Lancashire slump to 10-wicket loss

Lancashire's poor run in the Specsavers County Championship continued as they lost by 10 wickets to Surrey at the Kia Oval
Footitt - career bestFootitt - career best
Footitt - career best

It means that they have not won in the Championship since May and coach Ashley Giles has warned that they could have a relegation fight on their hands.

Ten months into his Surrey career and having suffered early-season niggles and lapses in confidence, left-arm seamer Mark Footitt finally announced his arrival at the Oval with a career-best haul of seven for 62 to wrap up Surrey’s emphatic win.

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Footitt mopped up Lancashire’s two remaining wickets within 40 minutes of the fourth and final day to set up his side’s fourth win of the Championship campaign.

Home openers Rory Burns (28 not out) and Dominic Sibley (11not out) duly knocked off the 38 runs required within 9.1 overs to secure the comfortable and deserved victory with more than two sessions of the game to spare.

By hitting the winning boundary with a reverse sweep Burns also marked his 26th birthday by scoring his 1,000th championship run of the season.

Earlier, Surrey’s attack required only 15 deliveries of the final day to dislodge Lancashire’s ninth man in the shape of Nathan Buck.

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Prodding off the back foot at another testing delivery from Footitt, the right-hander followed and nicked to second slip where birthday boy Burns took a comfortable catch.

Lancashire’s last pairing of Simon Kerrigan and Kyle Jarvis extended their side’s narrow overall lead to 37 before Footitt, the former Derbyshire player, had Kyle Jarvis caught on the drive at mid-off to wrap up the Lancashire innings for 230.

While Footitt secured his career-best from the Pavilion End, Batty reeled off 27 overs at the Vauxhall End to finish with excellent figures of two for 67, having virtually locked down the run-scoring from one end.

Lancashire travelled home with four points while Surrey boosted their late title challenge with a haul of 23 having secured their third win in four Championship starts.