The Warwickshire fast bowler Oliver Hannon-Dalby is known for surprising batters with extra bounce and pace. However, in the clash against Surrey, the no.11 batter played the longest innings of his career to support his teammate and wicketkeeper-batter Michael Burgess get to his highest First-Class score. For 94 minutes, the left-handed batter faced as many as 66 dot balls before scoring his first run in the County Championship fixture on April 10.
Hannon-Dalby walked in to bat when Warwickshire were 409/9 and Burgess was batting on 69 off 110 deliveries. Warwickshire were still trailing by 19 runs at Edgbaston, Birmingham.
On an English pitch that relatively favours the spinners, the six feet, seven inches tall bowler defended well on back foot, shouldered his arms on few, played a few drives through covers, dropped his wrists when a pacer bowled a short ball. He survived a close call once against Will Jacks when he was hit on the back pad but the umpire felt that it was going over the stumps.
While the 32-year-old continued to block, Burgess got to his fourth century while donning the whites. He got off the mark with a single which was followed by some cheers and boos from the crowd. Next ball, he hooked it for a boundary.
Meanwhile, the 27-year-old scored some quick runs and attacked the spinners. He hit as many as eight sixes and 20 fours in his 178-run knock off 221 deliveries. Thanks to Hannon-Dalby's support, he could add 109 runs to his score.
Towards the end, the no.11 batter hit two fours in his 11-run knock off 89 deliveries. He remained unbeaten whereas Burgess got dismissed by right-arm off-spinner Jacks. The two-shared a 122-run partnership for the 10th wicket from 43.1 overs to help their side post 531 and take 103-run lead. The match ended in a draw.
After videos of his knock made rounds on Twitter, the Warwickshire veteran tagged England skipper Joe Root in his tweet and wrote "Available if you need me pal!!”.
Another video that went viral was of Hannon-Dalby celebrating Burgess’ century from the non-striker’s end with his arms up in the air.
