Zafar Ansari took four wickets in 13 balls and finished with six for 36 to bowl Surrey to their first Championship win of the season against Nottinghamshire, who forlornly chased a fourth day target of 386 at The Oval. Ansari finally has something to smile about after a nightmare nine months in which he has struggled to shake off a serious thumb injury.
Since badly dislocating the thumb on his left-hand during a Championship match against Lancashire at Old Trafford last September, the 24-year-old has missed England’s winter Test series against Pakistan, undergone two operations and reinjured the same thumb this summer. He has played only four Championship matches in 2016 but now has 13 wickets to his name added to 183 runs with one half-century.
Gareth Batty, who following the win described Ansari as “the best young spinner in the country in my opinion” declared overnight with Surrey on 244 for five, 385 ahead, and Notts were never realistically in the hunt as they lost wickets all too regularly.
Brendan Taylor’s 68 was their only innings of note. Ansari initially removed Jake Libby, Riki Wessels, Samit Patel and Zimbabwean Taylor as Notts collapsed from 119 for two in the 37th over to 124 for six in the 41st. Libby was caught at backward point before Wessels was caught behind next ball. Patel survived the hat-trick ball but perished shortly afterwards to cover and Taylor fell stumped.
Ansari wrapped up the win to put the two teams level on 72 points after eight matches in seventh and eighth positions, when he had Jake Ball lbw and Harry Gurney caught in the covers shortly before 3pm. All of this was happening while Sam Curran was completing his final A-Level exam.
At the Riverside, another left-hander prospered but this time with the bat as Keaton Jennings’ fourth Championship century of the season went a long way to turning the tables on Yorkshire during a dominant third day for a Durham side aiming to become only the second county to beat the reigning champions in the last two and a half seasons.
They recovered from 98 for three overnight in their second innings to close day three on 452 for eight, meaning a lead of 301. With the spotlight on team-mate Scott Borthwick due to his likely England recall, South African-born Jennings has gone quietly about his business and is now the leading run-scorer in either division with 702.
Jennings, who posted two hundreds in the season opener against Somerset here, added a career-best unbeaten 185 to leave Yorkshire, on course for a three-day win at the start of the day, looking ragged. He was ably supported by half-centuries for Paul Collingwood (61) and Yorkshire-born seamer Usman Arshad, who did not make it into his home county’s system as a junior growing up in Bradford.
After Jennings and Collingwood had shared 117 either side of lunch for the fifth wicket to steady Durham’s second innings, Arshad gave it impetus with some lusty striking. He hit Adam Lyth’s part-time off-spin for sixes over long-on and straight on the way to his career-best 84. Their seventh-wicket partnership amassed 156 inside 36 overs either side of tea as the champions dropped a couple of important catches.
No doubt, Yorkshire will fancy their chances of chasing a final day target, but they face a tough task given there have been plenty of signs of uneven bounce.
Leicestershire inflicted a first defeat upon Division Two leaders Essex at Chelmsford as they chased down 159 in the last 33 overs of the match. Angus Robson’s 56 was instrumental in a four-wicket win. The match between Glamorgan and Kent at Cardiff petered out to a draw, while Derbyshire are chasing a fourth day victory over Worcestershire at Derby.
Back in Division One at Old Trafford, Matthew Parkinson became the only the second English leg-spinner since 1946 to take a five-for on Championship debut during the third day between his Lancashire side and Warwickshire. Adil Rashid was the other. Lancashire will begin day four on 170 for five in their second innings, leading by 215.
On the first day of the game at Hove, the home side Sussex were bowled out for just 178, Mohammad Azharullah taking six for 68. Northamptonshire were 43 for one in reply at the close.
