Surrey v Essex
Rothesay County Championship
Kia Oval, London
Friday 23 – Monday 26 May 2025 | 11am start
Team News
Essex: Dean Elgar, Paul Walter, Tom Westley (c), Charlie Allison, Matt Critchley, Michael Pepper (wk), Noah Thain, Simon Harmer, Shane Snater, Kasun Rajitha, Jamie Porter.
Surrey: Rory Burns (c), Dom Sibley , Kurtis Patterson, Sam Curran, Ben Foakes (wk), Jason Roy, Jamie Overton, Jordan Clark, Tom Lawes, Nathan Smith, Dan Worrall.
Match Details
Umpires: Rob Bailey & Mike Burns
Match Referee: Peter Such
Toss: Surrey won the toss and elected to bowl
Result: Match Drawn
Day Four Highlights
Day Four Report
Sam Curran added 77 to a first innings 70, in his first red-ball appearance since last September, as Surrey saw out a rain-hit final day on 289 for seven to secure a draw against Essex at the Kia Oval.
Curran’s 121-ball effort held Surrey’s batting together as seamer Jamie Porter and off-spinner Simon Harmer threatened to bowl Essex to a second Rothesay County Championship win of the season.
Six separate rain interruptions during the day – all of them short but lopping 20 overs in all from the final day’s allocation – did not help Essex’s cause. In the end, a 51-run stand between Jamie Overton and Jordan Clark proved decisive.
Overton stayed just over two hours for his 47 from 102 balls, edging Porter to third slip just before 6pm from what became the last ball of the game. Clark finished 23 not out.
Porter finished with five for 88 from 27 overs and Harmer two for 94 from 34 with Essex taking 11 points from the draw and Surrey, who stay second in the Division One table, picked up 12.
After the fifth rain delay Essex thought they had 14 overs – including seven with a second new ball – in which to take the last four Surrey wickets, but after eight balls yet another heavy shower ultimately reduced that equation by four more overs.
Surrey had started the day on 32 without loss, having been set an unlikely 418 in the fourth innings after Essex, led by centuries from Paul Walter and 20-year-old Charlie Allison on days two and three, had reached 479 in their own second innings.
Rory Burns and Dom Sibley, Surrey’s openers, were fluent early on against Essex’s seamers and took their stand to 76 before Harmer made the breakthrough with the first ball of his third over of the morning.
Left-hander Burns, on 39, jumped out to drive but was beaten by appreciable spin and bounce out of the bowlers’ footmarks and superbly stumped by Michael Pepper, who had to bring the ball down from almost shoulder height.
Sibley, having reached 40 with some excellent strokes down the ground, was similarly deceived by Harmer. The former South African Test spinner, seeing Sibley advance from his crease, tossed the ball a bit wider to leave the former England man groping for it and Pepper to complete a far simpler stumping.
At lunch, with only one over at that stage lost to a sharp mid-session shower, Surrey had stabilised the innings at 142 for two through Australian left-hander Kurtis Patterson and Curran, who got off the mark in spectacular style by hooking Porter for six over deep square leg.
Another shower delayed the restart by ten minutes and, in the afternoon’s second over Patterson was beaten by a break-back from Porter, operating from around the wicket, and bowled off a thin inside edge for 40.
Curran square cut Porter for four and also punched Harmer through mid on for another boundary but Surrey’s faint hopes of chasing down their distant win target fell away when Porter removed Ben Foakes and Jason Roy in the space of three balls to leave the home side 167 for five.
Nibbling the ball away from the right-handers, at just on and outside off stump, Porter first had Foakes caught behind for seven before Roy was superbly held, low and left-handed, by a diving Harmer at second slip. It completed an unhappy pair for former England one-day opener Roy.
In between further showers, Curran and Overton steadied Surrey once again in a sixth wicket partnership that eventually realised 77 in 24 overs.
Curran, on 76, survived an impassioned appeal for a low legside catch behind the wicket off Porter that may not have carried. But, later in an eventful over and one ball after Overton had looked fortunate not to be given leg-before as he moved across his stumps, Allison flung himself to his left at point to clutch a Curran square drive and give Essex renewed hope with Surrey now 244 for six.
Only eight more balls were possible, however, before more rain arrived and after another subsequent delay the final mini-session of play saw Essex crowding the bat in vain while Surrey’s seventh wicket pair kept out Porter and Harmer – until Overton fell with the draw assured.
Day Three Highlights
Day Three Report
Charlie Allison, a 20-year old with a previous first-class best of just 28, hit a memorable maiden hundred to stun champions Surrey at the Kia Oval.
Allison’s brilliant 140, in his sixth first-class match, helped Essex rack up a second innings 479 and leave Surrey with an unlikely victory target of 418. By stumps, in eight overs’ batting, they reached 32 without loss.
Surrey’s six-pronged pace attack was neutered on an easing pitch, leaving Rory Burns’s side facing a stiff final day battle for a draw to maintain their unbeaten start to the Rothesay County Championship season.
Towards the end of the innings of his young life, Colchester-born Allison even hit a weary Dan Worrall for two sixes over long on and there were also 19 fours in a 235-ball epic spanning just over five hours.
Allison, remarkably, had come in on a pair after being caught behind off New Zealand Test all-rounder Nathan Smith from his fifth ball in Essex’s first innings of 217. In nine previous first-class innings, since making his debut last month, he had made only 154 runs at an average of 17.11.
But when he tucked his 185th ball to deep mid on and sauntered for a single, Allison was coolness personified as he initially hardly reacted to his achievement until removing his helmet and raising both arms in the air to acknowledge generous applause from a sizeable third day crowd.
Noah Thain, his contemporary from Essex age groups and recent England U19 teams, gave Allison a bear hug and the pair then continued an impressive seventh wicket stand that eventually raised 116 and, in effect, batted Surrey all but out of the match.
Thain made 50 before holing out to long off and, earlier, Allison had helped Tom Westley – who fought hard for his own 50 – to blunt a Surrey attack already up against it after Paul Walter’s superlative 118 on day two and his magnificent opening stand of 188 with Dean Elgar.
Essex had resumed 133 ahead on 195 for two, and Elgar could not believe it when, having added just four runs to his gritty overnight 60 not out, he attempted to square drive a full ball angled across him by Worrall and succeeded only in slicing it all the way to third man where Smith took the catch running to his left.
If that was a bonus for Surrey, as Worrall began the day with a testing spell of 7-5-5-1, then they were soon being frustrated as Westley and Allison added 80 for the fourth wicket.
Allison was fortunate to get off the mark with an inside-edged four, the ball narrowly missing off stump as he tried to square cut a delivery from Worrall that was too close to him for the stroke.
But the youngster settled his nerves by soon hitting Smith beautifully to the cover boundary, his second scoring shot, and then taking further fours off his pads against Jamie Overton and through extra cover off Tom Lawes.
Overton even touched 88mph in a pacy spell in which he was always in the mid-80s, but Westley was equal to the challenge with fours through extra cover and tucked neatly off his pads. The Essex captain then clipped Lawes wide of mid on for another boundary.
On 35, Westley survived a difficult low chance to Sam Curran, diving to his right, as he clipped Lawes off his legs but the Essex total had moved on to 266 for three by the time Surrey took the second new ball 20 minutes before lunch.
Jordan Clark, nursing a sore toe, was brought on for his first bowl of the day immediately after lunch and, with his 10th ball, he had Westley athletically caught by Kurtis Patterson – diving to his right – at point. He had faced 114 balls, hitting seven fours.
Worrall then pinned Matt Critchley leg-before for four, nine runs later, and at 294 for five it seemed as if Surrey were back in the game with almost five sessions remaining.
Michael Pepper, however, hung around to make 18 in a 49-run stand with Allison, until Curran – finally thrown the ball for the 50th over of the day – struck with his seventh delivery to have Pepper caught behind.
But Allison and Thain, the two 20-year-olds, capped a brilliant day for Essex by staying together for almost two hours after Pepper’s dismissal 45 minutes before tea. There were some fine shots, too, from both of them – though perhaps none better than the lofted straight drive by Allison off Lawes that took him to 117.
Allison finally miscued a swipe at Clark, giving a simple return catch as the last few Essex wickets fell in a flurry of slogs, but whatever he goes on to achieve in his cricket career he will never forget this day.
Day Two Interview
Day Two Highlights
Day Two Report
A superb opening stand of 188 between Paul Walter and Dean Elgar stunned champions Surrey at the Kia Oval after they had looked to be in control of the Rothesay County Championship fixture.
Walter was the main aggressor, hitting 19 fours in his 118, and former South Africa opener Elgar, though never comfortable at the crease, simply used all his experience to scrap his way his 60 not out from159 balls.
By stumps, Essex were 195 for two in their second innings – 133 runs in front – with Nathan Smith removing both Walter and nightwatchman Simon Harmer, for a duck, in the closing overs.
Surrey had themselves been rallied earlier on an absorbing second day by Sam Curran’s classy 70 and Jordan Clark’s 54 in an eighth wicket stand of 82 in 14 overs. That partnership not only rescued Surrey from the depths of 144 for seven, in reply to Essex’s first innings 217, but was also instrumental in earning them an eventual half-way lead of 62.
Walter and Elgar’s subsequent heroics, however, leaves the match intriguingly poised with two days left. Walter, 31 next week, looked surprised when he was given out caught behind slashing at a widish ball from Smith but his fourth first-class hundred was a wonderful effort.
Elgar, by contrast, remained unbeaten despite several close calls. On 33, just after tea, he edged Smith clean between first and second slips for four to bring up Essex’s 100. Neither fielder moved, while later in the final session Elgar survived two impassioned appeals for caught behind and also edged Curran just short of second slip.
Kasun Rajitha, the Sri Lankan Test seamer, was another Essex second day hero, taking five for 87, his best figures of the season so far, but it was the batting of Walter and Elgar that has perhaps tilted this game back towards the visitors.
Using all six of their frontline pace bowlers, Surrey tried everything to break the Walter-Elgar partnership – and Dan Worrall in particular bowled without luck in an excellent eight-over spell immediately after tea – but the two left-handers stood firm until Smith broke through in the 50th over of the innings.
The day began with Surrey, on 94 for three overnight, slumping to 144 for seven before Curran and Clark pulled the innings around with a stand of increasing authority.
And, when Curran pulled once too often at Rajitha – the legside field featuring both an inner and outer ring, placed there specifically to punish any miscued stroke – Smith arrived to help Clark make sure of a batting bonus point.
Brought on for only his third over, strangely late in the innings at 250 for eight, off spinner Simon Harmer soon dismissed Clark for 54 when Elgar at slip did brilliantly to knock up an edged cut and complete a fine reflex catch from the rebound.
And, having seen last man Worrall drive his first ball high into the pavilion for six, Harmer was also swiped over extra cover for four by the Surrey fast bowler before snaring him for 13 courtesy of a more straightforward catch at slip by Elgar.
Smith, who hit one memorable off-driven four off Rajitha, batted well for his 24 not out to underline the New Zealand international’s all-rounder status.
Rajitha had earlier made the initial inroads by seeing Dom Sibley edge to first slip, dismissed for a determined 41, and then pin Ben Foakes lbw for two with one that just moved enough back into the right-hander off the seam as he pushed forward.
Shane Snater then defeated an ambitious whip-drive to leg by Jason Roy, who succeeded only in thin-edging the seventh ball he had faced to send his middle stump cartwheeling, while Jamie Overton also departed for a duck when edging a loose drive at the persevering Rajitha.
Curran, however, pulling profitably, on-driving Jamie Porter for one magnificent four and producing a number of sweetly-timed offside strokes off both the front and back foot, moved serenely to his half-century from 64 balls.
Clark, settling in quickly and scoring at a run a ball with some powerful driving punctuating an otherwise watchful defence, provided Curran with the support he needed to push Surrey up to and then beyond Essex’s first innings total.
Between them, indeed, the batting efforts of Curran, Clark, Smith and Worrall had turned a precarious Surrey position into a mid-match advantage. That was soon negated by Walter and Elgar, but this game could still go either way
Day One: Highlights
Day One Report
Surrey dismissed Essex for 217 as events on day one at the Kia Oval followed a familiar pattern.
Having won the toss, the champions fielded first on a well-grassed surface and despite Michael Pepper’s 75 they bowled Essex out in two sessions.
Australian left-hander Kurtis Patterson led the reply with 51 as Surrey reached 94 for three at stumps, 123 behind.
Pepper provided much of the resistance in front of a crowd of 5,861 and helped Essex’s last three wickets add 71 while at the start of the day Surrey didn’t use the new ball particularly well. But Surrey have got themselves into a familiar position and will try to bat into the third day before putting Essex back under pressure in their second innings.
There had been the promise of a different story unfolding in the first half hour when Dean Elgar and Paul Walter helped themselves to ten boundaries in the opening eight overs as they posted a half-century stand with few alarms against some unusually indifferent new-ball bowling by Dan Worrall and Nathan Smith.
But when Sam Curran, who was making his first Championship appearance of the season, replaced Worrall at the Vauxhall End he broke through with his second ball, which darted off the seam and Elgar edged it to second slip.
From 50 without loss Essex slipped to 95 for four as the Surrey seamers profited from bowling a better length. Walter played well for his 38 but was one of three wickets to fall in 7.4 overs for seven runs as the champions tightened the screw before lunch.
Wicketkeeper Ben Foakes snapped up a simple opportunity when Walter poked at Jordan Clark’s outswinger but there was nothing ordinary about his next intervention when he dived in front of first slip to remove Charlie Allison after Smith had switched ends – a fine way for Foakes to claim his 450th catch in first-class cricket.
Smith had a second wicket before lunch and Foakes a third catch after skipper Tom Westley was surprised by extra bounce and Essex would have been in further strife had Jamie Overton, like Curran playing his first Championship game of the season, not dropped straightforward catches at slip to reprieve first Pepper and then Matt Critchley off successive deliveries. Overton took himself out of the cordon but Pepper apart, Essex failed to make the most of their good fortune.
Critchley, aiming to leg, was beaten by Tom Lawes’ late inswing and Foakes had his fourth catch – and Worrall his first wicket – when Noah Thain followed an away swinger. Simon Harmer was lbw unwisely offering no shot when Curran switched ends.
But from 146 for seven Pepper led a tail-end revival, first with Shane Snater with whom he added 51 in 65 balls. Snater contributed 28 before edging to second slip in Overton’s third over but Pepper brought up Essex’s 200 by driving Overton handsomely over long-on for six while adding another 24 with Sri Lankan Kasun Rajitha. Rajitha eventually played on to Smith and Pepper holed out to deep mid-wicket for a season’s best 75 from 94 balls with nine fours.
Burns was caught at slip aiming an expansive drive at Jamie Porter and Surrey suffered a setback when Patterson was squared up by Porter shortly after the Australian left-hander had reached an attractive half-century. Nightwatchman Lawes fell in the penultimate over but Surrey are still well placed.
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