Ben Foakes digs in as Surrey secure draw in County Championship opener
Two Ben Foakes-led rearguards with the bat saw Surrey secure a draw in this season’s County Championship curtain-raiser at Chelmsford, where Essex made the most of winning the toss by racking up an imposing 582-6 declared.
The reigning champions countered with 365 and 219-6, spread over seven sessions, repelling the threat posed by South African off-spinner Simon Harmer, who was called on to bowl 81 overs, taking 4-83 in the South Londoners’ first innings.
“You always know that when you come to Essex, when they have a very good overseas spinner, you’re going to have to work hard,” said Surrey’s head coach Gareth Batty.
“We worked hard, they worked hard, and we both came out with spoils shared.
“Essex won a good toss, batted very well and applied some pressure for the last two days of the game.
“It wasn’t our intention to be playing to save the game today. Credit to them, but also credit to us for showing some real discipline.
“I suppose after day two our bowlers would have felt pretty beat up, but they’re probably going home now thinking bring on The Oval on Friday (against Hampshire). In some ways there are some real positives and we’ll be fresher going into a home game.”
Foakes (92 not out and 50) helped rescue Surrey not once, but twice.
The visitors were wobbling at 180-6 when the former England wicketkeeper joined forces with Jordan Clark.
But with Matt Fisher and James Taylor also abetting Foakes, the visitors’ tail frustrated the Essex attack for long periods on day three.
Following-on, Foakes calmed Surrey nerves again after Jamie Smith had been calamitously run out to make it 81-3, still 136 runs shy of forcing their hosts to bat again.
“We probably left a few runs out there as a group,” said Batty.
“Certainly, in the first innings Foakesy was able to rotate the strike and played with patience.
“He played with skill and also took the game to them at times. It’s certainly something to be very proud of from his point of view and a really nice start to the season for him.”
The Oval outfit’s new recruit Matt Fisher, who shared in a 55-run stand with Foakes in the South Londoners’ first dig, added: “Harmer at one end was tough to get away.
“But we’ve put a lot of work into our batting over the winter. If we can keep batting to 11, teams will be fearing us.
“I was at the other end thinking Harmer’s going to get me out every ball – but he didn’t look like he was going to get Foakesy out any ball! It was nice to watch how he played the spin and what a brilliant knock for us.”
In the second innings, opener Dom Sibley (66) dropped anchor for 75 overs to help steer the South Londoners to safety.
But it was his 100-run alliance with Ben Foakes that took sufficient time out of the final day to kill off Essex’s hopes of sending Surrey packing.
PICTURE: ALAMY