The weather and bad light were the winners on Day One of this County Championship match between Surrey and Kent.
When there was play possible, Kent reached 132/4 before bad light ended play.
Captain Sam Northeast and opener Daniel Bell-Drummond shone on an otherwise gloomy day scoring 45 and 39 respectively putting on 61 in 9.5 entertaining overs for the third wicket.
After a four-hour rain delay, the toss finally took place at 1440 – slightly delayed from a scheduled 1430 toss but a rain shower as the umpires and captains were about to do the honours delayed it slightly longer than anticipated.
Sam Northeast lost the toss with play finally commencing at 1500 – Kent scheduled to face 51 over’s however bad light intervened twice in the evening session – The first after only one over after tea – with Kent facing only thirty of those overs.
A peculiar statistic for the hosts saw them name 17 year old Sam Curran in their XI to make his first class County Championship debut – Curran is the second youngest player to turn out for Surrey – The youngest, Tony Lock, by twist of fate made his debut on 13th July (1946) against Kent at The Oval!
The debutant made an immediate impact, opening the bowling with his older brother Tom Curran. With only his second delivery a significant shout for caught behind was turned away by the officials but two balls later he got his man – Joe Denly was caught out by the youngster’s pace as he was clean bowled for 1 – Kent 2/1
Bell-Drummond was now paired with Adam Ball – however it didn’t work out for him as, promoted to three in the order, he went cheaply for 9, leaving Kent in a little trouble at 27/2.
In came Northeast with both he and Bell-Drummond looking eager to play their shots. So much so, Bell-Drummond was dropped at square-leg by James Burke off Sam Curran’s bowling – It looked a comfortable chance – The opener let off.
The pair then got to grips with loose balls as they both played their shots – Between them striking eleven boundaries around all parts of the ground. Despite Kent’s lowly position in the league table it was good to see some confidence borne from the T20 competition shining through on an otherwise gloomy day. The third wicket partnership reaped rewards as the fifty-partnership came at the rate of a run a ball.
However it wasn’t too be as the hosts’ bowling change to bring on Ansari paid dividends as Bell-Drummond succumbed LBW for 39 with Kent on 88/3.
In his next over, Ansari almost claimed the scalp of Northeast (35) but the umpire was unmoved and tea soon followed with Kent on 97/3 – Northeast 36no, Harmison 0no.
During the tea interval the light seemed to deteriorate but the players came out on schedule…..to return to the dressing rooms only six balls later – One post-tea over saw the players return indoors due to the loss of suitable light. Kent agonisingly short of the hundred on 99/3 with Northeast and Harmison picking up a single run each.
Returning to the field Kent soon brought up the hundred but unfortunately for the visitors they lost the wicket of their captain as he chased a wide delivery, edging it to wicket-keeper Foakes off the older Curran, Tom (45). Northeast looked good to go on and post a significant score.
Northeast out meant the introduction of Darren Stevens and after a couple of deliveries to get used to the pitch, blazed Ansari over long on for six runs – As it turned out it was Stevens’ only scoring shot.
Harmison got in on the act himself clubbing a no-ball for four on the on-side but soon after Stevens consulted with the umpires who, after a short discussion, asked the players to leave the field for bad light and, despite them staying out for some time hoping for an improvement, the umpires made the decision to remove the stumps and call an end to the day’s play.
Under normal conditions 96 overs would be bowled but today we saw only 30 with Kent, boosted by the shot-making of Bell-Drummond and Northeast, posting 132/4 at close.
Surrey won the toss and elected to bowl.
Surrey: ZS Ansari, RJ Burns, A Harinath, KC Sangakkara, DP Sibley, JJ Roy, BT Foakes†, JE Burke, GJ Batty*, TK Curran, SM Curran
Kent: DJ Bell-Drummond, JL Denly, SA Northeast*, BW Harmison, DI Stevens, SW Billings†, AJ Ball, CJ Haggett, JC Tredwell, MT Coles, MD Hunn