County Championship 2022 Division I | Gloucestershire, Surrey play out a draw in a high-scoring game

The 3rd round fixture between Surrey and Gloucestershire of County Championship Division I has ended as a draw. The final day of the match was not possible due to the heavy rains, which erupted at County Ground, Bristol.

As the groundsmen were removing the large covers in the afternoon, the rain returned and forced the umpires to abandon the game. 

The opening batter of Gloucestershire, Chris Dent, remained unbeaten on 207 overnight but could not go past his highest score of 268, which he scored against Glamorgan in 2015. 

On Day 3, the Australian batter Marcus Harris was all-class with his knock of 124 off 209 balls, comprising 18 fours. He stitched a mammoth partnership of 296 runs with Dent as they toiled the bowlers for around 77 overs. 

The Kiwi all-rounder Colin de Grandhomme took the wicket of Harris, and soon Jordan Clark joined him in support to dismiss James Bracey for a duck with a peach of a delivery. However, Miles Hammond (75) arrived at the crease and put together an unbeaten stand of 147 with Dent. 

In this pursuit, Dent also passed the milestone of 10,000 First-Class runs. In 162 appearances, he has scored 10043 runs at an average of 37.89, with 19 centuries to his name, and has been featuring for Gloucestershire since 2010. 

Earlier, Surrey had posted a total of 603, on the back of 234* from the wicket-keeper Jamie Smith. The tail-ender Clark was impressive as well, with a knock of 137. David Payne and Matt Taylor scalped 3 wickets each for Gloucestershire, while captain Buuren picked up a couple of wickets. 

Gloucestershire secured maximum batting bonus points for the first time this season and returned with a total of 15 points, while Surrey had to settle down for 11 points. 

Surrey are at the top of the points table with 2 victories in 3 appearances, while Gloucestershire has no wins in the same number of matches. 

In their next fixture, Surrey will be up against Northamptonshire at Kennington Oval, London. On the other hand, Gloucestershire will face Hampshire at Southampton. Both the fixtures will get underway on May 5th. 

Brief Scores: 

Gloucestershire - 443/2 in 120 overs (1st innings) 

Chris Dent 207*, Marcus Harris 124

Colin de Grandhomme 1/53, Jordan Clark 1/128

Surrey - 603 all-out in 165.4 overs (1st innings)

Jamie Smith 234*, Jordan Clark 137

Matt Taylor 3/ 85, David Payne 3/99