Surrey and England Test capped seamer, Matthew Fisher, claimed a second five-wicket-haul in as many days at The Oval today (September 16), notching-up his maiden first-class 10-for in the deciding clash of the 2025 County Championship.
After defending champions Surrey collapsed from 101-1 to 173 all-out on day two, Nottinghamshire fared little better in their second innings. Dan Worrall bowled opener Ben Slater in the fifth over of the innings, before Fisher wiped out the rest of the top-order. Captain and second-leading run-scorer in Division One Haseeb Hameed was his first victim, out lbw for 14, before Joe Clark fell in the same fashion in Fisher's next over. Freddie McCann made it three lbws in three overs for Fisher, with Notts slipping to 53-5 when Jack Haynes was bowled, again by Fisher. Following that wicket, Fisher's figures read 4-11.
He was made to bide his time to complete his five-for, however, with Lyndon James and Liam Patterson-White stitching together a 109-run partnership to rescue Nottinghamshire's innings. Both sides went into this week's clash separated by one point at the top of the table, with whoever emerges as the winner set to have the decisive upper-hand going into the final round of competition next week.
Fisher struck to break the seventh wicket partnership in the 50th over of the day, getting James caught behind by Ben Foakes. That wicket completed 10 in the match for Fisher, his career-best first-class figures.
Match 111, Surrey vs Nottinghamshire
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Matt Fisher builds case for Lions inclusion
Alongside their senior Ashes tour of Australia this winter, England Lions will tour Australia. No squads have yet been announced for either series, but Fisher's 10-for stands him in good stead for selection in the Lions group. England will likely take an expanded group of seamers down under, to mitigate for injuries and fatigue. Brendon McCullum said earlier this week that the main touring party could include as many as seven specialist seamers, while more will be included in the Lions squad.
Fisher has played one Test for England, but has not been named in a squad for more than three years. He impressed during his so far one and only appearance, which came against the West Indies in 2022 in a series which followed England's heavy defeat in the 2021/22 Ashes. The series was notable for the exclusion of James Anderson and Stuart Broad, paving the way for Fisher to come through.
However, Fisher picked up an injury to his back which ruled him out of selection contention at the beginning of the following summer, and he's been fighting to find a way back ever since. He's slipped down the pecking order of pacers, with the emergence of Gus Atkinson, Josh Tongue and Brydon Carse making it harder to break into the side, while Matthew Potts, Jofra Archer, Mark Wood and Chris Woakes are also ahead of him in the pecking order.
Having moved down to Surrey from Yorkshire last year, in an effort from the club to cover Atkinson's spells away with England, Fisher took a while to get going, despite bowling well in spells. The five-for he took yesterday was his first for the club, and he's taken 28 Championship wickets this year at 32.75.
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