Meaker sparks Northants collapse
Stuart Meaker took five wickets as Surrey seized the initiative on day two of the County Championship match against Division Two leaders Northamptonshire at Wantage Road
01-Sep-2011
Stuart Meaker took five wickets as Surrey seized the initiative on day two of
the County Championship match against Division Two leaders Northamptonshire
at Wantage Road.
Paceman Meaker took career-best figures of 5 for 37, including three wickets
in the 58th over alone, as the hosts collapsed from 178 for three to be bowled
out for just 194. Rob Newton top-scored with 80 from 162 balls for Northamptonshire before Surrey closed on 115 for 3 to have an overnight lead of 190.
Northamptonshire began the day on four without loss - 265 runs behind their
opponents' first-innings total - with openers Newton and Kyle Coetzer both
resuming on one. But Scotland international Coetzer was to last just two balls before he was
trapped leg before wicket by South African veteran Zander de Bruyn for one.
Alex Wakely made it to 29 before he was caught by Surrey wicketkeeper Steven
Davies off a good delivery by Meaker. Newton went on to complete his half-century off 105 balls in the third over before lunch but David Sales perished on 23 in the fifth over of the afternoon
when he was pinned lbw by Tim Linley.
Northamptonshire captain Andrew Hall walked on 36 when he edged his attempted
drive off Meaker to Davies, and this triggered a dramatic collapse. Wicketkeeper Niall O'Brien followed him back to the pavilion with the next ball when Meaker's yorker clattered into his stumps. Meaker struck again three balls later when De Bruyn took a catch at second slip
to dismiss James Middlebrook for a duck. He then sealed the fourth five-wicket haul of his first-class career and his fourth wicket in just seven deliveries when Newton finally departed by nudging him to Davies.
Chaminda Vaas made just a single before being caught at short leg by Jason Roy
off India spinner Pragyan Ojha. And with Stephen Peters absent hurt with a back injury the innings ended when Linley bowled David Burton (six) to give Surrey a first-innings lead of 75.
They then lost their captain Rory Hamilton-Brown cheaply for 22 in the seventh
over when he was caught by O'Brien after playing loosely off Vaas. Hall brought himself on with six overs to go and he had Mark Ramprakash caught leg before after he had plundered 38. Middlebrook then bowled nightwatchman Linley for a duck before Davies and De Bruyn survived until the close and will resume tomorrow on 41 and two respectively.
