Surrey news/articles

First topic message reminder :

Smith was back in this country today - and at Anfield to watch Liverpool beat Man City! That's nice for him. Now, I'm not suggesting he should spend his days off picking up litter in the Lock Stand at the Oval but it is important he starts to deliver for the club paying handsomely for his services.

13 man squad named for the Loughborough MCCU 3 day game starting tomorrow at the Oval. Same as for at Hove this week minus poor Meaks.

No Rampaul so doubt he'll feature in the CC opener at Trent Bridge. No Sanga either but hopefully he will be back for the real thing. Sam Curran is included though which maybe suggests he'll be around more than we thought.

As JimBob would say, who misses out tomorrow? Perhaps Burke and Pillans.

Greetings Fellow Surrey fans! It's been a long winter but with the tadpoles merrily swimming away in our garden pond, thoughts start to turn to the sounds of willow and I see LeRoi has played a bit of a blinder today can't quite concentrate on cricket yet, given what a fantastic season it has been for the Hammers and even more importantly the Rocks....aka Bognor Regis...ended up 1 match short of Wembley in the FA Trophy...and now going for promotion in the Rymans Premier...although with such a fixture backlog they are now playing 3 matches a week!...anyway apologies for being so horribly off topic for my first post of the new season which promises to be an exciting one for Surrey fans!

guildfordbat wrote:13 man squad named for the Loughborough MCCU 3 day game starting tomorrow at the Oval. Same as for at Hove this week minus poor Meaks.

No Rampaul so doubt he'll feature in the CC opener at Trent Bridge. No Sanga either but hopefully he will be back for the real thing. Sam Curran is included though which maybe suggests he'll be around more than we thought.

As JimBob would say, who misses out tomorrow? Perhaps Burke and Pillans.

I see no Ansari yet - how is his fitness progressing?

Hi LT

Zaf will definitely miss our opening CC fixture with Notts but it is hoped he will be back for the second round when Somerset visit the Oval a fortnight later.

Hi guildford and welcome back from the long winter Chichester! The suns even out up in Scotland and it's almost feeling like summer suddenly

On the extra batsman or 4th seamer discussion I can understand both thought processes, guildford. My fear though is that we will face a Notts side with Stuart Broad and Jackson Bird opening the bowling, quite possibly complemented by Luke Fletcher and Harry Gurney.

1.Burns
2.Baron
3.Sanga
4.Davies
5.Roy
6.Foakes (wk)
7.T Curran
8.S Curran
9.Norah
10.Dunn
11.Footitt

It would feel very bold going into a game an April game at Trent Bridge against a very strong seam attack with a long tail.

Ansari bowling in the nets today apparently

Olly wrote:Ansari bowling in the nets today apparently

Thanks, Olly. Didn't know that. Good news obviously.

king_carlos wrote:Hi guildford and welcome back from the long winter Chichester! The suns even out up in Scotland and it's almost feeling like summer suddenly

On the extra batsman or 4th seamer discussion I can understand both thought processes, guildford. My fear though is that we will face a Notts side with Stuart Broad and Jackson Bird opening the bowling, quite possibly complemented by Luke Fletcher and Harry Gurney.

1.Burns
2.Baron
3.Sanga
4.Davies
5.Roy
6.Foakes (wk)
7.T Curran
8.S Curran
9.Norah
10.Dunn
11.Footitt

It would feel very bold going into a game an April game at Trent Bridge against a very strong seam attack with a long tail.

Hi Carlos - I can't help but say there's probably a lot to be fearful about at Trent Bridge unless we can play fourteen!

Anyway, assuming the eleven in your side above are all available, I reckon that's how we'll line up against Notts. That could still change but imo Wilson and/or Burke will need to do something special in the current Loughborough match to hold onto their places.

Meanwhile, Surrey 230/2 against the sports students. 105* for Interesting - saw a bit of the friendly on day one against Middlesex last week, he was in lovely touch then before surprisingly lobbing one up for 30 odd.

king_carlos wrote:Hi guildford and welcome back from the long winter Chichester! The suns even out up in Scotland and it's almost feeling like summer suddenly

On the extra batsman or 4th seamer discussion I can understand both thought processes, guildford. My fear though is that we will face a Notts side with Stuart Broad and Jackson Bird opening the bowling, quite possibly complemented by Luke Fletcher and Harry Gurney.

1.Burns
2.Baron
3.Sanga
4.Davies
5.Roy
6.Foakes (wk)
7.T Curran
8.S Curran
9.Norah
10.Dunn
11.Footitt

It would feel very bold going into a game an April game at Trent Bridge against a very strong seam attack with a long tail.

If we go into games this season with fear we'll find ourselves in division 2 this time next season

We've earned the right to play at this level, let's go prove it with the cricket that got us here

Hundred for interesting, fifties for Baron, That's All and Harold in a good batting performance by Surrey today

Curran snr and foot in it picked up a wicket each before stumps too

Obviously not the strongest opponents but nonetheless a fine start to this first class season for Surrey.

If I'm going to nitpick and, yes, I will - sorry, Olly! - Burns needs to convert more of his double figure scores to greater effect. Don't get me wrong - he's a good and confident player whom I definitely value. However, for our benefit and his own if he is to progress to international level, he needs more centuries with the odd ''daddy hundred'' - as the pundits would say - along the way.

He went for 27 today to add to his knocks of 51 and 27 again for the MCC against Yorks in the season's first class opener in Abu Dhabi the other week. Not bad scores and nothing to beat the lad up about ... but that's really my point, we all want better than not bad.

Btw, my point relates not just to Burns' last 3 innings but much of last season as well. I emphasise and appreciate we wouldn't have reached Division One without his runs then. It's just that if he and Surrey want to reach further heights, even more will be needed from him.

By all means, feel free to rubbish my comments but please not my intentions.

Good workout for the batsmen against Loughborough today.  Foakes, among others, continues to show good early season batting form.

If Ansari is soon fit I suppose he may slot in again as opener, perhaps replacing Harinath. This would maybe leave on one side, pending more spin friendly wickets, the dilemma about playing Ansari as opener and as one of the front line bowlers.

chichestersurryfan wrote:Greetings Fellow Surrey fans!  It's been a long winter but with the tadpoles merrily swimming away in our garden pond, thoughts start to turn to the sounds of willow ....

 
Welcome back Chichester.  We'll just have to hope that Surrey don't croak in Div 1 this season

Rats - I also meant earlier to send greetings and a warm welcome back to the mighty Chichester!

Olly wrote:Ansari bowling in the nets today apparently

Interesting as he apparently had further surgery on his left thumb only 3 weeks ago.

I do hope to actually see him play though thi sseason, as it can be wrong to judge a player purely on statistics.

Greetings one and all! Seems we start earlier every year!

Useful batting displays yesterday but looks like our bowlers already back into their old habits of letting teams off the hook - Loughborough from 92-5 to 271-5. Dunn proving expensive. Talking of expensive, I saw an earlier post saying that Dernbach's out until t20 time - what's wrong with him?

Olly wrote:

king_carlos wrote:Hi guildford and welcome back from the long winter Chichester! The suns even out up in Scotland and it's almost feeling like summer suddenly

On the extra batsman or 4th seamer discussion I can understand both thought processes, guildford. My fear though is that we will face a Notts side with Stuart Broad and Jackson Bird opening the bowling, quite possibly complemented by Luke Fletcher and Harry Gurney.

1.Burns
2.Baron
3.Sanga
4.Davies
5.Roy
6.Foakes (wk)
7.T Curran
8.S Curran
9.Norah
10.Dunn
11.Footitt

It would feel very bold going into a game an April game at Trent Bridge against a very strong seam attack with a long tail.

If we go into games this season with fear we'll find ourselves in division 2 this time next season

We've earned the right to play at this level, let's go prove it with the cricket that got us here

That's a very fair way to sum things actually Olly. Making runs at Trent Bridge against an attack like that will come down to Burns and the Baron showing the same solidity against the new ball last season then a combination of Sanga, Davies, Roy and Foakes displaying their class and potential.

Whilst it would make me feel more secure if an early wicket goes down, having Harold at 7 is unlikely to offer the same ability to halt a collapse as the extra seamer would in clawing us back into a match or holding down an advantage.

Judging by Sam Curran coming in ahead of Burke against Loughborough it seems that the coaches are thinking similarly too.

The Currans, Footitt and Dunn certainly is a potent bowling attack. Plenty of pace, a good mix of swing and seam movement plus the Currans are usually very accurate and consistent. My one concern would be that if Footitt and Dunn go round the park (which both can do at times) then it's a lot of pressure on the young brothers to contain things, especially without the usual fall back of two spinners.

Dunn going at nearly 6 an over against a university side...

4 wickets each for Curran the senior and Mr Foot in it

Not a great performance by the other bowlers, Dunn and Batty in particular poor

Curran the younger opening up with Burns second dig. Interesting (people have often touted him as an upper order bat)

guildfordbat wrote:Rats - I also meant earlier to send greetings and a warm welcome back to the mighty Chichester!

I have been called many things before but never 'mighty' atleast not until now Let's hope Surrey's hopes don't fade as quickly as the tadpoles in our pond...chief suspects...a very fat looking newt and some chirpy contended looking blackbirds...I do promise to make some sensible posts on here once the season has really got going...and in the meantime looking forward to Le Roi and The River perform on Sunday....I feel very happy for The River, given the fearful hammering he has taken over the years on social media....and admittedly he has put in some poor performances...but his death bowling against NeW Zealand was superb!

Basil Brushes Bowlers Away!

Got along to the Oval today - well, until about 5 o'clock when I gave in to the cold and perhaps frustration with our bowlers. Other posters' comments above, based on the stats I guess, are largely on the money.

First off, Basil Akram batting at number 7 and coming to the wicket when Loughborough were perilously placed at 90 odd/5 displayed great confidence and maturity together with fine strokeplay. In particular, some elegant cover drives and clever guides to the third man area. However, you really should expect a six (not just four) man bowling attack (yep, that was for you Carlos ) to have done better on a greenish top and not allow an inexperienced student to notch up more than a century and a half. Credit as well to young Charles Lowren who provided (or possibly - was allowed to provide) decent support.

The bowling wasn't terrible but it certainly wasn't nearly penetrative enough. Add to that, a fairly generous sprinkling of no balls and a few deliveries too short or wide with a quick outfield and you can start to understand why things got away from us. There seemed nothing in the wicket (or the conditions) for Batty but even so he still too often lost the line and length you would expect from a seasoned pro. Burke started in ordinary fashion but did at least tighten up as he went on unlike Dunn who continued to mix bad balls with reasonable ones. The Currans and Footitt were tidier, the latter the best and most accurate of the lot when I left with 6 wickets down for about 310.

Probably the best Surrey performance I saw came from Foakes. Generally neat and unfussy glove work with some excellent stops to the odd delivery fired down the legside.

Good at least that Footitt and TC cleaned up the last 4 wickets without too many more runs being added.

Away from the match itself, Zaf was in the marquee nets just in front of the Gasholder. He seemed cheerful and replied, ''Getting there'' when someone asked how he was. The word on the street (or Harleyford Road) though was that he won't be ready for Trent Bridge.

I also saw Vik Solanki as I was leaving and had a quick word to wish him well in his new role. As ever, he was the perfect gentleman and, when thanking me for my support, called me ''Sir''. I remember the Corporal chuckled about Vik addressing me like that before on the only other occasion I've spoken to Vik!

Meanwhile, in today's Surrey Ad, Spills states his understanding that Sam Curran will be ''free of school commitments for the clash at Notts'' and thus available. Might well be needed - BOOM BOOM, Mr Carlos!

If young Zaf was fit, I'd think we could go into the early season games like this

Third degree
Baron
The GOAT
Interesting
Le Roi
That's all
#ansariforengland
Curran the younger
Curran the elder
Foot in it
Clive

I think that's our strongest early season unit if Zaf can get himself fit.

Eleven pages and 520+ posts later, I'm getting heartily sick of having to plough my way past bloody Smith, Man City and Liverpool to get to the latest posts.

MODERATORS: could we please keep this thread for reference, but have a new 'live' Surrey news/articles thread, as we return to CC1, in time for the 2016 season?

Cheers for the update, guildford. Yep, maybe we will be better of with the extra bowler after all. The recent Brown caps tradition of letting the batting side back into things with a 6/7/8th wicket partnership.

Hopefully that's them getting it out of their system in the warm-ups for once! I must say that amongst the figures I was a bit surprised to see Norah going wicketless at 4.5 runs an over. I'd expect the wily old fox to keep thing much tighter than that against a University side.

From the game as a whole it was great to see Interesting get back to back centuries - he will be so vital this season as one of the few top order batsmen to have significant first-class experience above Div 2 level.

Harold also won't have done himself any harm with a couple of half centuries. That said I don't think it will be enough to force his way in as a batsmen, for now at least it seems we will have a direct shoot-out for the gloves between him and Foakes.

Also very pleased to hear that Pitt the even younger still will be available at Notts. His style of bowling (and another left arm seamer making foot marks for Norah) will be very useful at Trent Bridge, not to mention him likely batting at 7.

SimonofSurrey wrote:Eleven pages and 520+ posts later, I'm getting heartily sick of having to plough my way past bloody Smith, Man City and Liverpool to get to the latest posts.

MODERATORS: could we please keep this thread for reference, but have a new 'live' Surrey news/articles thread, as we return to CC1, in time for the 2016 season?  

Hi Simon - good to see another regular on the boards in time for summer.

If posters are keen for a Surrey news/articles thread specifically for the 2016 season then I'd be happy to set one up?

On the rugby boards at least it's usually the case that for the clubs with more supporters on 606v2 that a poster will set up a discussion thread for their club for the season. It's usually headed with an opening post listing fixture dates, the squad for the coming season, any departures/arrivals and other such news.

I'd be happy to make one up quickly over the next couple of days and get it posted up in time for the new season if posters would find having that local listing of fixtures, etc useful?

Carlos I think that would be a good idea - this thread could be used for more general Surrey news then

king_carlos wrote:Cheers for the update, guildford. Yep, maybe we will be better of with the extra bowler after all. The recent Brown caps tradition of letting the batting side back into things with a 6/7/8th wicket partnership.

Hopefully that's them getting it out of their system in the warm-ups for once! I must say that amongst the figures I was a bit surprised to see Norah going wicketless at 4.5 runs an over. I'd expect the wily old fox to keep thing much tighter than that against a University side.

From the game as a whole it was great to see Interesting get back to back centuries - he will be so vital this season as one of the few top order batsmen to have significant first-class experience above Div 2 level.

Harold also won't have done himself any harm with a couple of half centuries. That said I don't think it will be enough to force his way in as a batsmen, for now at least it seems we will have a direct shoot-out for the gloves between him and Foakes.

Also very pleased to hear that Pitt the even younger still will be available at Notts. His style of bowling (and another left arm seamer making foot marks for Norah) will be very useful at Trent Bridge, not to mention him likely batting at 7.

Thanks, Carlos. Slightly in defence of Batty's bowling, I would say that in a more competitive fixture he would have brought himself on a fair bit earlier. He didn't bowl until about the 60th over and had seemed content until then for the bowling to be shared out amongst the seamers. I know he didn't tend to appear with the ball too early last season but, even so, I reckon he would have bowled sooner on Friday if his aim had been more about getting wickets (if only by mixing things up) and less about giving overs to the seamers. Both Akram and Lowren were pretty well set and confident when he eventually entered the attack; indeed, the latter even played a reverse sweep in his first over. That all said, I would still have expected greater accuracy from such an experienced campaigner.

Meanwhile, if Harold is to lose his crown, he's not going down without a battle. As well as his own form, the situation of two others may increase his chances of playing as a batsman at Trent Bridge (fairly sure That's All will have the gloves). The Baron didn't bat second dig - don't know why, injured? Also, just possible the ECB or even Surrey might rest le roi after his World Cup adventures.

Olly wrote:Carlos I think that would be a good idea - this thread could be used for more general Surrey news then

Completely agree. Sounds excellent, Carlos, thanks.

Assuming JimBob is soon back and happy to continue doing his individual match threads, your thread could cover all other stuff but especially geared to the 2016 season as you say.

I see Meaker is out for a while. Inside edge into his groin while batting. (on Meaker's behalf!)

guildfordbat wrote:Basil Brushes Bowlers Away!

..... I also saw Vik Solanki as I was leaving and had a quick word to wish him well in his new role. As ever, he was the perfect gentleman and, when thanking me for my support, called me ''Sir''. I remember the Corporal chuckled about Vik addressing me like that before on the only other occasion I've spoken to Vik!

Meanwhile, in today's Surrey Ad, Spills states his understanding that Sam Curran will be ''free of school commitments for the clash at Notts'' and thus available. Might well be needed - BOOM BOOM, Mr Carlos!

Guildford - haven't I always said that Solanki was ahead of the curve when it comes to HM's future disbursement of honours.

Free of school commitments just before A levels?  In the olden days that used to be called "revision leave"

That would make sense re Batty not bringing himself on until the seamers had got a lot of overs under their belts. Norah has been a very selfless skipper for us and given it will be his strong battery of seamers that should make us competitive early season it makes sense to give them lots of overs.

Fantastic, I'll get onto sorting a 'Surrey 2016 summer' thread over the next couple of days and post it up for the start of the season. Yep, I think jimbobs individual match threads work fantastically given the number of Surrey fans here. Given how many seasons this thread now spans it is probably time for a fresh 'Surrey news' thread and given summer is fast approaching it seems sensible to make one for the coming season.

I'll start on it this evening and hopefully get it posted either late on tonight or later in the week.

Corporalhumblebucket wrote:

guildfordbat wrote:Basil Brushes Bowlers Away!

..... I also saw Vik Solanki as I was leaving and had a quick word to wish him well in his new role. As ever, he was the perfect gentleman and, when thanking me for my support, called me ''Sir''. I remember the Corporal chuckled about Vik addressing me like that before on the only other occasion I've spoken to Vik!

Meanwhile, in today's Surrey Ad, Spills states his understanding that Sam Curran will be ''free of school commitments for the clash at Notts'' and thus available. Might well be needed - BOOM BOOM, Mr Carlos!

Guildford - haven't I always said that Solanki was ahead of the curve when it comes to HM's future disbursement of honours.

Free of school commitments just before A levels?  In the olden days that used to be called "revision leave"

Corp/guildford - Careful, chaps. I tend to find the only people who call me 'Sir' are either those to whom I owe money for goods and services - or those who feel it appropriate to my perceived advancing age! Just saying (...as those far younger than us tend to say )

Folks looking into some matches at the oval this summer - what's the best looking ones to you all?

Simon - for the avoidance of doubt (as those far younger than us also tend to say), I owe no money to Vik Solanki and so sadly have no doubt as to the reason for him calling me 'Sir'!

davies threatening to quit if he isn't given the gloves this season

Oh dear, Jimbob. That sort of talk by Davies is bound to unsettle the squad. It does seem right for Surrey to have made clear that Foakes is now the preferred wicket keeping no1.

He's said he'd have to consider leaving which quite frankly I think with enough notice we could live with

To be honest he's completely missed the boat on England now as a keeper - no way they drop Bairstow and if they do Buttler is clearly next up and in one day stuff Billings is next up.

No problem with Davies now wanting to compete with Foakes and Wilson for the gloves provided it doesn't affect his batting (remember he packed in keeping as he said his batting was suffering).

However, as he's hardly kept in the last two years, it seems extremely premature and naive to be talking publicly about his Test ambitions and threatening to quit if he can't meet them at Surrey.

According to Spills, Ansari definitely out of the Trent Bridge fixture but likely to play for the seconds in a three dayer at Sussex starting on Tuesday.

I see that SoS has the hump over on the Beebs rather pitiful preview article.