England seam prospect Dan Worrall switched to bowling leg-spin on the final day of Surrey's County Championship fixture at Hove today (April 21), as bad light curtailed the action between the two sides.
Worrall, who has been name-checked by Rob Key as an option for England in the upcoming Ashes series, took two wickets in Sussex's opening innings, including the final wicket of Jayden Seales. After Surrey eked out a lead early on day four, rain having washed out a significant amount of the fixture, Worrall bowled a four-over opening spell without reward to Tom Haines and Daniel Hughes.
Bad light forced Surrey to bring on their spinners, however, with Ollie Sykes and Dan Lawrence getting through nine overs each, and Rory Burns and Dom Sibley also turning their arms over. When Worrall returned to the attack, the umpires didn't object when they saw him marking out a run up of a few paces.
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Worrall then proceeded to take a few steps in and send down some right-arm leggies, conceding just two runs from the over and generating an ambitious lbw shout. Given the lack of batting returns from the over, Worrall returned for another over at the same end. This time, he was no-balled off his first delivery and conceded a boundary and a couple of singles.
There was no opportunity for Worrall to continue practicing his leg spin, however, as the umpires deemed the light too dim to continue after the following over. Sussex were 132-0 when play was suspended, and the match was subsequently declared a draw.
This is the second week in a row Surrey have turned to their part-timers in fading light. Against Hampshire at The Oval last week, Burns brought himself on to bowl in the evening session of day three after Hampshire lost two nightwatchmen before the end of play.
The draw leaves the three-time defending champions still waiting for their first win in this year's competition, having drawn their first three games of the season.
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