Smith and Pope Lead Surrey to Strong Start Against Leicestershire
Jamie Smith has commenced the season impressively by scoring centuries in each of Surrey's first two County Championship matches.
Rothesay County Championship, Division One, Kia Oval (day one)
Surrey 412-6: Smith 166, Pope 103; Scriven 2-75
Surrey 4 pts, Leicestershire 2 pts
Jamie Smith, with a commanding innings of 166, has now recorded a century in both of Surrey's opening County Championship matches as he aims to retain his England Test position this summer.
Ollie Pope, who was dropped during the Ashes series defeat in Australia over the winter, also contributed a century with 103 runs. Surrey amassed 412-6 against Leicestershire in front of a crowd exceeding 5,000 at the Kia Oval on day one.
Smith and Pope compiled an exact 200-run partnership for the third wicket after Leicestershire elected to bowl first on a green-tinged pitch and initially reduced Surrey to 42-2.
Pope's century, the 25th of his first-class career, was a more methodical effort as he focused on occupying the crease following two low scores in Surrey's high-scoring draw against Warwickshire in the season opener last week.
Smith, on the other hand, appeared in excellent form throughout his high-quality innings, following a six-hour 132 on the final day against Warwickshire on Monday. He faced 240 balls, hitting 19 fours and two sixes before edging seamer Ben Green to slip seven overs before stumps.
Interestingly, Surrey have assigned Smith the specialist number three batting position despite his 20 Test appearances being as a wicketkeeper batting in the lower middle order.
In Test cricket, Smith averages a respectable 41.48 with two centuries, but during the Australia tour he scored only 211 runs at 23.44, passing fifty just once and facing criticism for several dismissals.
Surrey, with Ben Foakes as their established first-choice wicketkeeper, clearly value Smith's powerful stroke play in the top order, especially when he can focus solely on batting, as they begin their campaign to reclaim the County Championship after narrowly missing out on a fourth consecutive title to Nottinghamshire last September.
Dan Lawrence enjoyed a brief but impactful 36-ball innings scoring 31, including a six off New Zealand Test spinner Ajaz Patel from the second ball he faced and a powerful shot over deep mid-wicket off Ben Green, before being dismissed by Rehan Ahmed's leg-spin.
Ben Foakes also demonstrated strong batting form, playing elegant strokes in an unbeaten 62 to follow up his previous scores of 128 and 36 not out against Warwickshire, adding 105 runs in partnership with Smith.
Leicestershire, promoted from Division Two last year, struggled to contain the dominant Smith and the busy Pope once they established their partnership in the 15th over.
This came after early wickets: Dom Sibley was dismissed leg-before wicket for four to an inswinger from left-arm paceman Josh Hull in the second over, and Rory Burns was caught at mid-on off Tom Scriven's medium pace after a steady start to 24 runs.
Pope was eventually caught behind pushing at a delivery from slow left-arm spinner Ajaz Patel in the 60th over. By the end of a long day in the field, Leicestershire, who lost by 222 runs to Sussex last week upon their return to the top division, face a challenging situation once again.
Report by ECB Reporters' Network, supported by Rothesay.
