Jamie Porter puts aside continual England disappointment to add to Surrey's problems

SAM DALLING: The Essex seamer was at his very best as last year's county champions continued their encouraging start to the campaign

• COUNTY HUB

If yesterday finished all square between bat and ball, today was one for the bowlers.  Thirteen wickets fell in just shy of 86 overs. The headline grabber?  Simon Harmer, who else.  The off-break bowler once again did the job of two spinners for Essex. Operating for almost half Surrey’s innings the fruits of his labour was yet another five-wicket haul. 31.2-11.67.6. Extraordinary for mere mortals. Just another day at the office for the South African.  

At the other end though Jamie Porter was, as has so often been the case for years now, outstanding. That he doesn’t yet have an England cap in his possession is a mystery. No one at Chelmsford can work it out.  

Essex began the day batting but found themselves in the field within the hour. Bang, bang, bang. Six overs and it was done. Rikki Clarke snared a pair of victims to end with 3-26. Having toiled away relentlessly in the Day one heat for little reward, this will have pleased him.  

Time for the prolific Porter to have a go. His partner in crime is Sam Cook, capped yesterday by the county. They make a formidable duo and few sides can boast a superior new-ball pairing.  

Porter, who has four years on the 23-year-old Cook, is the senior man and is entering his prime. He was on fire. Everything he touched turned to gold.  

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Perhaps the news of Ollie Robinson’s call-up to the bubble added fuel to the fire? Maybe his omission from the ECB’s 55 still smarts? Or could it be that Porter is simply a fine bowler? Whatever the question, the 27-year old from Leytonstone is the answer.  

Surrey were deep in the proverbial poop when Porter dismissed Ryan Patel and Scott Borthwick without troubling the scorers. More wickets than runs on the board at that point.  

Flailing at lunch, it was 54 for 4 soon after when the seamer passed through the talented but raw Jamie Smith’s gate. It was a beautiful delivery that kissed the surface and nipped back to remove his off stump. Perfection. 

A mini-Surrey recovery was led by academy graduates Will Jacks and Laurie Evans. But having made half-centuries both conspired to get out.   

Jacks showed exactly why he is well thought by Surrey and England alike before chipping Harmer meekly to mid-wicket before Porter struck to remove Evans with the first ball after tea. Harmer cleaned up the tail and Essex took a 75-run lead at the end of the first. By close that had been extended to 88.  

56, 59, 85, 61, 53. No, not last night’s lottery numbers but Porter’s returns since 2015. The 85 included 75 in Essex’s 2017 championship run. Not bad given they’d only returned to the division that year. They cost less than 17 a go. Still, no England call.  

^{Jamie Porter's days as an England candidate appear to be over}

He came within a whisper the following year but despite appearing in several squads for the India series a spot in the XI never materialised. Tragically, Porter’s form has dropped off a cliff since then…oh no wait, scrap that. No one has taken more championship wickets in the past four summers. No one.

But the powers that be have gone in a different direction. Their gaze is fixed firmly on the next Ashes tour; that much was evident from the Lions squad that headed Down Under in February.  Make no mistake no-one selected for that trip is a poor cricketer. Quite the opposite. Some will go on to be world-beaters.  

That’s not the point. This is; if winning the top tier two years out of three while taking a hundred and eighty-one wickets along the way doesn’t shoot you to the top of the pecking order, what on earth does? It’s a question Porter would love the answer to.  

This one is set up to be another four-dayer. The hosts are favourites and Surrey look like a side in trouble. Six days in and their Bob Willis Trophy campaign is virtually a write-off.

They were light on batting in last week’s defeat at the hands of Middlesex, and it was same again today despite the temporary return of Evans. Then again, even a club of their magnitude will miss Rory Burns, Ollie Pope, Jason Roy, Ben Foakes and Hashim Amla.

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