Bears refuse to lie down

Hollioake upped the run-rate at the right time

County Championship D1, Edgbaston, day three of four: Warwickshire 345 & 154-3 v Surrey 544

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Excellent knocks from Nadeem Shahid and Adam Hollioake on day three left Surrey poised to push for the win that would earn them the Championship title.

But with seven wickerts still in hand, Warwickshire have the potential to make life difficult for the runaway Division One leaders.

Shahid struck a blistering 116 and skipper Hollioake an equally fiery 82 as Surrey totalled 544 in their first innings.

A 199-run lead was whittled down to 45 with Warwickshire surviving a wobble to finish the day on 154 for three.

Their first wicket realised 86 runs, but two wickets to Saqlain Mushtaq and one to Jimmy Ormond saw the Bears lose three for 19.

A thoughtful innings of 39 from Mark Wagh was brought to a close when the Pakistani off-spinner had him leg before.

Hope

Ormond then had Ian Bell caught behind by Jonathan Batty for four, before next over captain Saqlain gave Surrey much to hope with the wicket of captain Mike Powell for 47.

But Jim Troughton (30 not out) and Nick Knight (14 not out) kept Surrey at bay until the close, setting up an intriguing final day.

Resuming play on 319 for three, Surrey lost a surprisingly subdued Ali Brown, stumped off Ashley Giles, for 57, a knock that consumed 121 balls.

Shahid and Hollioake then noticeably upped the run-rate, putting on 77 runs in swift time, during which Shahid brought up the ninth ton of his long career.

Shahid fell to Giles, who along with Dougie Brown claimed four wickets, but not before the batsman hit 21 fours and a six in a stand-and-deliver knock.

Sadly for Surrey, Hollioake quickly ran out of partners and he was left stranded on 82, a fine innings that came from 77 balls and included seven boundaries and five sixes.

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Warwickshire: M J Powell (Capt), N V Knight, M A Wagh, I R Bell, J O Troughton, S M Pollock, D R Brown, T Frost (Wkt), A F Giles, M A Sheikh, M M Betts.

Surrey: I J Ward, J N Batty (Wkt), M R Ramprakash, N Shahid, A D Brown, A J Hollioake (Capt), R Clarke, M P Bicknell Saqlain Mushtaq, I D K Salisbury, J Ormond.