Steven Davies made his maiden double hundred on the second day at cardiff as surrey forced themselves into an excellent position against glamorgan. davies finished 200* and Kumar Sangakkara made 149 as surrey declared on 563-7. the hosts finished the day 124-2 in reply after Matthew Dunn and Gareth Batty both took a wicket.
Sangakkara and Davies began the morning with their partnership unbroken on 213 and both left handers were immediately into their stride. Davies played a glorious shot off Andy Carter to the cover point boundary and Sangakkara picked up where he had left off on the opening day in Cardiff.
The 400 arrived as did the 250 partnership as Surrey cemented maximum batting points as the runs continued to flow. Sangakkara played two memorable upper cuts off Carter to the third man boundary and Davies looked in control of every stroke he was playing.
Davies brought up his 150 from his 217th delivery with his 22nd boundary as the Glamorgan bowlers struggled to keep the Surrey pair quiet. Sangakarra moved to 149 but his wonderful innings came to an end when he drove David Lloyd straight to Will Bragg at extra cover. The partnership with Davies had been worth 294 elegant runs and Surrey found themselves 444-4.
Jason Roy came to the middle and found the boundary for the first time when he whipped Lloyd to the mid wicket rope and Davies continued to command the crease. Roy looked to be slipping through the gears as he swept Dean Cosker to the fine leg boundary and then used his feet to loft the spinner over midwicket.
Roy moved to 32 but just before lunch he was caught behind off Carter as Surrey went to the interval with the scoreboard reading 495-5 with Davies unbeaten on 167. After the interval Carter trapped Gary Wilson LBW for 5 and then bowled Batty without scoring and Surrey found themselves 510-7.
Tom Curran joined Davies and played sensibly as Surrey continued to build their First Innings total and Davies moved past his previous best score of 173 for Surrey. Curran used his feet to Cosker and lofted him down the ground for his first boundary as Davies moved into the 190’s.
And a wonderful moment arrived for Davies when he ran Cosker down to backward point and came back for the second run as he registered his maiden double hundred from his 290th delivery. The declaration immediately came with Surrey 563-7 as Davies finished 200* and Curran was left undefeated on 23.
Dunn and Jade Dernbach took the new ball as the Glamorgan opening pair of Jacques Rudolph alongside James Kettleborough started solidly. Surrey bowled a testing line and length but the Glamorgan openers guided the hosts to tea with the scoreboard reading 21-0.
After the interval Rudolph and Kettleborough were tested as the Surrey bowlers looked for the breakthrough. And Dunn provided it when he bowled Kettleborough off the inside edge for 15 as he looked to let the ball go to leave Glamorgan 47-1.
Rudolph moved Glamorgan past fifty as he was joined by Will Bragg who looked very assured. Rudolph was quick to seize on the scoring opportunity as he dominated the scoring and moved to an excellent fifty from 93 balls with ten crisply struck boundaries.
Batty brought himself into the attack from the Cathedral Road End of the ground and a fascinating battle started between the two opposing captains. Batty used changes of pace and different angles of attack as Rudolph needed all his experience against the off spinner. Batty won the battle when he found Rudolph’s edge on 69 and Roy took a good catch at slip to leave Glamorgan 104-2.
Surrey worked hard for a third wicket late in the final session but Bragg and Colin Ingram steered the hosts to stumps with the scoreboard reading 124-2.
Surrey’s bowlers know they will have to stay patient on the third day at Cardiff but they have the runs on the board and an interesting third day is lurking at the Swalec Stadium.
