In-form Foakes helps Surrey into lead against Yorkshire

BBC News

17-05-2025

Rothesay County Championship Division One, Kia Oval (day two)Yorkshire 255: Bairstow 89; Clark 3-31, Lawes 3-77Surrey 384-7: Foakes 86, Patterson 85; Hill 4-58Surrey (6pts) lead Yorkshire (3pts) by 129 runs with three wickets remainingMatch scorecard
Ben Foakes maintained his fine form with the bat by hitting 86 to fashion a solid Surrey lead in their County Championship encounter with Yorkshire at the Kia Oval.Foakes, who hit a career-high 174 not out against Warwickshire earlier this week, followed it up with another vital knock to guide the home side to 384-7 at stumps on day two, 129 in front.Australian left-hander Kurtis Patterson also sparkled on his Surrey debut with 85 but after he and Dan Lawrence fell in rapid succession, they needed Foakes – aided by the lower-middle order – to cement their advantage.Medium-pacer George Hill (4-58), fresh from recording a nine-wicket match haul in Yorkshire's previous game at Essex, was again the pick of the visitors' bowlers.Rory Burns and Dom Sibley resumed in the morning with a deficit of 209 and shaved off just another 10 runs before the skipper departed, nudging a Jack White delivery that left him into the hands of slip.That brought Patterson to the crease for the first time in Surrey colours, taking a while to settle before he unveiled his ruthless cover drive and dispatched both White and Jordan Buckingham to the rope.Buckingham was expensive, conceding two boundaries in quick succession to Sibley – who appeared nicely set at 29 until he failed to get forward sufficiently to Hill and was trapped lbw.However, Patterson was into his stride by then and advanced to his half-century from the penultimate ball of the morning session, ably supported by some wristy leg-side strokeplay from Dan Lawrence.Yorkshire might have removed Patterson on 60 soon after lunch, when he miscued a hook off Buckingham – but James Wharton, moving in from long leg, was unable to cling onto the catch.After receiving treatment for a back problem just before the interval, Lawrence still looked uncomfortable in the middle, but he stuck around for almost two hours helping Patterson to add 112.However, Surrey's momentum was dented when they lost both batters in the space of three deliveries, with Ben Coad returning for his second spell of the day to pin Lawrence in front of the stumps for 31.Hill's impact was even more immediate, removing Patterson in the same manner with the first delivery of his stint from the Vauxhall End and that left Foakes and Jason Roy to regroup as they closed in on the visitors' total.Foakes struck the ball cleanly and crisply, particularly on the leg side, while Roy employed a greater degree of brute force, punching Jordan Thompson off the back foot for four and slamming Adam Lyth into the pavilion to secure his side's first batting bonus point.The final say went to Lyth, who had his fellow ex-England opener pouched at slip for 26 in the first over after tea, but Foakes progressed past 50 for the fifth time this season with one of his looser shots, slashing White just past the slips for two.Yorkshire captain Jonny Bairstow handed his wicketkeeper's gloves to Jonny Tattersall for the final session, having sustained a finger injury, but continued to direct proceedings in the outfield.It was Tattersall who snapped up an outside edge off Foakes late in the day to provide Hill with his fourth wicket, but Jordan Clark – having almost chopped on twice early in his innings – swung the bat to reach 41 not out with a clutch of boundaries.ECB Reporters' Network supported by Rothesay.