UFC 304: Key Questions And Analysis On Aspinall-Blaydes, Edwards-Muhammad
Worcestershire 112 for 7 (Worrall 3-17) trail Surrey 213 (Lawrence 84, Pope 63, Waite 3-19, Leach 3-62) by 101 runs
A fifth-wicket stand of 148 between Dan Lawrence and Ollie Pope, a superb new ball spell by Dan Worrall and Kemar Roach's late double-strike put Surrey in control against Worcestershire despite themselves being bowled out for 213 on a frenetic 17-wicket opening day at the Kia Oval.
When the dust settled on the high-octane action Worcestershire were 112 for 7 in their own first innings, still 101 runs in arrears, after Worrall's 3 for 16 from seven overs, Roach's two wickets in three balls and scalps too for Sean Abbott and Jordan Clark backed up Lawrence's 84 and Pope's 63.
Put in on a well-grassed surface, Surrey were soon in all sorts of trouble at 15 for 4 as Joe Leach took 3 for 24 in seven overs in a new-ball spell that threatened to embarrass the county champions.
But Lawrence then joined Pope to pull the innings around in a counterattacking partnership of great quality that looked even better once Surrey's lower order had failed to build substantially on it and Worcestershire's top order had been cut down by Worrall and his fellow pacemen.
Worrall first had Gareth Roderick caught at fourth slip for 15, pushing out at an away-swinger, before bowling Jake Libby for 1 with a magnificent delivery that nipped back to beat the opener's attempted off drive.
Kashif Ali, after a couple of promising boundaries took him to 15, flashed leaden-footed at Worrall and edged to keeper Ben Foakes and, when Abbott replaced Worrall at the Vauxhall End, Adam Hose - facing only his fourth ball - went needlessly after his loosener and carved it into the cordon to depart for 4.
Worcestershire were 53 for 5 when Clark angled one into Rob Jones's pads and had him leg-before for 14, but at least Matthew Waite helped his skipper, Brett D'Oliveira, put on 58 in a fighting sixth-wicket stand before Roach made sure the day belonged to Surrey.
Swinging the ball back into the right-handers, Roach won two leg-before decisions to end Waite's 42-ball 35 and also send back Nathan Smith for nought just before bad light stopped play at 6.26pm, with seven overs of the day's scheduled allocation remaining unbowled. D'Oliveira was unbeaten on 22.
Rory Burns, Dom Sibley, Jamie Smith and Foakes were the early casualties when Surrey batted, with New Zealand overseas Smith striking first in the fourth over to have Burns lbw for eight as aimed to clip to leg.
Sibley drove at a ball too wide for the stroke to edge Leach behind and, later in the over, Smith was bowled for a fourth-ball duck by an absolute beauty that clipped the top of his off stump.
Foakes, beaten off the pitch, edged to second slip on 1, but Lawrence and Pope took the attack back to Worcestershire and, with just a little bit of good fortune early in their stand, turned the tide of the innings.
Lawrence, who had got off the mark with a skewed lofted drive that just cleared mid-off running back, then skipped down the pitch to swing debutant seamer Yadvinder Singh for six over wide midwicket, while Pope bedded in confidently at the other end.
They rallied Surrey to 110 for 4 by lunch and continued on merrily enough afterwards until their 33-over alliance was broken by Smith, who had Pope caught behind one ball after seeing him missed in the slips. Pope had faced 110 balls, hitting six fours.
Frustratingly for Surrey, Lawrence then departed in the very next over, throwing his bat at an outswinger from medium-pacer Waite and edging behind after a punchy 102-ball innings that featured two sixes - the second driven high and straight off Leach - and 11 fours.
Abbott top-edged a pull at Waite to long leg and the same bowler trapped Gus Atkinson leg-before for a fourth-ball duck to finish with the creditable figures of 12-4-19-3.
Clark, hitting Smith for four consecutive fours at one stage, and also lofting him straight for six in a 36-ball 42 not out, tried his best to revive Surrey again but Roach fell for four, edging Ben Gibbon behind, and Worrall was run out at the bowler's end for nought after initially failing to respond to Clark's call for a bye to the keeper.
