da wazamba： Former England fast bowler Alex Tudor was the unlikely last-daybatting hero as Surrey lost only six wickets in three sessions
da realbet： Mark Pennell at The Oval12-Sep-2009
ScorecardFormer England fast bowler Alex Tudor was the unlikely last-daybatting hero as Surrey lost only six wickets in three sessionsat The Oval to force an improbable draw against promotion-chasingNorthamptonshire.Surrey looked destined for a fifth straight championship defeat goinginto the fourth and final day as they teetered on 116 for 3,effectively 0 for 3 as the scores in the match were tied.Yet batting heroics from the usually aggressive Tudor, who remained atthe crease for nigh on two hours to score an unbeaten 20, coupled witha brace of dropped chances by Northamptonshire, allowed Surrey to slipaway with a draw and 10 points to Northamptonshire’s tally of 12.Needing a rearguard action to survive, Surrey made a dreadfulstart when they lost Sri Lankan batsman Arun Harinath to the sixth ballof the day from Lee Daggett, the most impressive paceman on show with figures of 3 for 39. For the second time in the match Harinath aimed an airy drive outside off to edge to the keeper and leave the hosts even deeper in trouble on 119 for 4.Matt Spriegel enjoyed an early let-off when, with his score on 3,he edged a lifter from Daggett between slip and the keeper withoutAndrew Hall or Niall O’Brien laying a glove on it.That proved a costly miss as Spriegel teamed up with Usman Afzaal (31)to add 52 in 23 precious overs for the fifth wicket as Northamptonshire’s attack struggled to get much help from a sublime Oval pitch.Afzaal eventually went just before lunch when visiting skipper NickyBoje turned one out of the foot-holds and back in to the left-hander totrap him lbw when playing back in defence.After lunch Northamptonshire blundered again when Chris Schofield’scut shot slid through the hands of Hall at slip to hit the SouthAfrican in the chest and fly to ground with Schofield on 27. But the stand came to an end when Daggett returned with the second newball to remove Spriegel and Schofield in quick succession.Having scored a backs-to-the-wall 50 from 130 balls Spriegel went lbwto a Daggett yorker that hit him full on the boot then Schofield (36)played late on another full ball that plucked out the left-hander’s offstump.After tea Monty Panesar chipped in with only his second wicket of thegame when he snared Jade Dernbach (4) lbw, but no-one coulddislodge Tudor and last-man James Anyon and, after 10 overs of trying,Northamptonshire shook hands on a draw with Tudor unbeaten afterfacing 102 balls.Surrey’s director of cricket Chris Adams said afterwards: “The energyand work-rate of the side this week has been fantastic. We knew we had a big challenge ahead of us this morning but theyprepared as well as they could by facing plenty of left-arm spin in thenets. They then went out, battled hard and got their justrewards.”
