By Christopher Martin-Jenkins at the Oval
First day of four: Surrey (112-2) trail Sussex (125) by 13 runs
THERE were only eight spin bowlers in the top 70 of the national bowling averages when yesterday's matches started: a wet summer has made life even harder than usual for finger spinners on covered pitches. But there are finger spinners and there is Saqlain Mushtaq, operating in a rarified class of his own. Adding still further to his mystique at the Oval yesterday he so bewildered Sussex that in the course of 10 overs and five balls he took seven wickets for 17.
As Sussex collapsed with embarrassing speed from 93 for no wicket to 125 all out, there was more than a faint echo of the atmosphere at the Oval in the Fifties when opponents were swept aside like this with stunning regularity. They were the halcyon days especially of Tony Lock and Jim Laker, that fastidious craftsman whose biography, by Alan Hill, was being launched in the Long Room even as Alec Stewart and Mark Butcher were working the 1998 championship leaders into another apparently impregnable position.
Not that everything went according to the original plan. Attempting to repeat the formula which worked so effectively against Kent at the end of May, Surrey deliberately used an old pitch for this match and backed the best pair of spinners in county cricket to do what was required. But Sussex won the toss and with it the theoretically considerable advantage of batting first on a surface the colour of a Rich Tea biscuit.
What is more, their left-handed opening pair, Toby Peirce and Wasim Khan, had put on an untroubled 83 when a brief but furious cloudburst interrupted proceedings for more than two hours. The lunch interval meant that only nine overs were lost and by the time that another squall blew in a little before half past six Surrey had made excellent progress towards their seventh win in 12 matches.
Rough created by Kevin Dean, Derbyshire's left-arm bowler, in the one-day match three days ago gave Saqlain quite sufficient assistance to demolish Sussex almost by himself. He had bowled eight overs before he struck for the first time, having Chris Adams caught at slip for a duck with the leg-break he delivers from the front of the hand. His eventual seven for 30 improves the career best seven for 41 he recorded here against Worcestershire.
Saqlain's other half, Ian Salisbury, did not get a bowl. His former team-mates did not bat well enough to make it necessary once Martin Bicknell had broken through with balls which in turn left the left and right-handed Khan and Mark Newell.
The rain which fell on the pitch before the covers were called on seemed to freshen pitch and bowlers after Khan and Peirce had played some crisp shots in the first phase, notably successive square-cut and cover-driven fours by Wasim off Ben Hollioake and a late cut from Peirce which whistled to the Bedser Stand. Nor had the departure of Alex Tudor after three overs, limping off with a recurrence of pain from a soft tissue injury on his left foot, helped the Surrey cause.
Having left out an all-rounder rather than a seam bowler, however, to make room for Justin Bates, whose off-spin has already earned him a nine-wicket analysis on this ground for the 2nd XI this season, Sussex were short of depth and in dire need of a strong lead from their own overseas player, Michael Bevan. He alone played Saqlain with conviction during a 12-over reconnaissance but, pushing forward to an orthodox off-break, he was caught behind off a thin edge in the 40th over.
In another 12 overs the business was done. Peirce, having batted for 2.5 hours, limply pushed at a ball wide of his off stump to give the persevering Ben Hollioake his only wicket, whereupon the masterly Saqlain spun effortlessly past a variety of prods and pushes.
Jason Lewry had Ian Ward caught at third slip in his first spell and Butcher superbly taken by Shaun Humphries in his second but Stewart, timing the ball wonderfully well, was, as usual, lord of all he surveyed.
Day 2: Surrey are salvaged by Bicknell and Brown
By Christopher Martin-Jenkins at the Oval
Second day of four: Sussex (125 & 59-4) trail Surrey (364) by 180 runs
THERE was a time yesterday when Sussex almost got themselves back into this game. At 196 for six the County Championship leaders were in danger of losing the huge advantage won for them by Saqlain Mushtaq and Alec Stewart, indubitably the best of the seven Test cricketers they are fielding in their current XI.
But Alistair Brown, still to get the highest call, and Martin Bicknell, who might possibly get it again for his bowling rather than his batting, put the Surrey ship firmly back on course with a seventh-wicket partnership of 115.
Once Sussex, whose catching became more fallible as their frustration mounted, had bowled Surrey out for 364, a famous Oval score, they had nothing but a draw for which to play. Adam Hollioake's curious reluctance to give the ball to Ian Salisbury helped them to take the match into a third day but it will need at least a further six hours of occupation by their captain, Chris Adams, if anyone is to be detained from going to church on Sunday morning.
Adams, who held the fort for 105 minutes, will regret not sending for a nightwatchman when Toby Peirce, after another determined innings, had become the first of Saqlain's second-innings victims with six overs of the second day left. Instead Michael Bevan came in and edged his 10th ball, which to him was a vicious leg-break, to slip, where Brown took the second of two sharp catches off similar balls.
James Kirtley did well to survive the last two overs, with eight fielders round the bat and umpire Chris Balderstone sorely tempted to join in, but on a dry pitch now taking quite quick spin, only worse weather than is forecast can prevent Surrey from maintaining the grip on the championship which Gloucestershire loosened a little last week.
Saqlain's counterpart, Justin Bates, who bowled with good control to take his second five-wicket haul in successive matches for Sussex, must have watched in awe the engaging Pakistani's ability to tweak the ball with a vigour which only Muttiah Muralitheran can match among contemporary off-spinners. Power of spin is one thing which sets Saqlain apart; variety the other. Yet at 21, according to birth certificates, he is a few months younger than Bates.
Saqlain enjoyed himself with the bat, too, but by then the Sussex bowlers were tired and he was twice dropped. So, more culpably, was Brown, when 64.
Stewart faced more challenging cricket at the start of the day but his timing was impeccable from the moment he stroked three leg-side fours in Kirtley's opening over. He was forced to concentrate when Adam Hollioake, having hit Bates's first ball of the morning straight back over his head, repeated the shot next ball and was smartly caught and bowled.
Stewart went five overs later, defeated by low bounce to give the reliably accurate Mark Robinson his 19th wicket of the season, and when Bates persuaded Ben Hollioake to hit a full toss to midwicket and had Jonathan Batty, forward, caught by the diving Bevan at slip, Surrey were only 68 ahead with four wickets left. Signalling with a typically clean six over long-on that there was nothing wrong with a dry but firm pitch, however, Brown dominated the period before and after lunch, hitting regularly and with authority through midwicket and mid-on.
Brown also missed a deserved hundred, driving to short, straight mid-on in pursuit of his 14th four. But his stand with Bicknell had restored a Surrey supremacy which the estimable Bicknell reinforced by trapping Wasim Khan with inswing and Mark Newell with the outswinger which earned him his 50th wicket of the season.
Day 3: Chilli and finally cheers for Surrey
By Scyld Berry
EACH nation has its particular genius. Russians excel at narrative, the Chinese at soup and walls, the French at wine, and the English at the observance of ceremony, like the Changing of the Guard or the luncheon interval.
Thus it was at the Oval at 1.15pm, when Surrey had only one Sussex wicket left to take and storm-dark clouds were gathering on the capital's horizon, everyone had to leave the field for chilli con carne. Some people had better ways to spend their Saturday afternoon, notably Alec Stewart, who has had to play four days out five since the Trent Bridge Test. Fixture-programmers who prevent England celebrating when they do eventually win should be forced to play nine days' cricket out of 10 to see how they like it.
Nine minutes after the resumption, Sussex's last man, Mark Robinson, edged a leg-break to slip and sank to his knees. His captain at the other end, Chris Adams, was left 99 not out. All considerations of friendship and loyalty aside, it is not the best of ideas for a 31-year-old approaching the end of his pace-bowling days to cut off his captain one short of a hundred against the championship leaders.
And with this victory, the seventh in 12 matches, Surrey extended their lead from 16 to 40 points over their main rivals at the moment, Gloucestershire, who have two games in hand to Leicestershire's one. They are as near to invincible in the championship as they are to vincible in the AXA League, where they are doomed for the drop even if they win all their remaining matches. Still, Surrey would make a good bet for the first winners of the second division of the National League next season.
This win, like the others achieved and their pursuit of their first championship since 1971, was based on brisk batting, Martin Bicknell's strike bowling and the spin of Saqlain Mushtaq supported by Ian Salisbury.
By adding four more wickets to his career-best in Sussex's first innings, Saqlain reached his finest figures for Surrey of 11 for 104. If the prayers of Saqlain's family did not work for Salisbury at Trent Bridge - they do not seem to be convertible between faiths - they have not lost their efficacy for the off-spinner, who seldom used his leg-break yesterday.
Robinson, in fact, did better than any of his colleagues in partnering Adams and holding up Surrey. Within the hour, Bicknell had plucked out James Kirtley's off stump and bounced out Rajesh Rao to finish, like Saqlain, with 50 wickets for the season at an average well below 20. At present, as he moves the ball away and remains free of injury, Bicknell is more of a wicket-to-wicket bowler than Dominic Cork.
At the pavilion end, Saqlain kept going from the resumption to the close to paper over the cracks in Surrey's ever-more stretched resources. Ben Hollioake is hobbling and Alex Tudor has an injured left foot, which will be examined by a specialist tomorrow and is expected to scupper England's plan to try him out against Sri Lanka in the Oval Test.
Although Saqlain dismissed Shaun Humpries when he swept to midwicket and Jason Lewry when he offered no stroke, he could make no further headway. Adams cut and lofted him straight or over mid-on to reach 76 by Robinson's entry, with 39 minutes remaining until that inviolable interval, then drove Salisbury over long-off for six, while Robinson lunged forward gamely.
Day 4: Surrey's title drive fuelled by Saqlain
By Christopher Martin-Jenkins at the Oval
Fouth day of four: Surrey (364) bt Sussex (125 & 170) by an innings and 69 runs
David Gilbert, partly responsible for persuading Saqlain Mushtaq to come to the Oval, must have watched with mixed feelings as the off-spinning maestro from Lahore completed match figures of 11 for 104 against Sussex on Saturday.
Saqlain was primarily responsible for defeating Gilbert's new county by an innings and 69 runs in two and a half days. The title which apparently beckoned for Surrey at a similar stage last season looks a much more realistic aspiration this time.
Chris Adams, who succumbed to Saqlain's Ramadhin-like leg-break for a duck in the first innings, made a highly creditable 99 not out and Mark Robinson batted with typical determination for 45 minutes in a last-wicket stand of 29, only to edge a leg-break from Ian Salisbury to slip seven minutes after lunch.
Surrey, with 24 more points in the bag, lead the table this morning by 42 points, with five more matches to play. They will almost certainly be without Graham Thorpe for the rest of the campaign but having three players in the England Test 12 will not worry them this week as they have no championship match. The games between Lancashire and Gloucestershire and Leicestershire and Somerset will determine which chasing county really have a chance of overtaking them.
While Gilbert plans for the longer term as director of cricket at Sussex, his successor at the Oval, Keith Medlycott, who has now ceased coaching Northern Titans (Northern Transvaal) in South Africa to spend all his time with Surrey, is relishing the success of the team and the various successful individuals within it.
He has the highest regard for Martin Bicknell and Alistair Brown, both chosen for a representative county XI yesterday, and believes the selectors should look less at Brown's less-than-perfect technique and more at his volume of runs and his ``huge appetite for batting''.
``His conversion rate of fifties into hundreds in first-class cricket is exceptional and he's played more controlled cricket for us this year. He plays match-turning innings. I know Andrew Flintoff is a useful bowler, too, but if there's a better attacking batsman in England than Ali Brown, I haven't seen him,'' he said.
Medlycott is not worried by the continuing modest returns of Ben Hollioake - he will play at the Oval this evening despite minor bruising on his left shin - and is convinced that Salisbury will prove his value to England before the season is out.
His highest praise, however, is for Saqlain. ``He's a master. I love watching him and just hearing him talk about bowling. In England all we seem to worry about is control and a grooved action. Saqlain talks about shorter and longer delivery strides, changes of pace, different angles of attack and different angles of his bowling arm. He's streets ahead.''