County Championship: Surrey 67 all out v Essex as champions crumble on day one
- Published
Jade Dernbach's attempt to hit Sam Cook out of the ground did not quite go to plan - he was the ninth Surrey wicket to fall
Specsavers County Championship Division One, Kia Oval (day one): |
Surrey 67: Pope 26; Porter 4-26, Cook 4-27 |
Essex 197-2: Westley 93*, Vijay 80 |
Essex (3 pts) lead Surrey (0 pts) by 130 runs |
Essex took complete control on day one against champions Surrey, ending on 197-2 after skittling the hosts for 67.
Tom Westley (93 not out) put on 146 for the second wicket with India batsman Murali Vijay, who added 80 to help Essex to a 130-run lead by the close.
The hosts, hoping to end the season unbeaten in four-day cricket, were earlier dismissed in 27 overs.
Jamie Porter (4-26) and Sam Cook (4-27) bowled expertly as Surrey's final eight wickets fell for 26 runs.
They were 41-2 before Matt Quinn (2-10) removed captain Rory Burns and Ben Foakes in successive balls to start their collapse.
Their total is the second-lowest made by any side in Division One this season; Essex were also the bowling team on that occasion, dismissing Yorkshire for 50 in their first innings at Chelmsford in May, although they went on to lose that game.
It was also Surrey's lowest score since being bowled out for 64 by Hampshire in 1986, on a day when current Surrey director of cricket Alec Stewart opened the batting.
Essex dominate day one at The Oval
The visitors started with a remote chance of overhauling a 19-point gap to Somerset to finish second in Division One.
Somerset's dominant batting display on day one against Nottinghamshire looks to have ended that hope, but Essex put themselves on course for an impressive season-ending victory with an excellent display of their own.
Simon Harmer took a superb one-handed catch at slip to remove Surrey opener Burns (19), who has been named in England's Test squad to tour Sri Lanka in October and November.
Will Jacks kept out Quinn's hat-trick ball but was clean bowled soon afterwards by a big in-swinger from Cook, who signed a new contract with Essex on Friday.
Burns and England batsman Ollie Pope (26) were the only Surrey batsmen to reach double figures and Pope was the last man to fall, heaving Cook straight to Ravi Bopara at mid-wicket.
Murali Vijay played in the first two games of India's Test series defeat by England earlier this summer
Morne Morkel made an early breakthrough in Essex's reply, bowling Nick Browne for two, but fellow opener Vijay continued his excellent form for the 2017 champions.
Vijay has made at least a half-century in each of his four Championship innings since joining Essex earlier this month, but fell 20 runs short of his second hundred.
Westley, who played five Tests for England in 2017, registered his third fifty in as many innings and will resume on Tuesday seven runs short of a century alongside Dan Lawrence (11 not out).
