Surrey draw with Essex at Whitgift School
Last updated on .From the section Cricket
| LV County Championship Division Two, Whitgift School |
| Match Drawn. Essex 548 & 324, Surrey 506 & 65-1 |
| Surrey 10pts, Essex 9pts |
| Match scorecard |
| Live commentary |
Surrey's County Championship Division Two clash with Essex at Whitgift School ended in a draw.
Essex were bowled out in their second innings for 324 on the cusp of tea.
That left Surrey with a minimum 27 overs to chase an impossible victory target of 367 and they reached 65-1 before hands were shaken.
That proved an ironically flat end for a match that included the fireworks of Graham Napier's world record 16 sixes in an innings.
Having secured a first-innings lead of 42, Essex were in real danger of undoing all their good work when they lost six wickets in a shade over two hours of the final day.
At 222-8, with an overall advantage of 246, the visitors were seemingly hell-bent on tossing away their wickets and leaving the door ajar for a dramatic Surrey run chase.
But a sense of sanity was finally restored when Tim Phillips and Chris Wright came together in a ninth-wicket stand of 71 in 21 overs that left Surrey with too much to do.
POST-MATCH REACTION
Surrey captain Rory Hamilton-Brown told BBC London 94.9:
"Wins aren't always that easy. This is our third draw now. You have to work hard and play good cricket throughout the four days.
"I don't think we can hide behind it, we had missed chances. Two or three times we took wickets with no-balls.
"We can improve. To win consistently on flatter wickets you need to get a lot of things right. Maybe we weren't quite ruthless enough."
