Mark Footitt (5-49)
claimed five wickets among a Lancashire capitulation at The Oval, as Surrey set
up a surefire victory heading into the final day of their Specsavers County
Championship match.
Lancashire staggered from the comfortable position of 167/2
to 193/8, losing six wickets for 26 runs in just 14 overs to hand Surrey the
opportunity to record three wins in four matches. Luke Procter (76) and Alviro
Petersen (56) guided Lancashire towards a possible draw with a 78-run stand for
the third wicket, but Petersen’s dismissal sparked a devastating batting
collapse on the third evening.
Surrey now look set to record a 23-point victory, with
Lancashire heading into the final day on 203/8 with a slender lead of 10 runs.
A defeat would leave the Red Rose county teetering with a relegation battle
heading into the closing stages of the season, with Ashley Giles’s side failing
to record a four-day victory since the end of May and not at all away from Old
Trafford this campaign.
Sam Curran’s career-best 96 guided Surrey to a first-innings
lead of 193 after they were bowled out for 480, with Arron Lilley claiming
5-130. Despite falling four runs short of a maiden first-class century, the
younger Curran sibling ensured that Surrey consolidated their stronghold over
Lancashire, before the visitors fell to pieces in their second innings.
Accompanied by his brother Tom, the teenage all-rounder
advanced from his overnight score of 28 to a 75-ball fifty, backing up his
four-wicket haul in Lancashire’s first innings with an entertaining knock.
Curran junior made the most of being dropped by Rob Jones at second slip in
only the second over of the day, lofting Lilley’s first ball of the day for the
first of three sixes.
His ninth boundary took him to an eye-catching fifty and a
cover-driven boundary the next ball brought up the fifty-partnership to extend
Surrey’s overnight lead from 67 to 131 with a partnership worth 70 runs for the
seventh-wicket stand.
Tom Curran (25) offered Lancashire respite when he swept
Lilley into the hands of Jones at square leg, but the younger Curran continued
to enjoy himself with four boundaries in one over off Kyle Jarvis (2-90) and
two sixes in quick succession off Simon Kerrigan (1-76) to become the
top-scorer in the innings.
However, the second of Curran’s maximums was followed by his
departure, as Lilley took a sharp return catch with Curran four runs shy of a
maiden first-class ton. Kerrigan then took his first ever wicket at The Oval
when he had Surrey captain Gareth Batty (16) trapped lbw at 463/9, with bad
light and a brief shower forcing an early lunch.
Footitt (9) replicated Curran by departing after hitting a
six, as he was stumped by Steven Croft to give Lilley the second five-wicket
haul of his first-class career. Surrey took a handsome first-innings lead of
193 runs into Lancashire’s second innings and they would end the day on the
verge of their fourth win of the season after Lancashire’s middle order
subsided.
Haseeb Hameed (13) and Procter started solidly with a 49-run
stand for the opening partnership, before Footitt extracted the first of five
breakthroughs in a devastating spell for the home side. After playing and
edging on a few occasions, Hameed edged a drive from Footitt behind to Ben
Foakes, a crucial scalp for Surrey in Lancashire’s cause to salvage a draw from
the match.
Stuart Meaker (1-38) then had Liam Livingstone (13) out
cheaply with a sharp bouncer, forcing Lancashire’s newly adopted No. 3 to glove
to Steve Davies, who dived forward at second slip to cling on at 89/2. With
Lancashire still 104 runs in arrears, Procter and Petersen established a
confident partnership for the third wicket, taking Lancashire to within 26 runs
of making Surrey bat again.
Procter reached his sixth half-century of the summer in 85
deliveries with nine boundaries, with Lancashire reaching tea on 111/2. The
session started positively for the visitors when Petersen (56) lofted Batty for
six on his way to a 57-ball fifty, but the South-African soon found himself
trudging back to the pavilion.
Petersen mistimed a drive off Footitt to Dominic Sibley in
the covers at 167/3 with Croft falling in Footit’s next over when he edged to
Sangakkara at first slip for a nine-ball duck. After claiming two wickets in
ten balls, Footitt then had Procter trapped lbw for 76, as Lancashire lost
their third wicket for 11 runs in the space of nine overs.
Batty then struck two wickets in quick succession to account
for debutant Jones (10) and Jordan Clark in the same over. Jones fell lbw at
188/6, before Clark followed four balls later when he was bowled for one, as
Lancashire lost five wickets for 22 runs in 11.4 overs.
Footitt then secured his 17th five-wicket haul
when he had Lilley (3) caught at first slip by Rory Burns, capping Lancashire’s
collapse at six wickets for 26 runs inside 14 devastating overs. Lancashire
finished the third day with a small lead of 10 runs, with the visitors on the
verge of another trip to south London without a victory and a sixth defeat in a
run of 11 matches without success.
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