Andre Nel is...Batman!

I always enjoy it when the last wicket partnership put on a stand worth of General Custer himself (she said, whilst remembering that Custer didn’t exactly come out of that particular battle in good shape. Or at all, for that matter). Today the Surrey tail did not merely wag prodigiously, but the puppy refused to roll over! And now, as a result of heroics from Andre Nel and Jade Dernbach, Surrey have managed to get themselves into a very nice position heading into day four!

It was unfortunate that bad light curtailed what was very much Surrey’s session. Northants find themselves four down with really only Boje standing in the way of what could be the biggest turn around in recent years for Surrey. Peters was back in the hutch for 9, bowled by an on-fire Nel, whilst first innings hero Loye was unable to match his previous effort and went for 20, lbw to Schofield. O’Brien looked reasonably secure on 44 until dismissed by Dernbach and then man of the day Nel steamed in once again to get rid of White for 29. All in all, the collective Surrey effort with the ball was phenomenal, subjecting the Northants batsmen to an intense barrage of deliveries that Barnes Wallace himself would have been proud of!

But it was Andre Nel that took the plaudits with sidekick Jade Dernbach: the most unlikely duo to take on all comers since Batman and Robin displayed a mutual fetish for skin-tight lycra and silly masks. I checked the score at work during various stages in the day, and my reaction (pretty much the same as most, I’d have thought) went rather like this:

“Oh, they’ve avoided the follow-on. That was unexpected!”

“Spriegel’s out. That’ll be that, then.”

“Linley didn’t stay around long, poor fella.”

“What is going on here? Is that Nel and Dernbach scoring these runs?”

“Are they still in???”

“No, seriously. Are they really still in???”

“Has the scorecard gone completely berserk?”

“Andre Nel is 85 not out at lunch!!! And Surrey has a 4th batting point!”

It was indeed a “Holy suffering Tiflex, batman” moment, complete with punch of gloved hands from Dernbach, er...Robin.

In fact, even knowing that Nel can play attacking shots and that Dernbach was a much improved batsman who could swing the willow with the best when required, the idea that the last wicket partnership was in serious danger of drawing level with the Northants first innings total was almost unbelievable. What a titanic effort! Unfortunately, it did prove too good to be true as Andre Nel managed to get out just 4 runs short of what would have been a richly deserved first century for Surrey. But what an amazing display, especially given that his recent outburst against Peters and O’Brien landed him with a further 3 points on his record. Perhaps it just whetted his appetite all the more!

As for Dernbach, he managed his first ever 50 for Surrey in the championship, and if Surrey do manage to win from here an awful lot of it will be down to him for sticking with Nel. Get that fellow Jade up the order – he’s wasted coming in last!

In the end Surrey fell just 11 short of the Northants target and given what an unlikely position that was going into the morning session; I hope the boys are feeling extremely happy with themselves tonight. Quick wickets are going to have to fall tomorrow if Surrey have any chance to claim their first championship victory, or else Northants will just probably be content to put the match beyond Surrey’s reach. Given today’s heroics, that would almost be cruel. Yet again Boje is the key, you feel. If Surrey can nip him out early tomorrow a reasonable run chase may yet be on the cards.

Perhaps Schoey can prove to be the ‘Joker’ in the pack...