SURREY VS HAMPSHIRE SPECSAVERS COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP

Surrey have named a 14 man squad for this week’s Specsavers County Championship away match with Hampshire, starting at 10:30am on Tuesday 5 September.
Tom Curran returns to the squad having not played for the club since the Natwest T20 Blast victory over Sussex Sharks on Sunday 13 August due to a back issue.
Arun Harinath misses out on the match having failed to recover from a side strain picked up in a 2XI match with Middlesex in August.
The full Surrey squad is:
Gareth Batty (captain)
Scott Borthwick
Rory Burns
Rikki Clarke
Sam Curran
Tom Curran
Jade Dernbach
Ben Foakes
Conor McKerr
Stuart Meaker
Ryan Patel
Ollie Pope
Jason Roy
Amar Virdi
McKerr,Dernbach (who can now take on the trolls on twitter for the rest of the year ) and virdi to miss out.
Over to you chaps

Thanks, JimBob.

Didn't know about Dernbach and the trolls. Just had a butcher's at his twitter account. Whilst my head tells me he should just ignore a wum, I still couldn't help smiling at him responding that the poster was a ''baldy'' and a ''bell end''.

At the recent forum meeting, Stewie - in response to a question - said that Dernbach wasn't only a limited overs bowler and added that he was now practising with the red ball to get back in serious contention for a place in the CC side. Stewie suggested that was more likely to happen in the last three games starting next week. In view of that, I suspect he'll be on the bench again tomorrow.

Hants lose #cranetrain (man up, Olly! ) to England and don't call up another spinner to their 12 man squad. [I'm sure Jimbo H will take us through that later. ] Anyway, maybe that together with a pretty ordinary weather forecast means we can make do without Virdi.

For the last place, that might be a shoot-out between McKerr and Sam Curran with perhaps Babyface being rested. I wondered about how Sam would get on this season and wasn't madly confident when Olly and others were choosing him for their All Time Ever World XI! Ok, I exaggerate there but my point made with the subtlety of a sledgehammer!

PS Thanks Olly and James for the award suggestions on the general thread. Hope to hear from you, JimBob, and others there. Cheers.

Dernbach playing ahead of Sam. Rest of the team as expected.

We opted for the toss rather than choosing to bowl, obviously wanting to bat first. Surprised at that given the conditions and our line up. However, that's what happened after the toss - although it was Hants who won it and put us in! Everyone should be happy!

Burns and Patel took us comfortably through to 16/0 off 5 overs when bad light stopped play. A bit of drizzle since as well but the radio comms seemed to think they would be back out again before too long.

Massive step up this year for Patel to be opening against the pace of Abbott and Edwards.

Surprised we batted first we must think it'll turn later

Better weather about now, a lot brighter. Should see a restart soon

Play now called off. Try again in the morning. A frustrating day for us trying to follow online. Sorry for the spectators at the ground - must have been maddening for them!

Looking back with the benefit of some hindsight, Burns and Patel did a good job in getting through those 5 overs this morning. It would look well dodgy now if we had gone 1 or 2 down then. Mind you, our fault we were batting!

Will Scott Borthwick ever score runs again?

Oh we're collapsing

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:Will Scott Borthwick ever score runs again?

Leaving Durham doesn't seem to have done him much good...

Wonder what has gone wrong ? You'd think he was batting- with a lot of success - in mostly more difficult conditions last year ; but he's gone backwards this season.
And his bowling hasn't exactly blossomed either.

Three principal batsmen at top of order all failed. Sounds like a decent knock from Foakes who's just fallen for 47. Very well done to Ryan Patel, currently on 51* and his maiden half century for Surrey. There's really not a lot more batting to come - Pope (promising but inexperienced), Clarke (fading now as a batsman) Tom Curran, Batty, Meaker - could all get a few runs from time to time. Hope we can at least get a batting point - preferably two. But that's a long way off at the moment.

Ryan Patel looks to be a good prospect - opens the batting, can bowl some nice away swingers.

50 partnership between Patel and Pope is broken as Pope goes for 13

Hants well on top here - although Patel is just about keeping us in the game

And Patel duly goes for 81

Sorry!

183-8 now. Apart from Patel and Foakes a pretty miserable effort. Without Sanga and Stoneman we look very weak in batting; don't get me started on the bowling ....

200 all out pathetic

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:Ryan Patel looks to be a good prospect - opens the batting, can bowl some nice away swingers.

Alec Stewart emphasised at the members' meeting last week how much Patel had developed since the start of last (ie 2016) season. Think it was 2015 that I saw him playing for Surrey seconds at Guildford. Being honest, I thought then that he would be a handy player in the Surrey Championship (eg, Guildford, Weybridge, Wimbledon, etc) but didn't see him stepping up to this level - either he's really come on or I just got it wrong!

Anyway, a valuable innings from him today. We would be even more in the muck now without his 80 odd. Yet again the tail totally failed to wag and before that most of the others flopped. Particularly disappointed by Pope's dismissal - he seemed to be grinding it out with Patel and then chucked his wicket away. I'll need some persuading before I get on the #popemobile.

McKerr in for Borthwick next game

Jade doing bits

1st bowling point

31-5 - Tom has come to the party now! Maybe our batting performance wasn't so bad

alfie wrote:

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:Will Scott Borthwick ever score runs again?

Leaving Durham doesn't seem to have done him much good...

Wonder what has gone wrong ?  You'd think he was batting- with a lot of success -  in mostly more difficult conditions last year ; but he's gone backwards this season.
And his bowling hasn't exactly blossomed either.

Hi Alfie - glad that you are looking in.

When I met up with Olly at the Oval a few weeks ago, we spoke about Borthwick and his batting decline this year on what are / should be better home tracks than he had in previous seasons when he was undoubtedly successful (a 1,000 runs in each of the last 3, I believe). Whenever I've seen him bat, he's looked scratchy and lacked fluency - even when he scored a ton in the early weeks. Maybe that stems from his Durham cricketing background and is now an ingrained part of his game. Olly raised the question as to whether some players actually bat better on worse tracks - I don't know but thought it was a valid query. Borthwick's 2017 season versus the previous 3 seasons suggests a case might be made. Any thoughts?

Needless to say, there are no such issues for Stoneman who, unlike his former Durham team mate, has adjusted very well to the Oval tracks.

At a recent members' meeting, someone asked Alec Stewart if he had expected more from Borthwick with the bat. Stewie replied, ''I think you've answered your own question there''. He then went on to say that Borthwick had been signed primarily as a batsman and that he (Stewie) was still confident in him. Stewie added that ''Borthwick is more out of runs than out of form - there is a difference''. I thought that was interesting. Whilst I believe I understand the difference, I can't claim to have seen it. Borthwick has normally looked out of form to me.

For completeness, I would add Stewie confirmed that Shane Warne has given Borthwick some coaching for his leg spin. This is still seen as ''work in progress'' and a secondary part of his role.

Btw, if Surrey ever win another 4 day game feel free to drop in at the officers' mess for a celebratory drink - just mention my name at the door and put all drinks on the Corporal's tab.

Jimbo H and all - I assume Crane (or to give him his full title #cranetrain) won't be parachuted into this game tomorrow. I don't much like that sort of thing but do have a lot of sympathy for the young bowler. Having been kept on the sidelines by England for the Windies Tests, he now doesn't make the limited overs squads.

I believe #cranetrain was dropped to get 4 day cricket under his belt before the winter Guildford - but, I don't think he will be parachuted in tomorrow as far as I'm aware

Oh dear, i last saw the score at Surrey 200 all out , shouldn't have had another look!

Guildford, no word on Crane, but that sort of thing does my head in. They knew he wasn't going to play in the test match so would they rather he sat there for 5 days bringing on drinks or playing a proper match? It really is ridiculous.

No idea why he isn't in the limited overs squads either. He had a brilliant t20 campaign and when he played in vs South Africa he was impressive. Very strange.

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:I believe #cranetrain was dropped to get 4 day cricket under his belt before the winter Guildford - but, I don't think he will be parachuted in tomorrow as far as I'm aware

Cheers, Olly. Suggests he's strongly in the selectors' thoughts for the Ashes squad.

rumpole of the bailey

Good fightback by Bailey on Holland. Big wicket for Surrey getting Bailey late on - was hoping he could see out the day.

jimbohammers wrote:Good fightback by Bailey on Holland. Big wicket for Surrey getting Bailey late on - was hoping he could see out the day.

Agree with that, Jimbo.

Feel Bailey's wicket made it our day but not by as much as we would have liked when Hants went 6 down.

Overall, Surrey came back well with the ball. But I'm disappointed that Batty didn't bring himself onto bowl much earlier. In the Surrey innings Les Dawson bowled 16.4 overs and took four wickets for 22. So why on earth did Batty only bring himself on for three overs right at the very end (when he removed the dangerous Bailey)?

Corporalhumblebucket wrote:Three principal batsmen at top of order all failed.  Sounds like a decent knock from Foakes who's just fallen for 47.  Very well done to Ryan Patel, currently on 51* and his maiden half century for Surrey.  There's really not a lot more batting to come - Pope (promising but inexperienced), Clarke (fading now as a batsman) Tom Curran, Batty, Meaker - could all get a few runs from time to time.  Hope we can at least get a batting point - preferably two.  But that's a long way off at the moment.

Hmm ... Surrey took that wish a bit too literally!  At least Dernbach didn't get himself out with score on 199.

guildfordbat wrote:
Btw, if Surrey ever win another 4 day game feel free to drop in at the officers' mess for a celebratory drink - just mention my name at the door and put all drinks on the Corporal's tab.

Btw.... barstaff in the mess have instructions to check all ID cards!

Corporalhumblebucket wrote:Overall, Surrey came back well with the ball. But I'm disappointed that Batty didn't bring himself onto bowl much earlier. In the Surrey innings Les Dawson bowled 16.4 overs and took four wickets for 22.  So why on earth did Batty only bring himself on for three overs right at the very end (when he removed the dangerous Bailey)?

I think we will forever wonder why Batty never bowls himself earlier Corporal - as much as Patel might be a good prospect, he shouldn't be bowling ahead of Batty.

Disappointing first 45 minutes for Surrey - no wickets and Hants are edging towards a lead...

60/6 has become 252/8

Ffs

290 all out...

I think you can say that the tail wagged

Been out all day and only just back now to see the score. Absolutely dreadful from a Surrey perspective given the state of play at stumps yesterday. What's been going on?

guildfordbat wrote:Been out all day and only just back now to see the score. Absolutely dreadful from a Surrey perspective given the state of play at stumps yesterday. What's been going on?

Same here - this always happens! At 31-5 and 60-6 you'd have expected to get them out for anywhere between 100-150, even allowing the tail to wag. Certainly don't expect number 9 to get 80-odd and 10 and 11 to get in the 20's and 30's. Our tail (as shown in the first innings and countless other occasions) certainly rarely manage it. Questions need asking about what is happening at Surrey.

51/2 now. That's 39 behind. Almost 30 overs left to be bowled today.

Last time I saw a forecast for Friday, it was very iffy. We are probably going to need that to be the case to get a draw here.

Both wickes falling to Les Dawson. Patel for 20 (over 100 runs in the match) and Borthwick for 1 (exactly 1 run in the match).

Olly or anyone else who might know - when should we get Sanga back? Cheers.

Dawson going through our batting again. Makes Batty's captaincy decisions seem very odd again.

we really are rubbish

Burns and Foakes take us into the black - the only two players I don't worry about getting out stupidly out of nowhere.

third degree gone

only a raindance can save us now

jimbobgooner wrote:only a raindance can save us now

I guess Jimbo H will be kipping at the ground with a mop and bucket ready to be used at the first drop of rain.

If the rain does keep away and we lose, we'll only be getting what we deserve. Very poor day.

A good day for us. Berg and Abbott (+Holland) with a brilliant partnership after we were way behind in the game at 60-6. Must be turning quite a bit with Weatherley getting a lot of overs in! To think if Crane was playing we might not have to worry about the rain tomorrow... only joking!
Forecast does not look good at all, unfortunately!

Jimbo - if we fold like we did first dig, you won't need to fit too many overs in to skittle us! Assuming there is some play, I'll be interested as to how Pope gets on - I'm not as sold on him as some.

looking like patel will bat at 3 in the next game

jimbobgooner wrote:looking like patel will bat at 3 in the next game

I was asking earlier, JimBob - do you know when we get Sanga back?

Bl**dy soon I hope coz we lose Roy to England soon and can't afford to continue carrying Borthwick.

As far as I am aware Guildford it should hopefully be for the next round of games - but it probably depends on how his CPL team progress (o don't know haven't been keeping tabs on it this year)