LIVE BLOG: Lancashire v Surrey-Day One
6.29pm, CLOSE Day 1
Surrey 1st innings 340-7 (96 overs) Steel 86* Abbott 34*
An eventful, entertaining opening day comes to a close with three Surrey half centuries countering a good effort by the Red Rose bowlers.
We will be getting the thoughts of Tom Bailey shortly to add today's match report and look forward to returning at 11am for the second day of this LV= County Championship match.
6.00pm
Surrey 1st innings 305-7 (89 overs) Steel 80* Abbott 9*
Seven overs remain to be bowled today with Cam Steel going along nicely for Surrey, attacking when he can, and getting good support from Sean Abbott.
5.35pm
Surrey 1st innings 278-7 (82.5 overs) Steel 62* Abbott 0*
And it's Tom Bailey who makes the breakthrough in his second over with the new ball, nipping one back to have Jordan Clark lbw for 14.
5.25pm, new ball taken
Surrey 1st innings 268-6 (80 overs) Steel 60* Clark 6*
With conditions in the middle having eased during the afternoon and evening, Keaton Jennings takes the new ball as soon as it becomes available with Tom Bailey returning at the Brian Statham End.
5.00pm
Surrey 1st innings 239-6 (74 overs) Steel 45* Clark 0*
Surrey were building another good partnership as Ben Foakes and Cam Steel had made progress since tea with a partnership of 75 but Foakes has just departed to a sensational, one-handed, catch by Colin de Grandhomme at square leg!
Foakes pulled Luke Wood hard and de Grandhomme threw out his left arm to pull off a quite outstanding catch. Wow!
4.30pm
Surrey 1st innings 204-5 (66 overs) Foakes 61* Steel 25*
Two overs into the evening session with the ground bathed in sunshine, although it is pretty blustery out there too.
Matt Parkinson continues after the break with Luke Wood returning at the James Anderson End.
4.00pm, TEA Day 2
Surrey 1st innings 196-5 (64 overs) Foakes 55* Steel 25*
Ben Foakes has reached his fifty via an inside edge off Matt Parkinson and the leg spinner has caused both batters a few problems with some big turning deliveries and is a shade unlucky not to have taken a wicket.
But Foakes and Cam Steel have slowly and steadily rebuilt after the loss of Smith to reach the break having added 42 runs for the sixth wicket.
3.20pm
Surrey 1st innings 164-5 (53.1 overs) Foakes 49* Steel 0*
From nowhere Lancashire have a breakthrough!
Tom Bailey pushes a delivery down the leg side and after making a flawless 54, Jamie Smith flicks his bat at the ball and feathers a catch to wicketkeeper Bell.
That ends a very promising partnership of 87 runs between the pair.
2.35pm
Surrey 1st innings 127-4 (40 overs) Foakes 34* Smith 33*
Ben Foakes and Jamie Smith continue the Surrey recovery, now posting their 50 partnership.
Keaton Jennings turns to Matt Parkinson for the first time with the leg spinner replacing Luke Wood at the Brian Statham End.
2.15pm
Surrey 1st innings 104-4 (35 overs) Foakes 25* Smith 20*
A slight delay as the groundstaff come out with the heavy 'plunger' - the device that flattens out the ground around the crease. Will Williams pulled out of two deliveries in his last over after being unhappy with the footholds, so some repairs are required!
Meanwhile Ben Foakes and Jamie Smith have progressed steadily since lunch, Smith driving Bailey for four through mid-on in the previous over.
1.45pm
Surrey 1st innings 87-4 (28 overs) Foakes 21* Smith 7*
Play back underway after lunch with Ben Foakes and fellow 'keeper Jamie Smith resuming their innings. Will Williams is straight back into the attack from the James Anderson End with Tom Bailey operating from the Brian Statham End.
The weather continues to stay fair with sunny spells breaking through.
1.00pm, LUNCH Day 1
Surrey 1st innings 85-4 (27 overs) Foakes 21* Smith 5*
Lancashire will be well pleased with their morning's work after taking four Surrey wickets before the break.
Will Williams was the pick of an excellent Red Rose effort with 2 for 16, while their was a wicket apiece for Tom Bailey and Colin de Grandhomme on his Lancs debut.
12.45pm
Surrey 1st innings 77-4 (23.4 overs) Smith 0* Foakes 18*
Dom Sibley has played some lovely shots this morning, working Wood confidently off his pads for four but he's now edged Colin de Grandhomme behind after making 35.
De Grandhomme just got that one to move away from the batter who was playing off the front foot. Excellent delivery.
The weather has improved in the last 15 minutes as we head towards lunch.
12.30pm
Surrey 1st innings 54-3 (19 overs) Sibley 25* Foakes 6*
Will Williams fine spell ends with figures of 9-1-16-2 with Luke Wood (who has bowled two overs) and Colin de Grandhomme brought into the attack.
We have played with the floodlights on for the last 20 minutes or so and there is some light drizzle in the air at present.
12.11pm
Surrey 1st innings 44-3 (15.3 overs) Sibley 21* Foakes 0*
Will Williams strikes again trapping Ryan Patel lbw for 3 with the batter playing towards the leg side.
11.54am
Surrey 1st innings 35-2 (12.1 overs) Sibley 15* Patel 0*
Lancashire do have a second breakthrough! Tom Bailey bowls wicket to wicket and has Ollie Pope lbw for 13 after the batter tries to work the ball to the leg side.
11.45am
Surrey 1st innings 27-1 (10 overs) Sibley 11* Pope 9*
There's a huge appeal by Tom Bailey and the team after Ollie Pope tries to whip Bailey through midwicket with the ball going through to wicketkeeper Bell. But the umpire is unmoved.
11.35am
Surrey 1st innings 24-1 (8 overs) Sibley 9* Pope 8*
No further breakthrough so far for Lancashire and Will Williams is now bowling to Ollie Pope with wicketkeeper George Bell standing up.
11.17am
Surrey 1st innings 8-1 (3.3 overs) Sibley 0* Pope 0*
Lancashire have their first wicket of the season!
Rory Burns nicks Will Williams through to wicketkeeper George Bell and the umpires finger goes up. Burns didn't look too impressed though but he's on his way back to the dressing room.
11.04am
Surrey 1st innings 5-0 (1.1 overs) Burns 0* Sibley 0*
Will Williams is sharing the new ball and Burns plays at the first delivery that evades first slip for four more byes.
11.00am
Surrey 1st innings 1-0 (0.2 overs) Burns 0* Sibley 0*
Here we go! The first ball of the new season is bowled by Tom Bailey to Rory Burns and it’s a swinging delivery down the leg side that earns the visitors a bye. The second ball is on a good length and line outside off stump that Dom Sibley defends.
10.30am TOSS & TEAM NEWS
Lancashire have won the toss and put Surrey in to bat.
Lancashire: Keaton Jennings (capt), Luke Wells, Josh Bohannon, Steven Croft, Dane Vilas, George Bell (wkt), Colin de Grandhomme, Luke Wood, Tom Bailey, Will Williams, Matt Parkinson.
Surrey: Rory Burns (capt), Dom Sibley, Ryan Patel, Ollie Pope, Ben Foakes (wkt), Jamie Smith, Cam Steel, Jordan Clark, Sean Abbott, Kemar Roach, Dan Worrall.
10.00am
We have sunny, if somewhat chilly, conditions now at Emirates Old Trafford with both teams out on the pitch warming up ahead of the toss which is due at 10.30am.
Currently we have dry and bright conditions at Emirates Old Trafford with play due to start at 11am.
While we wait for that, have a read of our Match Preview.
9.30am
Welcome to our first blog of 2023 for the opening day of this LV= County Championship clash between the top two teams from last year.
Currently we have dry and bright conditions at Emirates Old Trafford with play due to start at 11am.
Lancashire prevailed by an innings and 30 runs when we met Surrey in the final match of the season last September when the visitors were already confirmed as the 2022 champions.
Surrey’s Director of Cricket, Alec Stewart OBE, said this week that Surrey are going to be “attacking the Championship” rather than defending it, and with teams seemingly encouraged to play more attacking cricket from all quarters, this promises to be an exciting game and as well as an exciting the season ahead.
There are changes to the points awarded this year. A draw is now worth 5 points (8 last year) with a win unchanged at 16 points. Batting points awarded in the first 110 overs have been changed to: 250-299 – 1 point, 300-349 – 2 points, 350-399 – 3 points, 400-499 – 4 points, 450 or more – 5 points, so batters will have to score more quickly to reach these targets.
Bowling points remain unchanged: 3-5 wickets: 1 point, 6-8 wkts: 2 points, 9 wkts: 3 points.
Both teams have announced squads ahead of the game, with Colin de Grandhomme set to make his Red Rose debut and become the 703rd first-class cricketer to play for Lancashire.
Lancashire squad: Keaton Jennings (capt), Luke Wells, Josh Bohannon, Steven Croft, Dane Vilas, Rob Jones, George Bell (wkt), Colin de Grandhomme, George Balderson, Luke Wood, Tom Bailey, Tom Hartley, Will Williams, Matt Parkinson.
Surrey squad: Rory Burns (capt), Dom Sibley, Ryan Patel, Ollie Pope, Ben Geddes, Ben Foakes (wkt), Jamie Smith, Cam Steel, Jordan Clark, Sean Abbott, Gus Atkinson, Tom Lawes, Dan Moriarty, Kemar Roach, Dan Worrall.