Runs pile up at the Oval but Tykes lose Rana

9:47am Saturday 24th May 2008

Surrey v Yorkshire (County Championship) : Day Three

YORKSHIRE have been dealt a major blow with the news that Rana Naved-ul-Hasan could be out for several weeks with a possible torn right hamstring.

The Pakistani overseas bowler had to retire hurt during yesterday's third day of the County Championship clash against Surrey at the Oval. Rana pulled up whilst attempting to run between the wickets - and will have a scan this morning.

"It's not looking too clever,"

said Tykes' coach Martyn Moxon. "It looks like it's going to be a long time. But we will just have to wait and see what the extent of the damage is."

Rana's injury follows hot on the heels of hamstring tears for Ajmal Shahzad and former overseas bowler Morne Morkel. They were both ruled out for six weeks Moxon said that Shahzad is "still weeks away", while South African Morkel had to return home to Pretoria to recover in time for his country's international tour of England in July.

Had Morkel not gone down with a grade two tear, Rana would not have been called into action this early.

That injury should still not detract from what was a fabulous third day batting effort from the White Rose in South London yesterday.

Jacques Rudolph completed his second four-day ton of the season, Andrew Gale recorded his highest first-class score of 150 - and Tim Bresnan blasted an unbeaten 84.

Yorkshire were effectively bowled out for 525, with Rana unable to resume with the bat, giving them a first innings lead of 59.

Rudolph, resuming yesterday morning on 99, reached three figures off just the third ball of the day before perishing for 121. Gale then notched a majestic 150 from 231 balls, with 19 fours and one six.

Gale and Bresnan recorded a handy seventh wicket partnership of 89 to take the score from 343-6 to 432-7, securing the maximum five batting bonus points in the process. And then Bresnan began to open his shoulders in a 144-ball knock that included eight fours and two sixes.

Deon Kruis and Adil Rashid removed Mark Butcher and Mark Ramprakash before close to Surrey at 56-2 in the second innings.

They trail by three runs. Ramprakash was going in search of that elusive 100th first-class century of his career - but was caught at short leg by Gale.

Yorkshire skipper Darren Gough is in line to return for tomorrow's Friends Provident Trophy tie at Derbyshire.

Meanwhile, Yorkshire have received a £600,000 grant from the ECB to lay a new outfield at Headingley. Yorkshire's final home Championship fixture, against Somerset on September 17, will have to be moved.

SCORBOARD

Surrey v Yorkshire At The Brit Oval

Overnight: Surrey 466-8 dec (M A Butcher 205, M J Nicholson 133).Yorkshire 292-3 (J A Rudolph 99 no, A W Gale 70 no, A McGrath 54). Yorkshire First Innings

J A Rudolph lbw b Afzaal ...121

A W Gale c Collins b Nicholson ...150

G L Brophy c Nicholson b Saqlain Mushtaq 1

A U Rashid c Newman b Afzaal ... 6

T T Bresnan not out ... 84

Naved ul-Hasan retd hurt ... 19

G J Kruis c Ormond b Collins ... 17

O J Hannon-Dalby b Collins ... 1

Extras (b3 lb8 w1 nb6 pens 0) ... 18

Total (132.3 overs) ...525

Fall: 1-22 2-101 3-123 4-329 5-334 6-343 7-432 8-513 9-525

Bowling: Collins 26.3-2-111-4. Ormond 15-0- 69-0. Nicholson 16-1-81-1. Saqlain Mushtaq 39- 3-139-2. Hussain 16-0-52-0. Afzaal 20-3-62-2.

Surrey Second Innings Close

S A Newman not out ... 26

M A Butcher c Brophy b Kruis ... 7

M R Ramprakash c Gale b A U Rashid .... 14

Hussain not out ... 7

Extras (lb2 pens 0) ... 2

Total 2 wkts (24 overs) ... 56

Fall: 1-13 2-46

To Bat: U Afzaal, A D Brown, J N Batty, M J Nicholson, J Ormond, S Mushtaq, P T Collins. Bonus Pts: Surrey 7 Yorkshire 7

Bowling: Kruis 7-3-16-1. Hannon-Dalby 3-0-12- 0. A U Rashid 9-2-16-1. Bresnan 4-0-10-0. Rudolph 1-1-0-0.