Yorkshire 78-0 v Surrey 592
Yorkshire openers Shaun Marsh and Tom Kohler-Cadmore replied strongly to Surrey’s mammoth first innings total of 592 in the Specsavers County Championship Division One match at the Kia Oval – after Kumar Sangakkara and Ben Foakes had earlier completed superlative second day hundreds.
At tea Yorkshire were 78 for no wicket with Marsh on 35 and Kohler-Cadmore 39. It was the highest opening partnership of the season for the 2014 and 2015 champions, ironically by a makeshift pair only brought together because of the absence of Adam Lyth on paternal leave.
Australian left-hander Marsh will also be replaced as overseas player by West Indies opener Kraigg Brathwaite for Yorkshire’s last two championship fixtures of the summer.
Sangakkara eased to a magnificent 164 from 187 balls, with three sixes and 21 fours, and it was a seventh century of the summer for the remarkable 39-year-old, in his 12th championship innings.
Foakes, however, the 24-year-old keeper-batsman who is pushing hard for an Ashes tour place, did not lose much in comparison even with Sangakkara in his 110 from 174 balls, with 19 fours, and he also oozed class in a memorable fourth wicket partnership which began just before tea on the first day and was eventually worth 258 in 55 overs.
Pushing on from an overnight 398 for 3, in which they had already reached 85 and 64 respectively, Sangakkara and Foakes entertained a good-sized crowd with a brilliant exhibition of batting in which effortless big hits were mixed with beautifully deft touches as the pair added 115 in a little over 20 overs in the opening session.
Sangakkara was eventually caught at long leg, mis-hitting a pull at Jack Brooks, who then had Ollie Pope caught at second slip for a first ball duck. And, by lunch, Brooks had also bowled Sam Curran for 5 with one that seemed to keep low and finally ended Foakes’s fun, courtesy of a fine tumbling catch by keeper Andrew Hodd from an edged drive.
After lunch, Rikki Clarke hit out to reach 41 before becoming a third late victim for seamer Steven Patterson, who had also removed Freddie van den Bergh and Stuart Meaker in successive balls.