PACEMAN Jamie Overton’s eight-wicket haul spearheaded Surrey to a magnificent innings victory over Hampshire inside three days.
The 28-year-old, who switched from Somerset two years ago, ensured that the loss of West Indian speedster Kemar Roach to injury was felt less keenly than it might, although the Barbadian’s damaged hamstring remains a serious blow to his county’s LV Insurance County Championship prospects.
But it was the only cloud at the Kia Oval which saw Surrey, who had opened with a high-scoring draw against Warwickshire at Edgbaston, thoroughly outplay one of the most fancied teams.
Having been sent in on a pitch which offered pace, bounce and seam movement throughout, the home side posted a formidable 467 all out, led by Ollie Pope’s 127. Bidding to recover his England place, the 24-year-old took his average at The Oval above 100, building on the valuable earlier work of openers Ryan Patel (58) and Rory Burns (58) in adding 114 for the third wicket with Hashim Amla (73) and then 107 with the fluent Ben Foakes (45).
Hampshire had bowled too short but even when they corrected that could not prevent Will Jacks’s 72 extending the innings, Keith Barker’s 4-80 the best of the attack.
Finding a more testing length, Surrey’s seamers soon had Hampshire in trouble at 52-4 but saw Roach limp off and almost certainly out of the campaign. Overton’s six wickets in eight matches last year, costing 75 apiece, underlined his struggles but having already had Nick Gubbins beautifully caught low down by wicketkeeper Foakes, he produced an outstanding delivery to castle Liam Dawson. Backed up by Jordan Clark’s two wickets and a brace for off-spinner Jacks, he returned later to remove the obstinate Barker (57) – who had put on 90 for the eighth wicket with James Fuller (41) – in sweeping away the last three wickets in eight balls to claim a best of 5-54.
Dismissed for 223, Hampshire were sent in again by Burns yet despite the efforts of opener Joe Weatherley (87), James Vince (57) and Ben Brown (30no), were despatched again for 227 to lose by an innings and 17 runs, this time Clark’s 4-55 complementted by three apiece for Overton and young seamer James Taylor as they earned their side a day off.
Surrey’s interim head coach Gareth Batty was understandably happy about the performance, commenting: “It’s very pleasing because although it’s still April and early days, we have beaten the team who were top of Division One after the first week and we played some great cricket throughout the game.”
Focusing on Overton, who has profited from the presence of new bowling coach Azhar Mahmood, he added: “What we saw from Jamie, especially in the first innings, was very special. His bowling was really electric and he’s one of those who has put in some serious work during the winter. He made some technical changes and it’s exciting to see him bowl like that.
“James Taylor also performed brilliantly for a 21-year-old. It’s particularly good for all the players who have worked extremely hard in the winter months to begin to see the fruits of that.”
Overton will doubtless relish the chance to cross swords with his twin brother Craig when Somerset arrive at The Oval for their Championship clash starting from Thursday.
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