Ryan Patel seizes moment as 134 drives Surrey to title

At the Kia Oval, Surrey defeated Durham by a margin of 153 runs in the first innings thanks in large part to a career-best 134 from Ryan Patel.

After that, in the first delivery of Durham’s second innings, Dan Worrall had nightwatchman Callum Parkinson brilliantly held by Conor McKerr at third slip. Durham concluded their batting innings in two overs at 1 for 1.

Durham was defeated in an eighth wicket stand of 92 in 19 overs with Tom Lawes by Patel, who batted for just under five hours in a vital anchor position before being caught on the deep midwicket boundary.

The two started by attacking the second new ball, swiftly tipping the scales in favour of Surrey, the leaders in the County Championship and the favourites to win the championship for a third time in a row, after a hard-fought day.

All-rounder Lawes, a 21-year-old with a wealth of potential, scored a career-best 58, his only first-class score beyond fifty, with six sixes and six fours.

Though Ryan Patel was the primary recipient of their generosity when he was dropped on 19 and 70, Durham may have been in a strong position if they had taken their catches.

In addition, Tom Curran survived two edges into the slip cordon early in an 81-ball stay for 22, and Rory Burns was dropped on 43 shortly after the start of the second day’s play. Patel, 26, faced 183 balls and hit three sixes and fourteen fours. It was his fifth first-class hundred and his second of the season.

Even though Durham made mistakes in their fielding, they did a commendable job with the ball and forced Surrey to work hard to score runs until Patel and Lawes broke through.

After adding just three runs to his overnight 40, Burns was dismissed off Daniel Hogg’s bowl as Surrey began on 52 without loss in response to Durham’s first innings 262.

Burns reached 55 when Barbadian paceman Chemar Holder bowled him out with a brilliant delivery. Dom Sibley then assisted Burns in building an outstanding 87 during their opening stand before, on 26, edging slippery seamer Bas de Leede low to first slip.

A mini-collapse ensued as Surrey lost three wickets in five overs after Dan Lawrence (6), like Sibley, snicking low to David Bedingham at first slip after pushing at a ball from de Leede.

However, after Hogg hit Ben Foakes in the hand, Patel and Foakes combined for a 47-run partnership to steady the innings at 110 for 3. Foakes required medical attention on the pitch.

On 17, though, Foakes was ruled to have feathered a catch to keeper Ollie Robinson. The brilliant de Leede, who ended with 4 for 106, then struck once again, winning an LBW appeal by hitting Sam Curran (8) on the boot with a yorker, leaving Surrey 169 for 5.

Tom Curran started out swinging hard, but he let one edge off Holder break through Bedingham’s hands at first slip and run away for four. Then, Robinson went for the ball at first, surprising Bedingham, and failed to grab it again.

After that, Curran focused on helping Patel, and the two of them finally made 63 when Curran was squared up by a good ball that Parkinson, a left-arm spinner, chipped off stump.

Then, in what may have been the game-changing moment of the day, Patel, on 70, hooked a short ball from de Leede straight to deep square leg, where substitute fielder Stanley McAlindon became entangled and let the ball pass between his hands and over the rope for six.

In the subsequent over, Jordan Clark hit back-to-back boundaries from Parkinson to put Surrey ahead after Patel, who had earlier escaped on 19 when James Minto failed to hold on to a skimming drive at Parkinson at short midwicket, added extra cover and blasted de Leede’s next ball for four to take the score to 80.

After making 22 runs, Clark pulled Holder to deep square leg, but Patel continued to dominate the game with more legside sixes from Minto and Hogg. Lawes then joined Patel, forming what might be a match-defining combination.

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Minto finished with 2 for 78 after McKerr skied him to Robinson on 10 to give the 16-year-old left-arm quick his first-class wicket. Worrall (6 not out) remained to guarantee Surrey a fourth batting bonus point, and Lawes—ironically, considering Durham’s previous missed catches—was brilliantly held at long off by a diving Alex Lees.