SURREY VS YORKSHIRE ROYAL SPECSAVERS COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP

Surrey have named a 15-man squad    for the Specsavers County Championship trip to Yorkshire, starting at Scarborough on Monday.
Matt Dunn has been added to the 14 from the victory against somerset.
Mark Stoneman is part of the squad after missing the Guildford Festival for family reasons while spinner Gareth Batty is also up for selection.
FULL SQUAD:
Rory Burns (captain)
Gareth Batty
Scott Borthwick
Rikki Clarke
Theunis de Bruyn
Jade Dernbach
Matt Dunn
Arun Harinath
Will Jacks
Morne Morkel
Ryan Patel
Mat Pillans
Ollie Pope
Mark Stoneman
Amar Virdi
The only change I can see is rocky for Harinath or Jacks which will be harsh.
Over to you chaps

Cheers, JimBob. Assuming all things are equal and there's nothing up we don't know about, I would go with the same eleven who played at Guildford.

For whatever reason, Stoneman didn't show up at Guildford and his form this season has been very poor. He therefore wouldn't get in my team but Stewie and MDV may back his class once more to come out. If they do, it would seem easier - although extremely harsh - to bring him in to open as a direct replacement for Harinath. If Stoneman reappears and Jacks - who was at 7 last week - goes out instead, it won't half complicate the order!

You know that James has got the knives out for Virdi . Tbf, he was poor last time out and could be replaced by Batty although I believe he's done well enough this season to retain his place.

Hard to see Dunn or Pillans getting a game. The main seam trio were highly effective against Somerset and with the bonus of an extra day's rest should be raring to go at Scarbados.

Btw, there's a super duper stream of the game for Olly to enjoy at work.

A fifteen man squad seems a bit excessive - unless it's a new motivational tool either (a) to show individuals with no hope of playing that they haven't slipped off the radar; or (b) to reward near misses for selection with a bucket and spade outing to the seaside.

I'd be surprised if there was much change to the side, maybe Stoneman for Jacks could be the most likely possibility. I imagine Harinath would be more than happy to bat at no 3 - or indeed anywhere in the order.

Rocky in for harinath the only change

Yorkshire win toss and unsurprisingly bat

guildfordbat wrote:Cheers, JimBob. Assuming all things are equal and there's nothing up we don't know about, I would go with the same eleven who played at Guildford.

For whatever reason, Stoneman didn't show up at Guildford and his form this season has been very poor. He therefore wouldn't get in my team but Stewie and MDV may back his class once more to come out. If they do, it would seem easier - although extremely harsh - to bring him in to open as a direct replacement for Harinath. If Stoneman reappears and Jacks - who was at 7 last week - goes out instead, it won't half complicate the order!

You know that James has got the knives out for Virdi . Tbf, he was poor last time out and could be replaced by Batty although I believe he's done well enough this season to retain his place.

Hard to see Dunn or Pillans getting a game. The main seam trio were highly effective against Somerset and with the bonus of an extra day's rest should be raring to go at Scarbados.

Btw, there's a super duper stream of the game for Olly to enjoy at work.

This has to be the bloody week where I am out today and tomorrow, thus not at the desk to watch it! Bloody typical!!

nice to have them 5 down already

jimbobgooner wrote:nice to have them 5 down already

Yep, good steady stuff so far from Surrey.

guildfordbat wrote: You know that James has got the knives out for Virdi

I had a brief watch in the afternoon session while he and Dernbach were bowling and was much more impressed. Still a couple of shortish ones but not as short as at Guildford and none of the full tosses.

sadly letting them off the hook a repeat of last years failings

jimbobgooner wrote:sadly letting them off the hook a repeat of last years failings

JimBob,
240/6. An annoying 7th wicket stand going on atm but be patient my friend. There's a way to go yet. I would have settled for this score at 11 o'clock this morning.

Yorkshire end on 299/8 - pretty even game, albeit I would think Yorkshire were hoping for something more substantial, and Surrey will be the slightly happier camp - especially after keeping the scoring rate tight most of the day.

Olly - don't know if you picked this up but 19 came off the final over including 10 no balls, bowled by Morkel. That was pretty infuriating after all the hard work before. Would have been good to leave them sweating on a 3rd batting point which now seems a given.

Anyway, still a decent Surrey performance and imo our day - the wicket looks set for batting, a quickish outfield and temperatures to hack off bowlers and fielders.

Get 'em all out for under 330 from here, bat until stumps tomorrow and then reassess. Going to be hard graft to win this one but still doable. We can't and shouldn't expect everyone to fold like last week.

Rikki had to take some abuse today not nice

jimbobgooner wrote:Rikki had to take some abuse today not nice

Yeah, I heard that mentioned afterwards. What was that all about?

guildfordbat wrote:

jimbobgooner wrote:Rikki had to take some abuse today not nice

Yeah, I heard that mentioned afterwards. What was that all about?

not sure would have thought jade was more likely to be targeted with that lot

Clarke has tweeted "abused all day and one of our players racially abused"
absolutely disgusting

Sounds like a fairly even day - but, crucially, despite the rally later in the day by Yorks they haven't got away to threaten a really big score. If we can dismiss the tail quickly and then bat steadily all day we could be handily placed.

Let's hope that our batsmen address the numpties in the crowd by batting long and patiently. I see from Twitter the claim that it was merely banter. I don't blame Rikki Clarke for declining to pose for a selfie if players were subject to subject to persistent heavy duty sledging by the crowd.

How out of character for Yorkshiremen to be abusive to others - so surprising...

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:How out of character for Yorkshiremen to be abusive to others - so surprising...

I am not aware of what happened, will try to find out, but please do not lump us all into the same group.

High tide at 16:03 today, should mean plenty of swing in the hour before tea - but assuming Yorkshire are bundled out quickly ball will be pretty old by then.

LondonTiger wrote:High tide at 16:03 today, should mean plenty of swing in the hour before tea - but assuming Yorkshire are bundled out quickly ball will be pretty old by then.

Hi Tiger - I didn't know that. Is that just another of the mysteries of what makes a ball swing or is there some reason?

LondonTiger wrote:

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:How out of character for Yorkshiremen to be abusive to others - so surprising...

I am not aware of what happened, will try to find out, but please do not lump us all into the same group.

Typical defensive Northerner!

Seriously though, Tiger, understood and thanks.

How do you read the balance of power after day one? Looking at Yorks from outside, I feel you're missing a frontline spinner which could really hurt you - in the season, if not here.

guildfordbat wrote:

LondonTiger wrote:High tide at 16:03 today, should mean plenty of swing in the hour before tea - but assuming Yorkshire are bundled out quickly ball will be pretty old by then.

Hi Tiger - I didn't know that. Is that just another of the mysteries of what makes a ball swing or is there some reason?

The tide coming in tends to create some kind of micro-climate that seems to help swing - though the weather today could burn off any sea cloud. Of course it may just be an old wives tale with just a slither of supporting evidence, but the local view is always that the ball will move as the tide comes in. Of course we are talking about people who still read the weather by the seaweed pinned to their door

guildfordbat wrote:

LondonTiger wrote:

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:How out of character for Yorkshiremen to be abusive to others - so surprising...

I am not aware of what happened, will try to find out, but please do not lump us all into the same group.

Typical defensive Northerner!

Seriously though, Tiger, understood and thanks.

How do you read the balance of power after day one? Looking at Yorks from outside, I feel you're missing a frontline spinner which could really hurt you - in the season, if not here.

I am actually surprised that there was a problem at Scarborough - would have fully expected it in Leeds. While Clarke has a bit of history with Yorkshire crowds, constant abuse and especially any racial abuse is not something to be tolerated.

As to the spinner - fully agree we have an issue. Oddly it actually starts with the batting, which is so poor that we have selected the extra batter and gone with 4 seamers. The top order has been poor for a few seasons and previously the presence of Rashid provided both spin expertise and batting solidity. Current spin options are not great - Carver is a left arm bowler who actually makes Ashley Giles look like the King of Spin, while Rafiq is well away from the level needed. Not sure what younger options we have - certainly none like Virdi.

LondonTiger wrote:

guildfordbat wrote:

LondonTiger wrote:High tide at 16:03 today, should mean plenty of swing in the hour before tea - but assuming Yorkshire are bundled out quickly ball will be pretty old by then.

Hi Tiger - I didn't know that. Is that just another of the mysteries of what makes a ball swing or is there some reason?

The tide coming in tends to create some kind of micro-climate that seems to help swing - though the weather today could burn off any sea cloud. Of course it may just be an old wives tale with just a slither of supporting evidence, but the local view is always that the ball will move as the tide comes in. Of course we are talking about people who still read the weather by the seaweed pinned to their door

Cheers, Tiger. I actually have a lot of respect for cricket locals. Fair to say that all the Guildford regulars were stunned that Abell elected to bowl first there last week - ok, not too much to do with tides but they know their ground and were right.

Plenty of action this morning. Surrey will be somewhat disappointed that Yorks almost reached 350 with aggressive batting by the tail. Surrey themselves then started like a train. Routine loss of Stoneman in single figures. From the live feed it looked like Yorks bowling was on the generous side, with plenty of offerings on or wide of leg stump. Disappointing loss of Borthwick means that perhaps Yorks just shaded the morning, but Burns again was excellent.

We have been penalised 5 runs which have been added to Yorks' first innings score for two disciplinary offences. The first appears related to the aggro in the field yesterday as discussed above whilst the second was the result of Stoneman's reaction to being given out caught behind. I don't know if he said something but reported on the Wallpaper [Supporters] site that he bashed a bin with his bat before slamming the changing room door.

It does seem Stoneman was unlucky with the decision, on his birthday as well to rub it in. Churchy didn't reckon he hit it and, watching on the stream, there was no immediate celebration and only a half-hearted appeal from the keeper. Nonetheless, his unprofessional reaction has cost us and that is unacceptable. Burns, Stewie and MDV need to get a grip on things now else this will really boil over and do us harm.

89/2 at lunch to Yorks' now 342. Still not a bad position for Surrey but we've been careless and allowed them back more than we should.

Burns gone for 59. Useful but we really needed more. 106/3 now, trailing by 236. For the first time in the match, I put Yorks ahead.

140 - 4. Patel caught at slip for 32 - he battled hard against very accurate bowling after lunch and, with mist having descended, batting conditions are tough at the moment. Yorks well on top at the moment.

Looks almost foggy now - quite difficult to see the ball on the live stream.

174/5 as a late tea finally arrives.

Nagging bowling in changed and difficult conditions making life tricky for Surrey.

19 to avoid the follow on is a pessimistic aim but it's the first one!

must be the only part of the country where it isn't sunny

should not be out there in that come on umpires

65/1 off 10 overs.
195/6 off 66 overs.

pope left with the tail again

1st and last batting point

The 19 off Morkel's final over last night and the 5 penalty runs today looking more and more expensive.

p*** poor umpiring all day long

Don't know how many times play was halted for a few minutes as the mist banks rolled to and fro and the light varied between poor and dank. Surrey very unfortunate to be on the wrong end of such a dramatic downturn in conditions.

Difficult to see us getting much out of this match - maybe a second batting point if Pope and Morkel can stay together, but if we concede a lead of about 100 that will be a lot to overcome.

Operation Get Away With A Draw

1. Still be batting at the start of day 3.
2. Keep it fairly tight when we bowl so they don't declare until late on day 3.
3. Burns and - the really difficult part of the Operation - Stoneman bat out to stumps on day 3.
4. We bat out day 4 with only 7 down so we don't get too stressed about Dernbach and Virdi batting.

Ok, Corporal and JimBob?

guildfordbat wrote:Operation Get Away With A Draw

1. Still be batting at the start of day 3.
2. Keep it fairly tight when we bowl so they don't declare until late on day 3.
3. Burns and - the really difficult part of the Operation - Stoneman bat out to stumps on day 3.
4. We bat out day 4 with only 7 down so we don't get too stressed about Dernbach and Virdi batting.

Ok, Corporal and JimBob?

number 1 will be tricky

jimbobgooner wrote:

guildfordbat wrote:Operation Get Away With A Draw

1. Still be batting at the start of day 3.
2. Keep it fairly tight when we bowl so they don't declare until late on day 3.
3. Burns and - the really difficult part of the Operation - Stoneman bat out to stumps on day 3.
4. We bat out day 4 with only 7 down so we don't get too stressed about Dernbach and Virdi batting.

Ok, Corporal and JimBob?

number 1 will be tricky

Well, number 1 achieved - assume the mist got even worse. Try and get a second batting point and then go with numbers 2, 3 and 4. We can still get away with a draw and only 1 point less than Yorks.

Disappointing turnaround. We haven't had any luck with the conditions but we haven't helped ourselves by being careless. The annoying thing is that we shouldn't have allowed Yorks any more than 290 at most.

Play was stopped, apparently, nine times after the tea interval!

So far Yorks have conceded two extras, whereas Surrey gave away 36. (No doubt Foakes, if playing, would have conceded a lot fewer byes).

We gave away too many cheap runs towards end of Yorks innings. Watching the live feed it was clearly a real struggle for the likes of Patel and de Bruyn to eke out their scores of thirties.

Although a poor day, sounds like poor weather and atleast one dodgy umpiring decision did not help,our cause...However, I am far from pesssmistic about our chances...of getting a draw....However just back from celebrating my wife’s birthday....so the above comments should be read in that context

Hopefully the final three can stick around with Pope this morning, taking an hour out of the game this AM along with adding another 30-40 runs could be crucial in terms of saving the game.

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:Hopefully the final three can stick around with Pope this morning, taking an hour out of the game this AM along with adding another 30-40 runs could be crucial in terms of saving the game.

Very much so. Some time taken out plus a minimum of 31 runs for a 2nd batting point would be handy.

Allow me to briefly step out of character for a moment though and go all optimistic (it's the alcohol fumes from Chichester's post! ). The one thing that shouldn't be overlooked is that Yorks will still have to put some runs on the board in their second dig. If we could get them all out for, say, 170 that might leave us under 250 for the win which could be doable. I appreciate that's pushing things and there are several ''ifs'' involved but I've probably seen more ludicrous posts on this board!

Today should be a long day. Subject to there not being any more bl**dy sea mist, I think there'll be 104 overs (an extra 8 as more than that was lost yesterday).

Anyway, Day 3. Moving Day.

Yorkshire's fragile batting can always be turned over for a very low score.

I was debating last night whether this game shows the strength or highlights the weakness of the county game.

One the one hand we have two counties with plenty of homegrown talent playing in front of a full house. Yet how much better if we could have a game that featured Bairstow, CurranS, CurranT, Foakes, Plunkett, Rashid, Root, Roy & Willey (excluded Fisher as though he is with th eLions would not make the side - have I missed any other Surrey lads on international duty?)

High tide at 16:44 - so chance of swing after tea and sea fret in last hour.

LondonTiger wrote:Yorkshire's fragile batting can always be turned over for a very low score.

I was debating last night whether this game shows the strength or highlights the weakness of the county game.

One the one hand we have two counties with plenty of homegrown talent playing in front of a full house. Yet how much better if we could have a game that featured Bairstow, CurranS, CurranT, Foakes, Plunkett, Rashid, Root, Roy & Willey (excluded Fisher as though he is with th eLions would not make the side - have I missed any other Surrey lads on international duty?)

Hi Tiger - you've got the Surrey quartet there. Tom Curran is out of action currently, a side strain I think.

LondonTiger wrote:High tide at 16:44 - so chance of swing after tea and sea fret in last hour.

Cheers, Tiger. Guess from the Yorks point of view, you'll be hoping to have a sufficient lead to declare and have half an hour tonight to get Burns back in the hutch (seems little point wasting a new ball wicket on Stoneman atm ).