surrey vs sussex county championship

First topic message reminder :

Team Director Chris Adams has named an unchanged thirteen man squad for the LV=County Championship match against Sussex starting on Wednesday at the Kia Oval.
The Surrey Squad to play Sussex in the LV=County Championship at the Kia Oval on Wednesday April 24th, Thursday April 25th, Friday April 26th and Saturday April 27th:
Graeme Smith (capt)
Rory Burns
Arun Harinath
Vikram Solanki
Zander de Bruyn
Steven Davies
Gary Wilson
Gareth Batty
Gary Keedy
Stuart Meaker
Chris Tremlett
Tim Linley
Jade Dernbach
keedy or tremlett the big decision for this game

Need 5 off this over with Tremlett on strike

Apparently the attendance today is about 5000 thats a great effort


6 from Tremlett noff first ball of the over for a bonus point, apparently its out the ground over the Peter may stand

351 all out

5 Wickets for Jordan

5 for Jordan - who'd have predicted that?!

Jordan has bowled 54.2 overs for Sussex this season....that's 326 deliveries......... and he's only bowled 2 no balls...............he used to average that per over for us! 13 wickets in 3 inns at an average of 14...........absolutely astounding. He hasn't been trained by Mahmood Al Zarooni has he??!!

greetings everyone.. just in from the garden ... a gorgeous day in chichester today... Pleased to hear that Surrey have got a 2nd wicket..

Sounds a bit attritional today.... but match looks evenly balanced... I'd hope we could get 4 wickets by the end of the day?

A big for Wilson's effort yesterday... as for Smith.. well the old addage that form is temporary and class in permanent... seems apposite?

Why on earth did you lot give us Jordan he is class!

Luke Wells is batting very well. Future England player right there.

nick never mention class and jordan in the same sentence again

Not to say it again, but our bowling looks weak again. Cannot see us bowling sides out twice, especially with De Bruyn and Batty mysteriously still in the side.

For reasons not worth going into, I managed to watch about 3 hours play today from after lunch.

Linley was the pick of the bowlers for me. He bowled beautifully at the start of the afternoon session. Probing and tight - only 2 scoring shots off him in 5 overs. Really felt he should have been kept on and bowled a longer spell - perhaps Smith is the only one who doesn't know that the Viscount would bowl uphill into the wind all day if it was for the good of the team. Linley did reasonably ok in a second spell immediately after tea but never quite found the same immaculate groove.

On another day, things might have gone more our way. Linley, Tremlett, Dernbach and Batty each had a confident appeal turned down for either lbw or caught behind. However, we were too often tidy rather than threatening - de Bruyn was the main example of that and bowled too much for my liking.

Sussex - and Wells in particular - clearly concentrated hard and gained rewards late in the day for their stout defence in the afternoon session. It probably helped Sussex in a way that the more attack minded Joyce replaced the ever attritional Yardy on the stroke of tea when the latter fell to a neat low catch round the corner from Burns off the deserving Batty.

It'll be interesting to see where the game goes from here. Sussex need to put their foot on the gas and, with 8 wickets left, are fairly well set to motor on. However, we've now bowled exactly 80 overs and so the new ball is available first thing in the morning. A couple of quick wickets and the game takes on yet another different complexion ....

We may as well start caling ourselves the Surrey deja-vu's. Last week Petersen, as expected, got a hatful against us again, this week it's Wells. If I'm not mistaken he now has 3 of his 6 FC hundreds against us! It was also inevitable that Jordan would get a five-for, 2 in a row for him - how many did he get for us in the last 4 years? It's all a bit frustrating isn't it?

However, the fact that Tremlett made 30 odd this morning did make me think bowling wasn't easy on this pitch, we need a couple of early wickets tomorrow to try and get back on top (and hope the inevitable RHB 80-ball hundred doesn't happen). It does seem like the new ball is vital in this game but even so at the moment another fairly uneventful draw could be on the cards.

2 wickets in 80 overs - fairly thin pickings

I see Tom Jewell took 5 - 60 for the 2nd XI. Don't know whether he counts as a poor man's River Jordan..

I think I'd take a fairly uneventful draw now!
Sussex are going to go well past our 351, and we could face a tricky last day against Monty

Tomorrow looks tricky but the pitch seems like another very flat one so a draw should be very possible, just needs some solid batting. At least our captain has got himself in this evening, hopefully he can push on in the morning.

I've just worked out that Wells' average against everyone except us is about 28 whereas against us he averages 118

Carrotdude wrote:Tomorrow looks tricky but the pitch seems like another very flat one so a draw should be very possible, just needs some solid batting. At least our captain has got himself in this evening, hopefully he can push on in the morning.

I've just worked out that Wells' average against everyone except us is about 28 whereas against us he averages 118

Carrot - the weather / some rain may also help our chances tomorrow but suggest we await the Corporal's expert guidance on that.

Good that Smith has got some Surrey runs under his belt and is still there for the morrow. Credit as well to Wilson for once more digging in and surviving the last hour (MuchHappier - told you he was a scrapper! ).

Pleased that the Viscount had a reasonable day, certainly better than Tremlett and Dernbach. Tremlett is going to have to do a lot more than just capture Monty's wicket to retain his Surrey place let alone regain his Test spot.

I'll leave other concerns until the match is done ....

PS Carrot - wonderful stat on Wells!

certainly sounds like a hard slog for Surrey today... judging by the weather forecast, if we suffer a tomorrow morning collapse, the weather might come to our aid...but really hoping that won't be necessary... If we manage 2 draws to start with... certainly not disasterous...but any thought that somehow with our various signings we were going to run away with things... our performances thus far have been a bit of a rude awakening!

Given how ex Surrey players have performed against us thus far... I have a feeling of dread about the London Derby matches this season

Guildford - possibility of showers but difficult to predict the likelihood of disruption.

Struggling badly at the moment to bowl sides out on good pitches. With the points scoring system as it is we're likely to find ourselves in relegation zone even if we don't lose many matches.

At least some encouragement that if Smith gets his eye in again tomorrow he's not going to let Monty slow us to a halt.

Surrey 130 -2 after 90 minutes play. Smith bowled by Panesar for 67 - deficit down to 45.

Wilson digging in - making most of his opportunity. Ideally Solanki needs to play a lengthy innings and not get out for breezy 35 off 47 balls or suchlike....

If we can get to lunch with only 2 down, we should be able to get the draw. Excellent effort once more from Wilson.

However, as the Corporal suggested last night, we are going to have to win a few games (rather than just avoid defeat) if we are not to be amongst the relegation contenders ....

Half century for Drinks Carrier.

Solanki 35* Wilson 54* at lunch. Deficit 1 run. A satisfactory morning.

Match peters out into a draw with Surrey never in any real danger of defeat today. Plus points Solanki got 83 and Roy remained not out. Also a relief that Jordan didn't take a hatful of wickets against us in the second innings.

Another dull pitch. Need to do something about it really. Pleased for Wilson and Solanki to get decent runs in this match though.

Carrot - pitch preparation and how it'll play has always been something of a mystery to me. The one for this match had a touch of a green top (unlike for the Somerset match we saw) and so I thought it would offer more to the seamers. From what I saw, that only seemed to be the case for the morning session on day one.

Certainly agree that something needs to be done. We can't afford for most of our home matches to peter out into draws.

Credit again to Wilson for seeing us through to lunch and relative safety. Pleased that Solanki scored runs in his two innings although frustrating that he appears to have thoughtlessly got out both times.

The form of Tremlett and de Bruyn is a concern going into the Lord's match ....

With Tremlett I think we should be happy that he has come through a tough match and bowled a lot of overs without any ill effects, hopefully form will come with time for him. The Brain is another matter though, on paper he offers extra batting and the odd wicket but in reality he offers very few runs and a very occasional wicket. I wonder if Jewell may displace him at some point, not sure what his batting is like but his bowling is certainly better.

I don't think it's good for county cricket to have a 4th day pitch that is so easy to get 300/5 on, should at least be helping the spinners by that point, I know it was in our favour this time but it won't always be the case. A couple of years ago we had a very result-friendly Oval didn't we when Linley had his super season?

The Oval pitch does seem to reverting to what is was like a few seasons ago. When it's like that the only bowler who can do anything on it is Meaker - and even then only when he strikes top form.

Carrotdude wrote:With Tremlett I think we should be happy that he has come through a tough match and bowled a lot of overs without any ill effects, hopefully form will come with time for him. The Brain is another matter though, on paper he offers extra batting and the odd wicket but in reality he offers very few runs and a very occasional wicket. I wonder if Jewell may displace him at some point, not sure what his batting is like but his bowling is certainly better.

I don't think it's good for county cricket to have a 4th day pitch that is so easy to get 300/5 on, should at least be helping the spinners by that point, I know it was in our favour this time but it won't always be the case. A couple of years ago we had a very result-friendly Oval didn't we when Linley had his super season?

Hi Carrot - we're certainly in agreement on both The Brain and 4th day pitches. However, I'm less patient than you concerning Tremlett. I am pleased that he appears to have come through a tough match unscathed but feel he needs to do more in a CC match (even his first of the season) than just show his fitness.

Assuming Meaker is fit for the Lord's game, would Tremlett be in your starting eleven?

Guildford, I agree with you on all matters mentioned above, though Im unconvinced about Meaker being the answer but having said that Im not sure what the answer is.
Other than a great 2 month spell when Ojha arrived we have struggled to take 20 wickets for quite a few seasons now and not sure this problem has been solved yet. Luckily I believe we have enough batting in us to get alot of draws, if its alot of draws with a few wins it will all be ok but if its lots of draws with a few defeats it may not be only time will tell

It's a tough one. If Dernbach hadn't bowled so well in the first Somerset innings I'd drop him for Meaker, going purely on form Tremlett should be the one to miss out but as it is I imagine Linley will miss out through not being a big name despite being our best bowler last week.