Bad light forced an end to the day at Grace Road but Surrey, who had toppled two Leicestershire wickets for 66 runs by the time the umpires called time, are still in the ascendancy.
De Bruyn didn't last long this morning but Steven Davies, who remarkably has recorded scores in the 90s in every format this season without hitting a hundred, got the monkey off his back in this game - and what a good time to score it. He went on to score 121 off 218 balls to provide the backbone for Surrey's eventual total of 343. 40s from Jason Roy and Gareth Batty were the only other substantial contributions.
Again Stuart Meaker was held back from the new ball as Tim Linley and Chris Jordan performed opening bowling duties to kick off Leicestershire's second innings. I'm not sure what the rationale behind holding Meaker back is but I'd have thought exposing a Leicestershire lineup against whom he's taken 13 wickets to him as early as possible would've been better.
It was Linley again who made the first breakthrough as he had Matthew Boyce caught behind but Jefferson and Greg Smith made steady progress in a 46 run partnership in between breaks for bad light. Jordan bowled 8 overs for 19 runs without success - although he did have Jefferson caught at slip off a no ball (his eleventh of the season - Linley has bowled six no balls in about 300 more overs this year for comparison!). Three overs before the close Gareth Batty had Smith caught behind and nightwatchman Nathan Buck helped his side through to the end of the day.
Still 110 runs in arrears, but with 8 wickets left in hand, Leicestershire are down but not out just yet. I'd like to see Meaker bowl alongside Ojha tomorrow morning (or whenever rain allows them to get play started) as an early breakthrough or two might start Leicestershire sliding. With Middlesex in a mighty strong position against Northants it might not matter all that much, but with the door open for a victory Surrey must force the issue.
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2 comments:
Re Meaker not getting the new (or new-ish) ball: I think there's an image of him as a 'destroy the middle / lower order' sort of bowler. Let's face it, this IS something that he does very well - we can usually rely on him to get rid of a stubborn tail-ender. But it would be a real shame for him to get stuck with this, as he can almost certainly be just as dangerous whenever he bowls.
You've hit the nail square on the head, he's dangerous whenever he bowls. I could understand it if it was Linley-Dernbach, or Dernbach-Tremlett opening the bowling, but Linley-Jordan? Seems like you're compromising the opening bowling a bit there, Jordan is ok, but he's not going to get a hatful with the new ball. I just worry if it's more sign of RHB's reluctance to bowl his younger bowlers when there's pressure on, as we've seen with Dunn earlier in the season.
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