Surrey 375 (Stoneman 144, Foakes 48, Jacks 48) beat Nottinghamshire 101 (T Curran 5-28, McKerr 3-21) and 149 (Brathwaite 60, McKerr 4-26) by an innings and 125 runs
Scorecard
Giant fast bowlers Conor McKerr and Morne Morkel led the way as Surrey completed an innings and 125-run thrashing of Nottinghamshire at the Kia Oval by dismissing them for 149 three overs after lunch on the third day.
Morkel had figures of 3 for 39 while 20-year-old McKerr, just as tall at 6ft 6in and just as hostile, took 4 for 26. For McKerr, who represented South Africa Under-19s before joining Surrey three years ago and qualify to play for England, this was just his seventh first-class match – but he already looks a fine prospect.
Surrey’s 23-point win is their eighth victory in ten Specsavers County Championship matches and – with four games still to be played – strengthens their already dominant position at the top of the Division One table.
As Surrey began this round of matches with a 32-point lead over second-placed Somerset, their only real challengers, they have taken another significant step towards a first Championship title since 2002. For Nottinghamshire, however, it was a second abject batting collapse of the match as they lost their last eight wickets for 40 runs.
Nottinghamshire began day three on 83 for 2, after following on 274 runs behind, and the promise of their late resistance on the second evening – when opener Kraigg Brathwaite, in particular, stood firm after they had been skittled for 101 first time around in reply to Surrey’s 375 – proved merely a pause in the overwhelming superiority of Rory Burns’s team in this game.
Brathwaite and Samit Patel took the total to 109 with a number of early boundaries, although some of them were decidedly streaky – such as the carve high over third slip and then the thick edge through the gap between the slips and gully which helped Brathwaite to go to his half-century.
Patel, however, was then pinned leg-before for 15 by a Morkel off-cutter and, next ball, left-hander Billy Root edged a ball angled across him to keeper Ben Foakes. The hat-trick ball, a wicked leg-cutter, missed the edge of Riki Wessels’s defensive bat by a whisker as it climbed sharply into Foakes’ gloves.
From 109 for 4 the innings fell away quickly. McKerr, replacing Morkel at the Vauxhall End, soon had Wessels caught at the wicket for a duck with a sharp delivery that shaped away and Brathwaite’s resilience was tested by a nasty blow on the helmet when he ducked into a short one from McKerr – requiring a ten-minute delay while he underwent concussion protocols – before, on 60, he gave Foakes another catch as he drove optimistically at the same bowler.
Luke Wood threw down his bat in pain after being hit on the hand by a Rikki Clarke lifter – again, there was delay while the unfortunate Wood received on-field treatment – and the left-hander did not last long afterwards before flashing to Ollie Pope in the gully off Morkel. Pope dived to his right to bring off a fine catch.
A comic mix-up with his partner, Tom Moores, led to Luke Fletcher being run out for 1, to leave Notts 135 for 8. The bowler, Morkel, even had time to fumble Tom Curran’s gentle throw before breaking the stumps, with Fletcher stranded near the other end and already resigned to walking off.
Moores fell in the second over after lunch, edging Curran low to Foakes, who dived to pull off an excellent catch inches from the turf, and last man Harry Gurney soon gave McKerr his fourth wicket of the innings – and seventh of the match – when he skied to Amar Virdi at mid-on to depart for 1.
Source: ESPN Crickinfo