The last time they visited Surrey for a Championship match was in 2012 when, at Guildford, he ripped them apart. He scored 234 not out off 190 balls, and took a particular liking to Simon Kerrigan. The majority of Pietersen’s eight sixes came off the left-arm spinner, who was to make his only Test appearance on this ground a little over 12 months later.
Lancashire’s success did not end at Pietersen’s dismissal. They also got Zafar Ansari caught at first slip for 37 as Surrey fell to 74 for four in the 34th. Steven Davies then took Jarvis for four successive boundaries in the 36th over, hitting two through the covers and two to third-man, taking the score to within touching distance of 150. This, however, was just the Red Roses’ day and one that Pietersen will want to forget.
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