For a batting line-up as strong as Surrey’s – even without you-know-who – knocking off 151 with nine wickets in hand against an attack without an international, on a pitch without demons, should not have posed too many problems on a fair final day in south-east London. But they required a stylish innings of 60 off 51 balls from Jason Roy, batting at No7, to see them home.
Beckenham is an idyllic urban outground; club staff wander round, the chirps of the fielders are audible from the boundary and, on a sunny day, floppy hats cover grey hair beyond it. Alongside Crystal Palace’s training ground, there is a building site next door, giving the peaceful cricket a backdrop of hammer against slab and the siren of reversing machinery. This was the first County Championship match here since 2009 and one cannot help but wonder what the mooted downsizing of the championship– set to be introduced in 2017 – will mean for such atmospheric outposts of the county game.
Kent are said to be pleased with ticket sales for this match but many here had travelled across London in the hope of seeing Kumar Sangakkara carry the visitors home. Roy was left to entertain, though, as Darren Stevens and Matt Coles produced fine early spells to reduce Surrey to 75 for four. First, Rory Burns was unlucky to play on, his soft hands in defence to Stevens seeing the ball spin back as he tried to kick it away; then Sangakkara was trapped on his crease by a full, straight Coles delivery, before nightwatchman Matt Dunn lofted Stevens to Rob Key at mid-on.
Steven Davies has been in fluent form this season, and while reining in his strokeplay in search of singles as he rebuilt with Dom Sibley, still found time to slash Stevens behind point and through cover for boundaries. When Sibley edged to slip off Ivan Thomas, Surrey were five down and 87 shy of their target.
Enter Roy. It was he and Davies who ignited the spectacular chase in Surrey’s first win of the season against Leicestershire but here things were far less fluent at first. Roy almost played his first ball on when attempting to leave, and twice edged through the slips – once off Adam Riley, once off Coles – before lunch. After Zafar Ansari and Gareth Batty shared seven wickets on Tuesday, Riley was a disappointment. He or Ansari are in the frame to tour the UAE with England later this year but he was unable to exploit occasional turn and uneven bounce, or attacking fields from Sam Northeast, and conceded 69 runs from his 16 overs.
With Roy in the mood, the game accelerated after the break. Riley had Davies cutting loosely to slip, before Gary Wilson had a waft and was caught behind still 18 short of the target, with only Tom Curran and an injured Luke Fletcher to come. But at the other end Roy hit 40 from 28 post-lunch balls, including seven boundaries. Coles, who bowled impressively and had a couple of decent lbw shouts against the England international, was the bowler for five of them, spectacularly slapped low down the ground with a stroke equal measures tennis forehand and baseball swipe, and sent through midwicket for the winning runs, with Roy swivelling on his front leg.
Batty was delighted with Roy’s knock, his side’s first 50 of the match: “We’ve shown we’re prepared to scrap and fight for an ugly win,” the Surrey captain said. “Jason will take the accolades but there are 11 guys who’ve all contributed to a very hard fought win. Cricket is about longevity and sometimes you’ve got to find your way of playing and going about your business. Jason is starting to do that consistently and was perhaps the only person in this match who ever really looked in.”
Meanwhile, Kevin Pietersen has confirmed that he will be returning for Surrey’s Championship match against Lancashire at The Oval on Sunday.
