Match of the Day - Surrey v Lancashire, 1st day

Surrey thrive in the school atmosphere

Emma John at Whitgift School

August 11, 2004

Surrey 148 for 2 (Ramprakash 55*) trail Lancashire 210 (Schofield 69, Mahmood 4-40) by 64 runs
Scorecard

Mark Ramprakash - taught Lancashire a thing or two at Whitgift School © Getty Images

Is there a venue where you can get closer to your heroes than Whitgift School? The question came to mind at lunch, as impromptu games took place in front of the hexagonal brick pavilion and Surrey players shouted encouragement to the young players from their balcony. The kids soon returned the favour. When Surrey returned to the pavilion having bowled Lancashire out for a mere 210, the children lined up on the outfield to clap them off. Gloriously, not a single steward told them to get off the pitch.

By the end of the day you sensed that the Lancashire players would have happily have given Surrey directions off the pitch, and added a few other instructions too. Surrey went to their beds with a deficit of only 64, thanks largely to a partnership of 102 between Mark Ramprakash and Scott Newman. It wasn't always a barrel of laughs - there was a certain amount of sheer grind after tea - but both played some classy drives. Newman in particular delighted the crowd; so much so that when they applauded one fine shot he thought he'd reached 50 and celebrated a run early.

The Whitgift ground is almost in miniature, with a pavilion so small that it can hold only the home team - the Lancashire players have to change in tents alongside. The bank that slopes down to the pitch teems with picnickers who, meander around the pitch at the intervals, rubbing shoulders with the bowlers as they do their stretches.

Not that Martin Bicknell or Jimmy Ormond needed much warming up. Bicknell took the first Lancashire wicket in only the third over of the day, straightening Mark Chilton up with a good length ball that carried to first slip. Ormond followed up in the next over, sneaking the first ball back through Iain Sutcliffe's defences.

There is no doubt that the pitch here undulates - from one angle it looks like a badly laid rug. But although the bounce was variable it never stayed particularly low and it was the amount of lift that the Surrey bowlers generated that seemed to throw Lancashire into confusion. Jamie Haynes and Dinesh Mongia were both out to poor shots and suddenly Lancashire were four wickets down in only the ninth over.

Only Chris Schofield prevented a total rout. After his false coming as England's Messianic leg-spinner, Schofield is now re-defining himself as a batting allrounder. He rode his luck today, dropped in the covers on 7 and in the slips on 8, but refused to let the team's situation get him down. He hit eight fours on his way to a half-century, more than a couple with a powerfully swatted pull shot that the slip cordon mimicked him admiringly.

For a while Schofield had the company of Glen Chapple, who set about ruining Ormond's figures, including six boundaries from just two overs. The Schofield/Chapple partnership doubled Lancashire's total, but when Chapple wafted to second slip, Azhar Mahmood moved in and picked off the stragglers.

Emma John is is deputy editor of The Wisden Cricketer.

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Players/Umpires

Mark Ramprakash

Series/Tournaments

County Championship Division One

Teams

England

Lancashire

Surrey