Kyle Jarvis claimed his best ever match figures (11-119) in first-class cricket to help Lancashire record an empathic innings and 96-run victory over Surrey inside three days to send them top of Division One of the Specsavers County Championship.
The Zimbabwean fast bowler, who claimed his best figures in a Lancashire shirt in Surrey's first innings (6-70) took another five wickets (5-49) in the second, as the visitors were bowled out for 107 on Day Three, suffering their third defeat of the season.
Lancashire, meanwhile, recorded their third victory in five matches, with all three wins coming at Old Trafford. It is the first time since 1952 that Lancashire have won all three of their opening four-day matches at home, sending them top of the table, ahead of Warwickshire by 18 points.
A terrific last-wicket partnership between Jarvis (35) and Simon Kerrigan (32*) worth 63 runs pushed Lancashire to 394 all out on the third morning, before Jarvis and Lancashire ripped through Surrey, who were bowled out for 107 in their second innings inside 38 overs. Surrey's capitulation saw the visitors lose their final seven wickets for 45 runs, as the Division Two champions were beaten in little more than seven sessions.
Surrey started their second innings without Rory Burns, who made 92 in Surrey's disappointing first innings, after the opening batsman suffered a minor concussion while fielding. Tom Curran (53) stepped up to the mark and opened for the visitors, having never batted higher than seven in a Championship match before. He made a valiant half-century, but was the final Surrey wicket to fall the ball after reaching his fifty, as Lancashire completed a huge victory.
Lancashire started Day Three needing to score eight runs in two overs to secure a fourth batting point, a task that they made light work of as Kerrigan flicked a boundary down to fine leg to take the home side to 351/9 at the start of the 110th over. Boundaries continued to flood in for Lancashire, much to the disgust of Surrey, who had fought back well in the evening session of the previous day.
Textbook strokes from the Lancashire tail-end batsmen helped the Red Rose county to record a fifty partnership in only 63 balls, adding 52 runs in 58 deliveries before Lancashire were bowled out for 394. Kerrigan has now been involved in three last-wicket stands to have reached fifty runs or more against Surrey in as many attempts, after sharing fifty partnerships with Jarvis at The Oval at James Anderson at Old Trafford last season.
Lancashire's number eleven was unbeaten on 32 when Jarvis departed to Meaker for 35, with the Surrey paceman collecting figures of 4-78 in his first appearance of the season. Having added crucial runs inside the first hour of the day in entertaining fashion, Jarvis then came to the party with his bowling, as utter carnage ensued either side of lunch.
Curran opened the batting for Surrey for the first time in four-day cricket, stepping in for Burns, but
Tom Bailey and Jarvis were causing the 21-year-old and Arun Harinath (16) all sorts of problems. Repeating his early scalp from the first innings, Bailey forced Harinath to edge behind to Alex Davies, as Surrey lost their first wicket at 27/1.
Starting their second innings already one wicket down, Surrey needed a master of his art to come to the crease and deliver a mammoth innings. It is fair to say that there was a lot of pressure on the shoulders of Sri-Lankan legend Kumar Sangakkara when he walked out to the crease, but Neil Wagner re-wrote the script, removing Sangakkara with only his fourth ball.
Wagner (2-17) forced the Sri Lanka batsman into a horrible leading edge, sending the ball looping to Jarvis at mid-off, as Sangakkara was out for 8 following his four-ball duck in the first innings. Surrey made it to lunch on 58/2 - effectively three wickets down - and with so much time left in the game it was hard to see how they could escape the chasm they were in.
Perhaps it was this lack of belief that had ripped the heart and soul out of their second innings after lunch, as they lost their remaining seven wickets for 45 runs, courtesy of a devastating and relentless spell from Jarvis after the interval. His first victim, Jason Roy, fell to Jarvis' second ball after lunch after being trapped lbw for 9 at 62/3 and Ben Foakes was out two balls later for a duck, edging a flashy drive behind to Davies and handing Jarvis his eighth wicket of the match.
A double-wicket maiden was then followed by the wicket of James Burke, who became the fifth Surrey batsmen to fall for a duck in the match, top-edging a pull shot to Liam Livingstone, who had to make good ground to take a catch over his head, running backwards from first slip. Jarvis demolished Surrey's middle order after lunch, with these three wickets in the space of eight balls erasing any small hopes the visitors might have had for salvaging a draw from the match.
Bailey (2-22) played his part in the carnage, removing Steven Davies (5) when he swatted at a wider delivery and edged behind to namesake Alex, a terrible shot in the circumstances, although leaving the ball would have only delayed the inevitable. This was the fourth Surrey wicket to fall in the space of 21 balls after lunch, with makeshift opener Curran stood at the other end in utter disbelief, as wickets continued to tumble.
Skipper Gareth Batty showed early determination, but a quicker ball from Jarvis worked its way through his defences and he was bowled for 3, as Surrey's misery continued. With this wicket, Jarvis became the first Lancashire bowler to take 10 wickets in a match against Surrey since Muttiah Muralitharan, who took 10-154 in 1999 at The Oval. He also had his best match figures for Lancashire and required just one more victim to have his best match figures of all time.
Sure enough he had Mathew Pillans (4) out lbw in his next over, with Surrey slumping to 84/8 and Lancashire needing only one more wicket to seal a mammoth victory. Curran was able to bat on long enough to record only his third first-class fifty in 103 balls, adding 23 runs for the final wicket with Meaker (2*), but Curran was the final Surrey batsman to fall, as he was caught by Luke Procter off Wagner the very next ball.
With this wicket, Lancashire sealed an innings and 96-run victory inside three days, sending them top of the table ahead of their Roses clash against Yorkshire at Headingley on Sunday. Before that, Lancashire will face Durham Jets in their second NatWest T20 Blast match of the season on Friday, with Jos Buttler expected to play his first game of the season for Ashley Giles's side.
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