SURREY VS ESSEX GUILDFORD SPECSAVERS COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP

Surrey have named a fourteen man squad for the Specsavers County Championship match against Essex at Guildford CC.
After a week off, there are no fresh injury concerns for Surrey with captain Gareth Batty recovered from the toe injury that kept him out of the game at Chelmsford.
Surprisingly there is no place in the squad for Arun Harinath and Jade Dernbach remains on the treatment table.
Full Surrey Squad
Gareth Batty (captain)
Scott Borthwick
Rory Burns
Sam Curran
Tom Curran
Ben Foakes
Mark Footitt
Stuart Meaker
Ollie Pope
Ravi Rampaul
Kumar Sangakkara
Dom Sibley
Mark Stoneman
Amar Virdir
his holiness must be due a start so for me
sibley,virdi and footitt to miss out maybe meaker (rest) this time.
Over to you chaps

COME ON ESSEX!

We should win this game comfortably at home...fully fit squad to choose from, in good form, and looking good as a side, looking forward to this game

wisden wrote:COME ON ESSEX!

We should win this game comfortably at home...fully fit squad to choose from, in good form, and looking good as a side, looking forward to this game

Hi JimBob - thanks for the thread.

It's difficult to see Batty and Virdi both playing unless the track looks as if it'll really help the spinners. It doesn't normally; not that much anyway. Therefore, probably a shootout between the two slowmen. Reckon Batty as skipper and having been named in the squad will win that.

Pope or Sibley is a clear shootout. Extremely tough to call. I'll say Sibley to get the nod but, if so, it'll be only just and clearly understood he'll be on drinks duty next time if he doesn't deliver. Pope might have the compensation of being lined up for the RL 50 at Yorks on Tuesday.

That leaves one of the seamers to drop out. As Beehive said the other day, we pretty much have to include both Currans as none of the other bowlers can realistically bat at 7 and 8 (this all ties in with Ansari walking out at a moment's notice which you may notice I'm still not totally taken with). So one of Rampaul, Meaker and Footitt to make way. The last two have previously done well at Guildford whilst Rampaul kept things tight (or ''dry'' as MDV would say) at the People's Republic of Chelmsford recently which the coaches really like. Very tricky again. Just maybe, Footitt to miss another game.

I think Essex will name an unchanged side from the one that played us the other week although spinner Zaidi and seamer Walter are included in a 13 man squad.

Thanks Jimbob.  I expect Batty will play, despite Virdi's encouraging debut. Wondering whether maybe his Holiness might get the nod over Sibley. Find it difficult to predict on the fast bowlers - tho I rather doubt that Meaker will be dropped.

At the ground. Been raing heavily, drizzle now. Start will be delayed sadly.

Big team news is Tom Curran gets the chop, as Meaker, Footitt and Rampaul all play. Tail looks really, really long.

Surrey batting first

kumar is human after all

100 for rocky

50 for sibley

2nd batting point

150 for rocky

here we go again buffet bowler ten Doeschate comes back on and we make him look like glenn Mcgrath

50 for baby face

353-5 at close of play.

That goes down as a good day for Surrey - but will await Guildford's full verdict before confirming!

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:353-5 at close of play.

That goes down as a good day for Surrey - but will await Guildford's full verdict before confirming!

Yes, definitely a good day. Stoneman was immense and remains there to hopefully carry on in the morning. With him is Sam who raced to fifty just before stumps.

The first hour and a half wasn't great but to be fair conditions were difficult. The track was lush green and it remained cloudy. Porter particularly got movement and deserved his two wickets. A shame not to see Sanga on song at ''my ground'' but encouraging we could still rack up a total without needing him to be the one doing it. Essex were handicapped by Quinn going off with some unknown (to me anyway) injury just before tea. Even allowing for that, I thought Essex let the game drift for too long upon the resumption until Tendo brought himself on and accounted straightaway for Sibley (not happy) and Foakes. Sibley was very defensive to begin with but scrapped hard and grew in confidence.

A little bit of caution though. The boundaries at Guildford are small and the outfield today was fast as it probably will be for the whole match. 350 odd for 5 here is still more than decent but not as strong as at many other grounds. Important we bat beyond lunch tomorrow and then bowl and field well holding everything that comes our way.

Btw, Tom definitely isn't injured. He was sending down quite a few deliveries with pace on the outfield before the start. Assume that's to do with rest and rotation. No great problem as regards our bowling but it weakens the batting.

At the ground. Glorious weather. Batting day.

FURIOUS

guildfordbat wrote:FURIOUS

And rightly so Guildford

How are our lower order bats not able to score just a few runs to get us to 400?

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:How are our lower order bats not able to score just a few runs to get us to 400?

The way Footitt was dismissed was like a dad giving his kid catching practice in a spot of beach cricket,

Even more maddeningly, the ball immediately before he drove towards mid off. It was stopped but only with a good dive by the fielder. If Footitt and Rampaul had had any wits about them, they would both have been quick out of their blocks and made the single.

A lot of credit today to Essex (hope you're reading wisden!). Wagner and Porter both bowled well and didn't give any easy pickings. It was a shame we couldn't properly see them off although Bopara came on briefly and then stole Batty's wicket. Quinn who went off injured yesterday (back spasm apparently) didn't appear today; that should have given us an advantage but we never pressed it home. Starting with Batty at 7, everyone in our tail seemed to be batting a number too high.

Cook looked masterful at the crease and it was a real surprise when Sam got him lbw. The Chef seemed far from happy with the decision - I was watching side on so can't much comment although it was a confident appeal and the ball didn't seem high. After that Browne, Westley and Lawrence all got out when it looked as if they were about to properly get going. At that point, Essex were 130 odd for 4 and it seemed like we might have them in some trouble. However, Bopara and Tendo had other ideas. They attacked straightaway - Bopara was two steps down the crease and stroking Batty to the ropes the first over he faced. We kept plugging away (better than the stats will show) but their aggression and the short boundaries won out. It was announced over the PA that Tendo's half-century contained 10 fours whilst Bopara's comprised 7 fours and 2 sixes. That reflected my perception of the strange position - we were bowling a lot of dot balls but still proving expensive.

Meaker finally got Bopara lbw - I want to see that again; I did wonder about the height but there seemed no complaint from the batter. However, Tendo went to his ton and saw the day out. I think he had one life on 39, not sure if he got a nick on one down the legside from Batty which Foakes put down but the skipper was excited.

Some serious pace from Meaker and Footitt. After a poor opening spell, Footitt recovered well and was Surrey's best and most effective bowler. We need him firing from the start in the morning. Need to wrap up their tail quickly - we can't afford one of them blocking an end for any time whilst Tendo blasts away at the other. Not sure if Quinn will bat tomorrow - if Tendo's still at the crease, I'm sure Essex will be bl**dy keen to get him to the middle.

50 for third degree and yet again he doesn't go on

This really is pathetic Essex a bowler down and still struggle

Going to take a miracle for this not to be an Essex win now

Sometimes you have to take your hat off to the opposition. I was well impressed by Essex. They're a strong side. Even with Quinn still crocked, their trio of Harmer, Porter and Wagner bowled with a lot of skill and guts. Wagner kept charging in, getting bounce out of the pitch and was unlucky to go wicketless. The other two meanwhile shared 7.

We were never more than ok today. Too many got in but then got out without making a meaningful score. Losing Rocky before lunch and before the scores were level was a real hammer blow. We always seemed behind from then and never caught up.

If Batty can be as effective as Harmer, we'll have a chance. Although still only a small one imo. Essex have talented and experienced batsmen throughout their line up whilst the short boundaries and fast outfield continue to provide no favours to the bowling side and mean that a target of even 300 wouldn't be that stiff. 80/20 in Essex's favour tonight in my book.

Did ravioli have some leftover brunch to get back into the changing rooms for?

That Surrey tail seems to be trying for some sort of record...

4/7 in the first innings , 3/2 today . Reminds me of when England finished off with Mullally , Tufnell and Giddins

This is going to be a pretty resounding defeat

Why did it take 30 overs for meaker, probably our best strike bowler, to come on? I get he can be expensive, but we needed wickets early

Not to mention Batty, but he so far has 0-40 yet Harmer took 4-83 in our second innings. So either he is a much better bowler or their batsmen are a lot better. Also, can't believe they can't coach our bowlers to scrape a couple of runs out of the last few wickets.

At 365-5 on the 2nd morning I never contemplated defeat, but we've been absolutely hammered, wisden was right......embarrassing performance from all

A poor day. We were behind going into it but lost more ground as it went on.

The tail threw away our last two wickets. I don't expect brilliant batting from the likes of Rampaul and Footitt but just a bit of application and nous. After that debacle, our bowlers had too much to do and never really threatened although Cook's wicket upon lunch raised a glimmer of (false) hope. Credit to Batty for taking some personal responsibility and bringing himself on first change. However, it didn't change things round and he wasn't nearly as effective as Harmer in our second dig.

I didn't think much of Batty's captaincy. Agree with Olly that Meaker should have been tried earlier. The priority was always wickets, not containment. Similarly, if Borthwick was going to be given a bowl, Batty might as well have turned to him when Essex were 120/1 than wait (as he did) until the score was 170/2 and it was far too late.

Extremely concerning that we ended up well beaten despite Stoneman's 197 and Essex being a bowler short for the majority of the match.