By Stephen Thorpe at the Oval
First day of four: Surrey (333 all out) lead Derbyshire (46 for 2) by 287 runs
ALI Brown's fourth championship century of the summer for Surrey, 132 in 3.25 hours, eventually stole the show yesterday and dragged the leaders from a powerless 57 for three after earlier shenanigans had threatened to overshadow a stiflingly hot day.
These took the shape of a drama before the high noon start as Surrey prepared to continue their pursuit of a first pennant in 27 years. The pitch apparently ear-marked for the match was used in the previous one-day game. Its replacement was then suddenly deemed too dry amid much gesticulation and discussion and a track eight strips away on the gasholder side of the square was allocated instead.
This may be slightly greener and firmer but it is still a care-worn practice wicket, turning from the outset, and Saqlain Mushtaq is drooling in anticipation. Derbyshire have a clutch of twirlers of their own, of course, albeit of lesser class, and Ian Blackwell, their 20-year-old left-arm spinner, made full use with a career-best five for 115.
The plot thickened before play with the shock announcement that Alan Butcher was replacing Jason Ratcliffe. Surrey then elected to bat. Blackwell bowled Ian Ward and Nadeem Shahid but Adam Hollioake (36) gave sensible support to Brown before Ben Hollioake and James Knott went meekly.
Derbyshire's cause was undermined by a rash of missed chances at slip and Butcher's cameo they could have done without. Brown's effort, meanwhile, ended after 16 fours and a six when he carved Blackwell to backward point. Martin Bicknell (32) and Saqlain (31) then made hay.
Kevin Dean, three for 34, finally wrapped things up but Derbyshire's sorry day was replete when Michael Slater forced Ben Hollioake to mid-off and Michael May was bowled off his arm by Bicknell.
Day 2: Surrey on their way
By Stephen Thorpe at the Oval
Second day of four: Surrey (333 & 148-7) lead Derbys (139) by 342 runs
SURREY hold all the aces here despite losing seven second-innings wickets on a wearing pitch where the excellent Ian Blackwell, with four for 58, seems set to better his earlier career-best return.
Adam Hollioake, the Surrey captain, declined to enforce the follow-on after Derbyshire were routed for 139, an odd decision perhaps in view of the stranglehold exerted by his bowlers and a lead of 194.
The track, however, is showing signs of uneven bounce and with both seamers having shrugged off injuries recently, a break probably made sense.
Derbyshire's execrable batting display was prompted largely by that mesmeric sorcerer Saqlain Mushtaq, who sowed the seeds of doubt in 31.3 overs off the reel for three for 42, and Ben Hollioake's reverse swing and vengeful career best of four for 36 after an unproductive summer. Martin Bicknell's three for 48 was also far from inconsequential.
Derbyshire, 287 in arrears, lost five wickets in the morning and had to contend with the devilish wiles of Saqlain from the outset, although Bicknell, generating real pace from the pavilion end, drew first blood when Kim Barnett lost his middle stump.
Hollioake's third ball then ripped through Matt Cassar's defence, Blackwell top-edged a pull to square leg and Phil DeFreitas was later pinned leg before.
Rob Weston, the Durham discard, made a career-best 97 in the last match against Kent but, after another 2.75 hours of dogged application, he danced down the wicket at Saqlain and was stumped by a furlong for 37.
Hollioake bowled like a man who had been wronged, a forceful spell of nine overs liberally spiced with bouncers earning him figures of three for 22, prior to Karl Krikken bat-padding a sweep off Saqlain to short leg.
The innings folded quickly thereafter and the visitors require a miracle if Surrey are to be denied an eighth victory. The portents are unfavourable.
Day 3: Hollioake's caution is justified
By Rob Steen at the Oval
Surrey (333 & 238-9) dec beat Derbyshire (139 & 206) by 226 runs
ODD cove, the Oval. There it is, nestling between the earthiness of south Kennington and its leafy northern glades, an Ali Brown biff from the Bohemian terraces of Stockwell, a verdant oasis amid a metropolitan melting pot.
The tube station has had a facelift, reflecting a ground making the uneasy transition from venerable moth-eaten citadel to spanking modern stadium. The nipping and tucking undergone by its residents this season has been no less impressive.
Odd coves, Surrey fans. Nearly 15,000 of them turned up for last week's brace of 40-over floodlit japes, even though it is exceedingly difficult to recall a team so patently suited to the form being so utterly and persistently inept. In each instance, the result, another hefty defeat, was irrelevant, the technicolour extravaganza all. Yet here we were, three days later, seemingly on the brink of a home win that would bring that elusive championship pennant within sniffing distance for the first time since decimalisation, and the congregation numbered 500 tops. Perversity thy name is cricket.
When Adam Hollioake opted to build on Surrey's overnight lead of 341, on a pitch that had hitherto permitted only one batsman to reach 40, eyebrows took off in the general direction of the gasholders. By mid-afternoon, with the two Michaels, May and Slater, advancing towards a century-opening stand with something unnervingly akin to a strut, the captain's caution appeared eminently justified. Indeed, even when May prodded Saqlain Mushtaq to short leg, the plot stubbornly refused to revert to its anticipated course.
The morning session belonged to Martin Bicknell, who brandished his bat with much the same authority as he has been manipulating the seam all summer. Cutting, driving and sweeping with the jaunty assurance of a man who feels his time has finally come, he had just reeled off four boundaries in five balls to march from 65 to 81, eight short of a career-best, when adventure got the better of him and he was stumped attempting to deposit Glen Roberts into the nether reaches of Camberwell. No matter. Saqlain went first ball and Hollioake promptly declared at 238 for nine, leaving Derbyshire the not inconsiderable task of making 433 in five-and-a-bit sessions.
Initially, it was all May and Slater could do to resist a blistering new-ball salvo from Bicknell and Hollioake minor, the latter promoted in the pecking order following Alex Tudor's season-ending foot injury and vindicating the decision with four prime first-innings wickets. Yet every appeal, however lusty, however just, brought an equally forthright rejection. Are Surrey's perceived excesses in the field catching up with them, making umpires reluctant to give anything in their favour bar stone-cold certainties?
Incongruous as it may appear, the advent of Saqlain in the ninth over relieved the pressure. What ensued was a duel compelling in its ebb and flow, enchanting as a distillation of the game's most seductive qualities. In the blue corner Saqlain, all flight and pinpoint control and enigmatic variations; in the red, Slater, all thrust and vigour, eager to score points in the build-up to Australia's impending tour of Pakistan. If only English men tackled Shane Warne with such twinkle-toed enterprise.
Robin Weston kept Slater company for 10 overs before he cut at Saqlain and saw Jonathan Batty dart forward with astonishing stealth to pouch the catch near leg slip, yet Slater remained undaunted, reaching his first championship fifty of the season off 73 balls in inimitable fashion with a push and scampered single. It would have been more but for Alan Butcher, belying his 44 years with a swallow dive at cover that would have done credit to a chap more than half his age.
Kim Barnett is another man with a habit of putting his youngers to shame, but not this day. Having progressed serenely to 18, he greeted left-arm spinner Rupesh Amin's third ball, a lengthy long hop, by slashing it straight to point with the tea brewing in the dressing room. Older is not always wiser.
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EXTRAORDINARY circumstance, Test calls, injury and disciplinary action initially combined to unbalance Surrey and the attack laboured before tea on Saturday as Derbyshire staged a fair recovery in a vain attempt on a mammoth 433 in 79 overs and three sessions.
Surrey saw fit to ignore Joey Benjamin and left-arm seamer Michael Bell, relying instead on Saqlain Mushtaq and two seamers, Martin Bicknell and Ben Hollioake.
Michael Slater's splendid 99 off 141 balls exposed flaws in the thinking, however, and until Saqlain got to work Derbyshire threatened to extend the match deep into a fourth day. Rupesh Amin, the natural left-arm foil for Saqlain, must have oversugared the captain's tea because Adam Hollioake steadfastly refused to employ him, even having the nerve to bowl himself before quickly seeing sense.
Derbyshire were motoring on 161 for two after 44 overs, Slater firmly in the driving seat with Michael May (43) in tow. The Australian opener has had a rough time but he was eventually ninth out, caught and bowled Saqlain, with the tail folding around him. Right on cue Kim Barnet cut Amin's third delivery, a rank long hop, to point to precipitate a terminal collapse, eight wickets disappearing for 46 runs. Saqlain was the beneficiary with six for 10 in 52 balls and a career-best eight for 65.
Bicknell's handsome array and his highest score of the season, 81 with 10 fours, extended Surrey's already hefty lead of 342 on a hot morning. Who needs Darren Bicknell? Well, Surrey probably Bicknell has had mild net sessions and expects the all-clear in two weeks after his back operation.
Alex Tudor, though, is out for up to two months with a stress fracture of the left foot. Graeme Thorpe's demise and Test duty for Alec Stewart, Mark Butcher and Ian Salisbury have stretched Surrey's resources.
There is no guarantee, either, that the situation will ease next summer with the demands of a World Cup to consider. Both Martin Bicknell and Ally Brown are selected for the First Class Counties XI against South Africa at Headingley on Wednesday.
The club are analysing the financial implications of augmenting the current staff while pondering the merits of implementing a workable squad system. At least the leaders will have a fuller complement for the final approach in September - a crunch match against Yorkshire at Headingley, Durham at the Riverside and then the potential Oval decider against Leicester.
Something must be right, though. Surrey are 41 points clear and Saqlain, with 61 wickets now at 16.64 after 11 for 107 in the match, is the absolute master.