Match swings after Roy resistance

Jason Roy hit an aggressive 81 from 86 balls to lead a dramatic Surrey counterattack on the second day of their Championship Division Two match against Derbyshire at The Oval.

Roy's thrilling strokeplay either side of tea transformed a contest which seemed to be Derbyshire's for the taking when they had reduced Surrey to 114 for 5 in their second innings after earlier reaching 210 themselves for a 29-run first innings lead. But with Arun Harinath supporting him solidly with 42, in a sixth wicket stand worth 122, Roy quickly took control on a pitch on which 25 wickets had tumbled in a day and a half.

Surrey, bowled out for 279 just before stumps, have set Derbyshire 251 for victory on day three - and that is by no means a straightforward task. Beautiful late summer sunshine, however, seemed to draw some of the sting from a well-grassed surface and Roy swept to a 61-ball fifty to become the sixth Division Two batsman to pass 1000 Championship runs for the season.

When Harinath fell, edging behind off left-arm spinner David Wainwright, it was a 10th catch in the match for 18-year-old debutant Harvey Hosein, equalling a Derbyshire wicketkeeping record held jointly by Bob Taylor, who performed the feat in 1963, and Harry Elliott, in 1935. Hosein then claimed that Derbyshire record all to himself by snapping up Gareth Batty's edge off Mark Footitt.

Harinath's dismissal, in the 65th over, was followed five balls later by that of Roy, who marked the recall of Footitt by pulling the fast bowler's third delivery back straight to Alex Hughes at deep square-leg.

Earlier, Roy had taken 10 runs from the last over before tea, bowled by Footitt, and after the interval two fours in succession through the covers off Hughes signalled his intention to press the accelerator. Ben Cotton's fast-medium and Wes Durston's offspin then felt the full force of Roy's swashbuckling strokeplay and Derbyshire's batsmen will have to play well to reach their win target on a pitch that still has something in it for seamers and spinners alike.

Derbyshire's first innings, which resumed on 164 for 5 in reply to Surrey's initial 181, lasted only another 80 minutes as Wayne Madsen, ninth out for 63, saw his lower order crumble against pace trio Jade Dernbach, Stuart Meaker and Tim Linley.

Hosein, driving with no foot movement, edged behind off Dernbach for four to the fourth ball of the day and Wayne White was bowled by Linley for 6. Wainwright nicked Dernbach to first slip on 1 and after Madsen had reached 1000 first-class runs for the season, he edged Meaker to keeper Gary Wilson. Cotton, after a few lusty blows, was held by Steven Davies at third slip to give Meaker figures of 4 for 39.

By lunch Surrey had lost both Rory Burns,caught at third slip driving loosely and Vikram Solanki, edging behind, to Cotton and - after the interval - Davies, Zafar Ansari and Wilson all got in without being able to go on. Davies, on 22, was bowled by medium-pacer Hughes and Ansari's dogged two-hour 35 ended when Hosein accepted another edge. When Wilson chopped on against Wainwright, for 16, Surrey were at a low ebb, but Roy and Harinath came to the rescue.