Henderson reaches fifty

Date: Wednesday 25 August 2010

Claude Henderson moved to fifty Championship wickets for the season on a rain-interrupted second day of the LV=County Championship game against Surrey at Grace Road.

The slow left armer (4-119) became the first bowler to achieve the feat since Ottis Gibson in 2004 and ended with the best analysis as Surrey made 483 in their first innings.

Gary Wilson (115) went on to register his maiden first-class century and Jason Roy made an enterprising 76 from 65 balls on debut. Matthew Hoggard and Nadeem Malik ended with three wickets apiece to back up Henderson's good work.

In reply, Leicestershire moved to 32 without loss with Matthew Boyce on 16 and Greg Smith 9 but the heavens then opened to wipe 55 overs out of the day.

Surrey had earlier resumed on 353-4 and added 130 runs for the loss of their final six wickets in a lively opening session that made for entertaining viewing.

Skipper Hoggard made the crucial breakthrough first thing as the in-form Mark Ramprakash was unable to add his sizeable overnight tally of 179.

After Nathan Buck had passed the batsman's outside edge, Hoggard bowled the batsman with a good piece of thinking. Ramprakash would have been expecting early away movement but Hoggard sent down a delivery on off stump that held its line.

Ramprakash opted to leave and looked back to see his off stump cartwheeling backwards. It was a vital wicket for Leicestershire, who now had a foothold in proceedings after ending the defiant 218-run partnership.

Buck was causing Wilson problems as he made his way through the nervous nineties while Hoggard nipped one back to catch new batsman Roy unawares.

The ball struck the inner thigh rather than finding the inside edge though and Roy settled to clip a nice stroke through mid-wicket to record his first
boundary in the first-class arena.

Wilson tucked off his pads to move onto 99 and then came the magic moment; a short, wide delivery was dispatched with a well-executed cut and the Irishman had bought up his hundred.

The pair were starting to develop another stand of substance as Surrey closed in on maximum batting points and that came up courtesy of a Wilson sweep.

Roy was also playing nicely and he struck Henderson for a six over wide long on as Surrey continued to press their foot on the accelerator.

The stand was now well past fifty and the pair were certainly looking to push the game forwards. Roy was determined to kick on and although he was a little impatient at times, when the batter waited for the ball, he timed it well.

Wilson was also intent on being positive but that bought about his downfall. He chased a delivery from Malik and could only find Boyce at gully rather than hit the intended boundary down to third man.

The wicket came too late to enable tangible reward as the bonus point office was closed 2.2 overs previously, but it was a morale booster nevertheless.

Roy did not let the wicket faze him and continued to go about his business with intent. A brace of straight drives took him to within three runs of a
half-century on debut.

He moved to that milestone from the 52nd ball faced and when Roy stroked the next delivery faced through extra for four, the South African born batsman was now scoring at better than a run a ball.

New batsman Batty glanced a four and Roy then hit a straight six to continue the scoring. Batty edged another boundary to bring up the fifth consecutive partnership worth fifty or more but the end of the innings was nigh.

Indeed, the last four wickets fell for the addition of just seven runs. Henderson picked up wicket number 49 for the campaign as Batty chipped to
Hoggard at mid-wicket and Surrey were now 476-7.

It was an all-action period as Roy struck his third maximum before a quick double wicket burst from Malik. Chris Tremlett edged through to New and Jade Dernbach was caught by Jacques du Toit at slip after attempting an expansive drive.

That bought last man Steven Cheetham to the wicket on his Surrey debut and he nearly departed first ball. A wonderful delivery from Malik shaped away and was perilously close to the outside edge.

Malik's figures of 3-83 were now a fairer reflection of his good performance and Roy then died for the cause. He looked to hit a fourth six but holed out to Buck off Henderson, who now had his fiftieth scalp of the season.

It left one tricky over to negotiate before lunch and Smith got off the mark immediately with a nice clip off the legs. Boyce also scored from his first
delivery and the team went in to lunch on four without loss.

Boyce cut the first boundary of the innings after the break but it was tough going against the opening duo of Tremlett and Dernbach.

The tall seamer was extracting bounce and although there was precious little pace in the pitch, Dernbach was getting shape away from Boyce and back into Smith. His slower ball, which loops out of the hand and dips quickly, was also proving difficult to pick up.

The duo were patient though and Boyce cut another four when Dernbach offered some width. It was to be the last boundary of the day as the weather closed in.

There was precipitation in the air and with a long period of heavy rain due, umpires Neil Bainton and Vanburn Holder sensibly called for the covers at half past two. The players were not to re-emerge as the forecast proved to be accurate.