Evans earns maiden ton for County on day one

DAY ONE | Leicestershire CCC 215 for three

SCORECARD | Available HERE

REPORT | Sam Evans leads the way after day one for the Running Foxes after posting his maiden century for the County.

Hassan Azad played his part on day one after earning his first half-century alongside Evans in a day interrupted by the weather throughout.

The Running Foxes won their first toss of the season away at a sun-soaked Surrey CCC as Leicestershire and Surrey went head-to-head for the first time in six years.

In a week where Leicestershire have been buoyed by the arrival of overseas batsman, Marcus Harris - who is currently subject to quarantine - the big news coming out of Surrey is that their overseas bowler Kemar Roach comes in for his debut.

There was only one change made to the Running Foxes XI as Dieter Klein came in for Alex Evans.

Hassan Azad and Sam Evans opened the batting for Leicestershire, with the aforementioned Roach opening the bowling for the hosts.

The duo got off to an assured start at the crease, as they looked to take the shine off the new ball for their fellow batsmen further down the line up.

After the first hour of play, the run-rate sat at only 1.8 though both batsmen had been relatively comfortable at the crease with not many questions being asked from the Surrey attack.

The partnership’s fifty was brought up after 21 overs as the rate had increased to just under 2.5, with Azad on 18 and Evans leading the way for the Running Foxes on 31.

The duo, still somewhat unfazed by the hosts attack, continued to calmly stoke the ball around when a loose ball was tossed up to them and were careful in not making any rash decisions.

With that, the first session of the tie was over with the Running Foxes on an unbeaten 75 with Azad now having overtaken Evans runs wise, sitting on 37 and his partner at the crease on 36.

The second session of the day got underway but only lasted eight minutes before the players were forced off due to bad light at the Oval – in those eight minutes, Azad and Evans managed to add 11 further runs in the two overs bowled.

The delay lasted 1 hour and 15 minutes before the players were welcomed back on to the field of play to get the second session back underway.

It took just 15 minutes of cricket before Hassan Azad reached his first half-century of the 2021 campaign, as he turned Matt Dunn down to fine leg for a single.

The fifty came from 114 deliveries and included six fours.

Soon after Azad’s fifty, the partnership’s and the Running Foxes’ 100 was up and in fortunate circumstances.

The ton came from Evans’ fifth four of the day, though, with a bit of help from Rory Burns at first slip who had a chance to grab the nick from Evans off the bowling of Dunn.

All the Surrey skipper could do though, was deflect the edge away for a boundary, and with it, the County ton was up from 37.1 overs.

Moments after, another milestone was up for the opening duo as Evans joined his teammate on a half-century after pushing Roach through the offside for his sixth four of the day.

The fifty came from 113 balls and included six fours – an almost identical record to Azad’s half-century.

Following the fifty, though, the dark skies returned over the Oval as the players were dragged off for the second time in the afternoon session.

Umpires Lloyd and Pollard decided to take an early tea at 15:42 with a view to conditions improving during its course, with County heading into the second interval of the day on 112 without loss.

The opening duo came back out for the final session of the day and got off to an explosive start, with Evans taking Dunn for 12 from the 42nd over as the run-rate crept over 3 for the first time in the day, and Evans swiftly into the sixties.

The first ball of the very next over saw the 130-run first wicket partnership come to an end as Azad lofted an Overton delivery to Dunn, who was at square-leg, and happily accepted the catch.

Azad departed for 55 as Harry Dearden joined Evans at the crease.

Dearden’s stint in the middle lasted just longer than 30 minutes before he nicked a Jordan Clark delivery through to Ben Foakes who accepted the feather and dismissed the Running Foxes man for 14.

Leicestershire were now 147 for two as Colin Ackermann emerged to join Evans who was still in the middle on 72*.

Ackermann had only seen two overs bowled before he was heading back into the pavilion though, as bad light interfered again as the players made way for the third time today.

The delay took the players off the field for 30 minutes before the light improved. Back at the crease, Ackermann earned a couple of boundaries off the bowling of Roach as he got the Running Foxes back up and running.

The attack of Surrey looked to have grabbed the initiative though, as the duo of Ackermann and Evans were put under pressure.

The partnership only lasted 11 overs before Ackermann was pinned infront by Clark for 15, as the bowler claimed his second wicket of the day.

Lewis Hill walked to the crease to join Evans as County sat on 176 for three.

The run-rate had slowed for the Running Foxes since coming back out from the latest delay in play due to bad light, as the Surrey attack seemed to have targeted Sam Evans with the short ball as he neared his maiden century for Leicestershire.

The partnership stood strong, though, with both Evans and Hill keeping their patience and composure as Surrey searched for the fourth wicket in the day.

A welcome boundary came for Evans as he flicked Dunn away down to fine leg as he moved within five of his ton.

Onto 96 Evans went and that was nearly as far as he would go as Hill wanted a quick single to get his teammate back on strike. Some impressive fielding from Jamie Overton saw the Surrey man hit the stumps at the wicketkeeper’s end with a direct hit from mid-on.

Evans’ heart would have been his mouth momentarily, before the umpire signalled that he was safe.

The Running Foxes number 21 was undeterred though as he patiently brought his maiden century for Leicestershire up in singles, after pushing Virdi out into the offside to get over the line.

A patient, poised knock consisting of 225 balls and including twelve fours.

The next over saw the day come to a premature end as bad light forced them off the field of play for the fourth time in the day.

The Running Foxes ended the day on 215 for three with Evans on 100*, accompanied by Hill on 20*.

FIGURES (1st inns) | Roach 18-3-46-0, Dunn 17-1-65-0, Virdi 11-4-25-0, Overton 15.2-4-40-1, Clark 15-0-38-2

TEAM | Hassan Azad, Sam Evans, Harry Dearden, Colin Ackermann (C), Lewis Hill, Harry Swindells (wk), Ben Mike, Callum Parkinson, Chris Wright, Dieter Klein, Gavin Griffiths.

SURREY CCC | Rory Burns (C), Hashim Amla, Jordan Clark, Matt Dunn, Ben Foakes (wk), Jamie Overton, Ollie Pope, Kemar Roach, Jamie Smith, Mark Stoneman, Amar Virdi.

IMAGES | Thanks to John Mallett of Outside Off for providing the images throughout the game.