da bet7： Andrew Strauss used his return to the scene of his Ashes-winning triumph last summer to rediscover his batting form for Middlesex in their London derby against Surrey.
da luck： 18-May-2010
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Mark Ramprakash was the mainstay of Surrey’s first innings with a superb 223•Getty Images
Andrew Strauss used his return to the scene of his Ashes-winning triumph last summer to rediscover his batting form for Middlesex in their London derby against Surrey.Strauss finished the second day of the County Championship Division Twoclash on 54 not out after earlier watching former England batsman MarkRamprakash turn an overnight century into a superb 223 as Surrey totalled 490. With Scott Newman also hitting an unbeaten 79 in his first match against hisformer county, Middlesex reached 148 for 0 in reply by the close.England captain Strauss certainly needed some runs in his last countyappearance before the start next week of the two-Test series againstBangladesh.In 11 previous Championship innings for Middlesex this season, Strauss had madeonly 262 runs at an average of 23.81, with just one half-century. In threefurther Clydesdale Bank 40 one-day innings, he had managed only another 60 runswith a top score of 26.Strauss, who missed the short winter tour to Bangladesh in order to rest, alsohad to watch from afar as Paul Collingwood and the England Twenty20 team becameworld champions with their magnificent victory against Australia in theCaribbean on Sunday.He would not have wanted to link up again with England without some significantruns behind him and it was his good fortune to find himself batting on a trueOval surface.Ramprakash’s innings, too, showed Strauss just what was possible as the 40-yearold moved on majestically from his overnight 125. It was Ramprakash’s 11th double-ton for Surrey, putting him just one behind SirJack Hobbs’ county record of 12. Hobbs, though, made 144 centuries for Surrey;this was Ramprakash’s 57th three-figure score for the county.In addition, Ramprakash moved into joint fifth position in the all-time list offirst-class double-century makers when he thrashed a short ball from Dawid Malanthrough the covers for four. He now has sixteen in his career, putting him levelwith Hobbs, CB Fry and Graeme Hick.Gary Wilson hit 10 fours in an excellent 62, dominating the strike and thescoring in an 88-run stand with Ramprakash for Surrey’s seventh wicket, beforehe was stumped giving Malan the charge.Ramprakash was eventually ninth out, hitting high to long on, after facing 395balls and striking a six and 26 fours in a 564-minute stay at the crease.Surrey also announced during the day that Younis Khan, the former Pakistanbatsman, will be joining the club until mid-July and could be in the country intime to play in Friday’s Clydesdale Bank 40 fixture against Glamorgan inCardiff.Surrey professional cricket manager Chris Adams said: “I am confident thatbringing a world class player such as Younus Khan to Surrey will have a verypositive effect on the side.”As well as benefiting from the weight of runs we hope he will bring, we havea number of young batsman who will doubtless benefit greatly from being able totrain and play alongside him.”Brian Lara, however, will not be joining Surrey for the Friends Provident T20following talks between the club and the great West Indian, and Indianleg-spinner Piyush Chawla – Surrey’s original overseas signing for this season -has been refused permission to play county cricket by the BCCI.
