Surrey 153 for 4 (Pope 48*, Abbas 2-39) path Hampshire 254 (Brown 95, Lawes 4-58) by 101 runs

When you’re plugged into the web, you might have in all probability already come throughout this story informed by Cameron Ponsonby on the newest version of the Wisden Cricket Podcast. If not, right here we go.

Final weekend, Manchester Metropolis have been enjoying away to Southampton within the Premier League. As many groups do when getting ready for a fixture at St Mary’s, they stayed on the Hilton lodge adjoining the Ageas Bowl. A request was put in for his or her supervisor, Pep Guardiola, to take up residence in one of many plusher suites. Normally, that is no downside. However throughout this era when the soccer and cricket seasons overlap, there was. No can do, got here the response – that is Mohammad Abbas’ suite.

It is a hell of a narrative – County Championship over the Premier League? You like to see it – made all the higher by affirmation from a few sources. One privately to ESPNcricinfo was accompanied by a captivating query to wrestle with: which is extra intimidating to play towards, tiki-taka or the wobble seam? Surrey definitely had their arms full with the latter on Friday, as Abbas discovered the sides of Dom Sibley after which Rory Burns inside 17 overs of a Friday punctuated by rain delays. The opening pair had resumed their stand on 37 earlier than it was damaged on 44.

5 minutes into the primary rain delay at 11:30am, Keith Barker provided his affirmation of the Abbas-Pep anecdote, commenting “That is 100% true” below the clip on Instagram. He then shared the submit on his personal feed with the phrases “True Story”.

There’s a lot to unpack from this, however let’s give attention to the heart of it. A person who overcame the Galacticos of Actual Madrid and the institution of Manchester United, a fervent advocate of Catalan independence from Spain no much less, could not shift a bloke from their mattress as a result of he nibbles the ball each methods.

Rightly so, from Hampshire’s viewpoint. Such loyalty to a seamer has already been repaid in spades, with 100 wickets at a median of 16.59 coming into this fixture. And a day after his aspect had stuttered to 254 of their first innings, his endeavour all through 13 overs on day two made it appear like 100 extra.

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