Jamie Smith boosts England prospects as Craig Miles takes five

Surrey 327 for 6 (Smith 98*, Sibley 64, Miles 5-43) trail Warwickshire 343 (Barnard 108, Clark 4-65) by xxx runs

Jamie Smith‘s brilliant 98 not out from only 111 balls, and a 139-run fourth wicket stand with Ben Foakes, propelled champions Surrey into a strong position at the halfway stage against Warwickshire in the Kia Oval sunshine.

But three wickets in three overs with the second new ball by Craig Miles, who finished the day with superb figures of 5 for 43, pegged Surrey back to 327 for 6 in reply to Warwickshire’s 343, gave the visitors a toehold in this Vitality County Championship match themselves.

Miles bowled Foakes for 52 with a ball that kept low – not for the first time in the game – and then followed that up by pinning Dan Lawrence leg-before for three and, three balls later, having nightwatchman Kemar Roach magnificently held low and left-handed by a diving Rob Yates at second slip.

Smith remained unbeaten, however, with some imperious strokes so far bringing him two sixes and 14 fours, and in addition to Cameron Steel, not out on four at stumps, Surrey have all-rounders Jordan Clark and Sean Abbott still to bat as they bid to turn a slender 16-run deficit into a potentially match-defining first innings lead on day three.

The late drama involving Miles also included him rolling his right ankle in celebration at Roach’s wicket, with what was his final ball at the end of the day’s penultimate over, and limping immediately from the field for treatment.

Ollie Pope, meanwhile, is still searching for his first sizeable score of the season after contributing a middling 44 to Surrey’s first innings.

With openers Dom Sibley and Rory Burns making 64 and 40 respectively, Surrey batted solidly throughout the day – until that late loss of three wickets – in their attempt to establish a significant lead and put pressure on their opponents in the remainder of this game.

But England batsman Pope is enduring a lean run of form with only 79 runs from four innings to date in this season’s championship, and 198 from 12 first-class knocks overall since his majestic 196 at Hyderabad in last winter’s opening Test against India.

Here, coming in after Burns hit Will Rhodes’ medium pace to backward point in the 28th over – and after the Surrey captain had put on 88 in two hours with Sibley – Pope initially overcame an edgy start to cruise towards what would have been a confidence-boosting half-century.

But, with tea approaching, Pope aimed a loose drive at a ball from Miles that shaped away just enough to catch the edge and fly straight to Yates stationed in a solitary widish slip position.

Pope thumped his bat in disappointment, yet it was further reward for paceman Miles in a controlled eight-over afternoon spell of two for 24 that had earlier also brought him Sibley’s scalp, bowled off stump by one that kept a little low to beat the opener’s back-foot defensive stroke.

After tea, however, Smith and Foakes seemed like they were wrenching the match away from Warwickshire in an increasingly aggressive and well-judged 31-over partnership.

Smith had off-driven the last ball of the afternoon session, from Miles, for his first boundary and there were more glorious strokes to follow from the 23-year-old as he reached his fifty from 65 balls. Foakes, meanwhile, was busy at the crease while also straight-driving Ollie Hannon-Dalby classily for one of his own fours.

Warwickshire captain Rhodes, giving himself a second spell, was crashed to the offside ropes as Smith took a couple of strides down the pitch to hit the ball at the top of the bounce. Soon after, Smith took two more sweetly-struck fours off Rhodes in the same over through extra cover and mid on.

Later, there was a pull for six off Jacob Bethell’s left arm spin, following a lofted four over mid on against the same bowler, a sublime extra cover four off Ed Barnard’s fast-medium and also a powerfully-driven six and four off successive Barnard deliveries.

The day started with Warwickshire, on 318 for 8 overnight, seeing 28-year-old all-rounder Barnard quickly score the four runs he needed to complete a deserved sixth first-class hundred – and his first for the club since leaving Worcestershire at the start of last year.

Dan Worrall, however, luckless on day one, produced an off-cutter to clip the top of Miles’ off stump as he decided to shoulder arms on 29, a creditable innings by the No 10 in a stand with Barnard of 66.

And Barnard, on 108 from 179 balls and attempting to hit out for a third batting bonus point, then skewed Lawrence’s off spin to cover in the next over to end both his own superlative knock and Warwickshire’s first innings.

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