Have Batty and Foakes turned Surrey’s season?

Hampshire 73 for 2 trail Surrey 637 for 7 dec (Foakes 141*, Batty 110*, Finch 86) by 564 runs Scorecard

“Is that all from one innings?” asked a member of the catering staff. You didn’t need to know the game to empathise with Hampshire’s toil. Surrey declared but it may as well have been a mercy ruling that ended their first innings on 637 for 7. Six hundred and thirty seven.

All pros know the pain of relentless grind in the dirt. It will take more than a shower and a night’s sleep to shake off these 163 overs.

A record eighth wicket partnership for Surrey, against any opposition, saw Ben Foakes and Gareth Batty put on 222 and take a gargantuan lead in this basement battle at the Ageas Bowl.

It was the timing of this partnership that was crucial – just when the early wickets of Steven Davies and Sam Curran looked like threatening Surrey’s good work from day one. So good was the recovery that Foakes and Batty notched centuries in the process.

It was something of a tactical union: Foakes, able to play his natural game, accompanied Batty steadily before the Surrey skipper was comfortable enough to swipe boundaries of his own. There was talk of a dash to 400 to take full batting points only for the pair to settle for the four they had, knowing that risky play would not only lead to a wicket and a second Hampshire bowling point, but also rob them of the chance to put on an insurmountable first innings score. The logic was simple: the pitch is very good for batting so even if Hampshire make their way to 350 or 400, the follow-on option would still be available to Surrey.

Further scheming came just after tea, when Batty and Foakes came out for 10 minutes, “to piss their batters off”. Taking an extra three overs, in which time Sean Ervine dropped Batty at first slip off Brad Wheal, Surrey declared, giving Hampshire’s openers 10-minutes rather than the 20 at tea to …

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