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Vitality County Championship Division One, Visit Worcestershire New Road (day two)
Surrey 490: Lawrence 175, Smith 86, Sibley 76, Foakes 52; T Taylor 3-99
Worcestershire 147-7: Libby 61*, J Taylor 2-11, Lawrence 2-27
Worcestershire (2 pts) trail Surrey (5 pts) by 343 runs
Surrey’s Dan Lawrence hit five sixes in an over off England team-mate Shoaib Bashir as the county champions took complete control at Worcester.
Bashir’s 38-run eight-ball over made it the joint-most expensive over in County Championship history, matching the 38 conceded by Surrey’s Alex Tudor against Lancashire at Old Trafford in 1998, of which a young Andrew Flintoff hit 34.
It was only Bashir’s 12th first-class appearance, as part of the young spinner’s month’s loan to Worcestershire from Somerset.
He picked up 17 wickets in three Tests in the winter when he and Lawrence were part of the same England tour party to India.
This time he had toiled away through 37 overs to claim just two scalps before Lawrence, who had already made two half-centuries against the Pears for Surrey at The Oval last month, opted to cut loose with his side on 437-9.
Lawrence cleared the boundary with five successive blows – the third of which was caught by Adam Hose, who had unwittingly carried the ball over the rope. But the Surrey man was then denied a place in the history books alongside the likes of the great Garfield Sobers when the sixth ball of Bashir’s over went for five wides.
Bashir then overstepped for a no-ball with his next delivery, from which Lawrence took a single before Dan Worrall blocked the last ball.
Lawrence went on to to make a career best 175 – surpassing his 161 for Essex against Surrey at The Oval in only his second first-class match in 2015.
He was last out as the Surrey first innings finally ended on 490 before the Pears then slumped to 147-7.
Only Jake Libby, with 61 not out from 145 balls, offered much resistance as Lawrence’s fine day continued with two wickets.
James Taylor also claimed two scalps on a day when he had earlier run out his brother, Worcestershire fast bowler Tom Taylor, who was taken short attempting a second run after playing Bashir to third man.
The expensive Bashir over has only ever been surpassed once in first-class cricket – 34 years ago – in a Shell Trophy encounter in New Zealand in 1990, when Canterbury’s Lee Germon and Rogert Ford took advantage of contrived bowling from Wellington’s Robert Vance to hit 77 off an over which included a lot of no balls.
Surrey centurion Dan Lawrence:
“Have I ever had a better day’s cricket? It is right up there. It was fun after lunch. A bit slow going beforehand. I wanted to try and set it up and see what we could do.
“It was a no brainer for me to put my foot down and try and score as many runs as quickly as possible. After three balls, I was going to try and go for all of them.
“It was downwind and a short boundary and I just fancied my chances. I tried to hit six every ball. Thankfully I got five away and I couldn’t get the last one. I had some fun and thankfully bowled okay as well.
“We are in a great spot in the game. Batting first on that wicket was quite important and it is breaking up nicely now. We’ve got two days to get 13 wickets and hopefully we can get the job done.”