County's bowlers stick to their task

Fortunes fluctuated as Leicestershire edged a fascinating opening day of the LV=CC game against Surrey at Grace Road.

An opening stand of 82 between Rory Burns (38) and Zafar Ansari (39) looked to have put Surrey in the box seats after being asked to bat by Mark Cosgrove but Leicestershire’s seamers fought back in stunning fashion.

Seven wickets were claimed for 57 either side of lunch but another alliance of the same quantity, courtesy of contrasting half-centuries from Dominic Sibley and Tom Curran, got the visitors up to 261.

Young batsman Sibley, brought into the side in the absence of Kevin Pietersen and Jason Roy, made a well-organised 74 in three hours and 41 minutes at the crease  while Curran struck eight fours and two sixes in a belligerent career-best 60 off 74 balls.

Wickets were shared between Leicestershire’s attack with Ben Raine (14.1-5-33-3) the most successful bowler and Angus Robson and Matthew Boyce then guided County to 35-0 at stumps.

County showed two changes to the side that won at Essex as Niall O’Brien and Rob Taylor returned for Lewis Hill and Tom Wells.

Clint McKay (19-6-57-2) and Charlie Shreck (25-8-66-2) moved the ball about in the early exchanges but Surrey’s openers had put on an unbroken 186 in the last LV=CC game against Lancashire and they continued their good form. There were four boundaries apiece as Burns and Ansari recorded the 50 stand within the first hour.

Cosgrove turned to Jigar Naik as the clock struck midday and he and Raine kept a lid on proceedings. Raine sent down five maidens out of six overs and the building pressure led to a quick double burst of wickets late in the session.

The left arm seam of Taylor (13-4-37-1) trapped Burns (39) leg before and Ansari fell in the same manner to Shreck with the score still on 82, this time after offering no stroke. There was also a loud appeal as Kumar Sangakkara was rapped on the pads in the lunch over by Shreck but he survived and Surrey went in on 83-2.

Leicestershire’s seamers were outstanding in the afternoon session as although Sibley held firm, wickets tumbled at the other end.

Sangakkara was posed plenty of problems by Taylor immediately after lunch but the ball kept beating the edge rather than finding it. McKay then capitalised on his teammate’s good work by enticing Sangakkara into a drive, Andrea Agathangelou snapping up the opportunity at second slip.

It was the first of five wickets for 17 runs in the space of 31 deliveries. The dangerous Steve Davies (0) was leg before to Raine and the seamer then had Ben Foakes (4) brilliantly held one-handed by Niall O’Brien, diving down the leg-side, in his next over.

McKay had a big appeal for lbw against Gary Wilson (3) before getting his man in identical fashion next ball and Shreck then produced a beauty as debutant James Burke (0) edged through to O’Brien.

Surrey were now in real bother but a vital partnership of contrasting styles developed. Curran opted to take the attack back to the bowlers, hitting a quintet of flowing drives to the fence and also completing an all-run four as he raced to 36 not out. Sibley got his head down to progress to an unbeaten 38 and the stand passed 50 in the tea over as Surrey went in on 191-7.

Curran continued to be aggressive in the evening session as he hit Naik (12-1-47-1) for two fours and a six off three consecutive balls in the 68^th over to move to 50 from just 67 balls. Curran smashed another maximum over straight mid-wicket in Naik’s next over before the spinner got his man with the next delivery, the batsman feathering an attempted reverse-sweep into the hands of O’Brien.

Sibley was still going strong and he reached a seven-boundary, 106-ball 50 before losing another partner when Chris Tremlett (6) was bowled by Andrea Agathangelou’s first ball for the club.

The batsman then went on the attack, including hitting Agathangelou (2-1-7-1) for six, before tickling Raine down the leg-side to O’Brien. It was the second time today that the seamer had struck in that fashion, but he deserved some luck after suffering from a lack of fortune earlier this season.

Robson (19 not out) and Boyce (8*) then played well in a tricky eight-over period before the close to leave the game nicely poised going into the second day.