Yorkshire v Surrey (LV County Championship) Day 2

ANDREW Gale recorded his third half century of the County Championship season yesterday to build on Yorkshire’s solid start against Surrey on a rain-ruined day at Headingley.

Only 13.3 overs were possible on the second day, as Gale and Chris Taylor added 30 more runs to progress the score to 80-0 in reply to Surrey’s 204.

“We are definitely in the game, on top I would say,” assessed Gale. “We were really disappointed to get washed out because we could have really pushed on and batted a long way past them.

“There is still a lot of time left in this game, there are six sessions of cricket. The pitch is deteriorating already and it will be tough to bat on come the last day.

“We are just going to have to take it session by session now. We need to get through the morning session on Friday without losing any wickets and push past 400, then bowl them out. It is a good wicket, but is getting slower and lower and will spin.”

Bad light originally halted play, but torrential rain had put an end to the day by midafternoon.

Most of the outfield was covered in puddles, and groundsman Andy Foggarty will have his work cut out to get things fit for a prompt start today.

Yorkshire v Surrey At Headingley Carnegie

Overnight: Surrey 204 (G J Kruis 5-47).

Yorkshire 50-0.

Yorkshire First Innings Close

A W Gale not out .................................53

C R Taylor not out ................................23

Extras (lb2 nb2 pens 0) ............4

Total 0 wkts (29.3 overs).........80

To Bat: R M Pyrah, A Lyth, J A Rudolph, G L Brophy, A U Rashid, T T Bresnan, D J Wainwright, D Gough, G J Kruis.

Bonus Pts: Yorkshire 3 Surrey 1 Bowling: Collins 6-2-18-0. Dernbach 3-0- 20-0. Nicholson 9-1-28-0. Saqlain Mushtaq 9-3-11-0. Afzaal 1-0-1-0. Jordan 1.3-1-0-0.