County Championship: Sam Evans and Marcus Harris hit tons as Leicestershire dominate Surrey
- Published
Sam Evans' scored 112 runs from 221 deliveries with 16 fours
LV= County Championship Group Two, Uptonsteel County Ground, Leicester (day one): |
Leicestershire 306-6: Evans 112, Harris 101; Virdi 3-100 |
Surrey: Yet to bat |
Leicestershire 3 pts, Surrey 2 pts |
Leicestershire's Sam Evans scored his third County Championship century in as many matches to help his side to 306-6 on day one against Surrey.
In-form Evans made 112 and put on 195 for the second wicket with Australian Test batsman Marcus Harris (101).
England hopeful Amar Virdi removed both centurions, taking his 100th first-class wicket in the process.
Reece Topley (2-75), Rikki Clarke (1-28) and Virdi (3-100) helped Surrey fight back with five wickets after tea.
In the morning session, Topley had Hassan Azad (5) caught behind but Evans and Harris made hay after seeing off the new ball, hitting 31 boundaries between them.
Evans reached his 100 in 198 balls, becoming the first batsman this season to make three centuries in the Championship, following his 138 against Surrey at The Oval, and 102 against Gloucestershire.
Harris looked in good touch, too, his century coming off 185 deliveries, before he was pinned in front by Virdi.
Leicestershire skipper Colin Ackermann made 33 before he was lbw to Topley and became the first of the three late wickets, with Lewis Hill (18) and Ed Barnes (1) also falling.
Leicestershire opener Sam Evans told BBC Radio Leicester:
"I'm really happy. I'm just going along with the groove of things and batting as long as I can.
"I think early on we kind of realised the pitch wasn't doing too much, so we need to get a big score on the board.
"Then, if it spins or starts to go a bit up and down towards the end of the game, we'll see where we are. It's pretty balanced - it's tough to judge a pitch after day one."
Surrey all-rounder Rikki Clarke told BBC Radio London:
"Early on we realised the wicket was quite flat, so it was just about getting the ball in the right areas and applying a bit of pressure.
"They will be happy with their runs but we're obviously happy with the wickets we got.
"Amar bowled really well. He had a game plan for how he wanted to bowl on that wicket, and for him to get 100 wickets so quickly is testament to him and how hard he works."