Six takeaways from Surrey’s win over Warwickshire

Surrey 194 & 325 (Miles 5-91) beat Warwickshire 230 & 215 by 74 runs

Story of the game: Warwickshire took an uncontested toss and dominated the first day, bowling Surrey out and ending it 89-1. Surrey clawed things back after strong words had been said in their dressing room at the close of that first day and the match became enjoyably nip and tuck for its remainder. With 153 to win and eight wickets left, Warwickshire were on top but Sam Curran struck twice in his penultimate over – the ECB had restricted him to 30 overs in the match – and the innings folded.

Reflections:

One: Jeetan Patel was the more upbeat of the captains afterwards: “I’m not disappointed; in some ways I’m excited. We’ve come to the champion’s home ground and they’ve prepared a wicket to suit them. Surrey played some really good cricket and probably deserved that quick spell of wickets [on the last day]. But I’m really happy with the way [our]guys went about their job on a tough wicket against a very strong side who were desperate for a win.”

Two: It was a bold decision for Warwickshire to take the uncontested toss at the Kia Oval. Of the previous four occasion this has happened, three times Surrey had won by an innings, including the last time Warwickshire rocked up here; the other game was drawn. Surrey would have batted first if given the chance on a greenish pitch.

Three: There has been opprobrium, from supporters and coach Michael Di Venuto, about Surrey’s batting. But they have the most batting points in the division. No side has had more batsmen reach 50 this season; no team has a worse conversion rate of then going onto 100. “The frustrating part is seeing these guys get starts and then give their wickets away which has been a trend over the last three weeks,” rued Di Venuto, who left two of Surrey’s three centurions this season – Jacks and Patel – out of this match.

Four: Cricket talk invariably turns, at some stage, as to who will bat in the first three for England, and Ed Smith and James Taylor were both here for parts of this game. Rory Burns’ first innings duck was his first since September 2015, 105 first-class innings ago. Dom Sibley is said to be in the selectors’ thoughts, and he anchored both of his side’s innings. From his open stance he accumulated on the leg side and his rare run-scoring strokes to the off were often to the boundary. He is not an attractive batsmen – but neither is Burns nor Sir Alastair – but he has had stickability this season and lies fourth in the Division One averages behind Root, Balance and Northeast.

Five: Selector James Taylor, here on the third morning, en route to an afternoon at Lord’s, was remarking “Could really do with Dean Elgar getting out and Jamie Smith coming in.” When he eventually got his wish, Smith hit two gorgeous off side fours and then was out for 14. Then Taylor went to Lord’s to watch James Vince bat for England…

Six: The Kia Oval, as it now can be called again, is being reclaimed gradually from the ICC World Cup. Alec Stewart has his office back and no longer “has to show several passes just to get into the ground”. But thanks to the World Cup, we journos have new chairs in back row of the press box – but the one with the broken back has not been replaced. Also, rather mysteriously, the ICC left us with a blacked out window in the door to the press box for the first two days.