da realsbet： The County Championship Division Two match between Surrey and Middlesex atthe Brit Oval petered out into a draw, but not before both Mark Ramprakash andAndrew Strauss added more significant runs to their match aggregates
20-May-2010
Scorecard
The County Championship Division Two match between Surrey and Middlesex atthe Brit Oval petered out into a draw, but not before both Mark Ramprakash andAndrew Strauss added more significant runs to their match aggregates.Surrey, bottom of the table, set Middlesex a victory target of 374 in 85 oversafter Ramprakash had reached his 111th first-class hundred at the start of thefinal day. But a century opening stand between Scott Newman and England Test captainStrauss, who went on to score 61, blunted Surrey’s efforts to secure themselvesa much-needed first win of the season. At stumps, Middlesex were 189 for 3.Although Newman was caught behind off the persevering Gareth Batty for 43 inthe 33rd over of the Middlesex second innings, Strauss and Owais Shah preventedany further immediate alarms and Surrey knew that victory was beyond them longbefore Strauss hit straight to short extra cover for the second time in thematch.Middlesex reached tea at 142 for 2, and in the final session the only wicketto fall was that of Dawid Malan, who was caught at deep mid-wicket sweeping atUsman Afzaal’s left-arm spin. Shah simply decided to bat out time and was 40 notout when hands were shaken on the draw at 5pm.For Strauss, who also made 92 in the first innings, this match has given himvital time at the crease in his last championship appearance before the start ofEngland’s two-Test series against Bangladesh, which begins next Thursday.Although he batted generally with assurance during a three-hour and 156-ballstay, Strauss also needed some good fortune as he led Middlesex to safety. Earlyon he was beaten by a beauty from Jade Dernbach and, on 18, he edged the samebowler through a strangely-vacant third slip.There was an inside-edged four off Chris Tremlett and Batty also got the ballpast Strauss’s outside edge as he strained for the wickets that would have givenSurrey a chance of bowling Middlesex out.Earlier, Ramprakash converted his overnight 86 into an unbeaten 103, beforeSurrey declared at 207 for 3, becoming in the process the first player toscore two hundreds in a championship match on seven occasions – three times forSurrey and four times for Middlesex, his previous club.It was the first time, having hit 223 in Surrey’s first innings, that he hadscored a century and a double-century in the same match and only Ricky Pontingand Zaheer Abbas, who have hit two hundreds in a first-class match on eightoccasions, now better Wally Hammond and Ramprakash’s seven. Ramprakash’s first-class record against Middlesex, the county he left in controversial fashion in 2000, now stands at 1384 runs from 15 innings, at an average of 125.