Holland looks all at sea against Steel. Hopefully he can hang on in there. Very important partnership so far.
Happy with the day finishing there. Means that Surrey are still 14 overs away from the new ball. Hopefully that allows Gubbins and Holland the time to play themselves back in, rather than having to face the new ball almost immediately. Could be a cracking day tomorrow.
I know this is only our 7th day of the season (which is no time at all), but it could turn out to be massive day come September. Surrey won every home game last season except one (which was a high scoring draw). Yesterday was the first time since September 2021 (vs Essex) that they failed to reach 300 in their first innings. They haven't lost any red bell match at home since August 2020 (in the meaningless COVID-created Bob Willis Trophy), and not since September 2019 in the County Championship (also vs Essex).
That's my minimum target reached. 270 to 290 was my preferred lead at the start of the day. But 240 was my minimum lead.
60-5 this morning. Not great, but not bad either. Nice little bowling session before lunch, which means that Abbas in particular should get an extended opening spell either side of lunch.
Essex have fallen apart this morning since the early wicket of Jennings. In fact, if anything, Lancs have scored so many in such a short space of time, that Essex may well decline to even attempt to chase down their target later.
Still trying to work out why Northants chose to field TBH. The ball isn't doing a lot off the pitch and blue skies overhead.
