Surrey vs Worcestershire – County Championship Division One – Match Recap
A stern effort from http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Surrey-c851 in their English County Championship Division One game, played at the Kennington Oval, London, on April 22, 2012.
Klinger, playing as an overseas Australian player in place of Phil Hughes, embraced the Oval pitch with determination and calmness to finish on an unbeaten 69, as Worcester reached 94 for 1, in their pursuit of 246, before rain halted play.
His innings was singled out, considering the outcomes of the previous days, where wickets fell like nine pins. After day 1 was washed out due to rain, a well-known factor in the English domestic season, Day 2 and 3 offered plenty of encouragement for the bowlers.
After reaching 123 for 7 on the second day, Surrey added just 17 more runs before being bundled out on a lowly 140 in the first session of Day 3. However, Stuart Meaker’s six-wicket burst ensured that his side remained on top, sweeping away the away team on a miserable 119. The game still kept on swinging, with Worcestershire’s bowlers claiming 6 more wickets to restrict the locals at 131 for 6 at the close of play.
Another wicket-fest for the bowlers was expected on the final morning and especially for the Surrey bowling lineup, after they had set their opponents 246 for victory, owing to a lone hand of 76 by skipper Rory Hamilton- Brown.
Enraged by the batting order collapse in their previous game against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Middlesex-c817, which led to Surrey’s director of cricket terming the Lords' pitch as the worst ever, the hosts were now on the receiving end of similar criticism, after the surface at Oval offered variability of identical nature.
All changed however, when Worcestershire took to bat in pursuit of the target. The first wicket pairing added a relatively untroubled 94, which included Klinger’s impressive half-century. The Australian will head home, once Phil Hughes arrives but he certainly left a pleasing mark, following a composed outing.
His 69-run knock, which included 10 boundaries and 1 six, kept Worcestershire at par with the asking rate, and had rain not intervened, they were in pole position to gun down the required runs in the 70 allotted overs.
While the match ended in a draw, Adams was left to defend his comments.
“My sympathies go out to batsmen around the country at the moment because clearly conditions are proving very difficult. For three days here it was very difficult for all batsmen,” said Adams.
"What it is producing is an entertaining spectacle because people are seeing action and entertainment on a consistent basis. What I don't think it is producing is the quality of cricket we want to see from a batsman's point of view. "
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