SURREY VS NORTHAMPTONSHIRE LV= COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP

Surrey have named a 15 man squad for tomorrow’s LV= County Championship match with Northamptonshire at The Kia Oval.
Ben Foakes returns to the squad, having recovered from a stiff back that kept him out of the game at Bristol. He replaces Jamie Smith who is recovering from the hamstring injury sustained whilst scoring a double-hundred last week.
James Taylor has suffered a stress fracture of the lower back and will be out for a period of time.
Cameron Steel returns to the squad after being left out against Gloucestershire.
I presume Ben Geddis, Tom Curran, Matthew Dunn and Conor McKerr remain on the treatment table.
Full Squad:
Rory Burns (C)
Hashim Amla
Gus Atkinson
Jordan Clark
Sam Curran
Colin De Grandhomme
Ben Foakes
Will Jacks
Jamie Overton
Ryan Patel
Ollie Pope
Cameron Steel
Reece Topley
Amar Virdi
Dan Worrall
I swear they are making this harder every week maybe Atkinson, Steel, Topley and Virdi to miss out or could this finally be the game where we see a proper spinner play which would be bad news for jacks!!!
Over to you chaps

Cheers, JimBob.

Yeah, it's so difficult naming the eleven this season - particularly when you're wondering who is going to injure himself after the squad has been announced!

I'll go with you on Atkinson, Steel, Topley and Virdi missing out. As you say, Virdi surely has to play sometime - however, the Oval hasn't helped spinners so far this season and I understand the track is ''same again'' for tomorrow. If that doesn't jinx Jacks, nothing will!

Northants are not a star side by any means but appear to have some fight having earned draws in each of their 3 matches this season (to Essex, Yorks and Gloucs). They rest our former Middlesex rival Gareth ''The Ice Man'' Berg and leave out Ben ''forgotten middle brother'' Curran despite him scoring a ton for Northants seconds this week. Simon Kerrigan is in their squad and, if he plays, will be hoping to do better than on his one Test appearance at our ground.

Cheers jimbob! Northants win toss and put us in! No Pope! And Atkinson starts....still no spinner

Pope is ill apparently

making a right pigs ear of this

1st batting point sadly there wont be very more

50 for baby face

100 for Burns

Burns gone this has definitely been Northants day

A very poor day against a bang average bowling attack

jimbobgooner wrote:A very poor day against a bang average bowling attack

Wasn't able to watch either at the ground or online today but that's pretty much my thinking. There's not even any guarantee of 3 batting points.

Going tomorrow.

guildfordbat wrote:

jimbobgooner wrote:A very poor day against a bang average bowling attack

Wasn't able to watch either at the ground or online today but that's pretty much my thinking. There's not even any guarantee of 3 batting points.

Going tomorrow.

I watched the morning session, they bowled very poorly, loads of wide stuff, but we were just happy to leave it all, that's why our scoring rate is so abysmal, I wouldn't back us to get 40 in 14 overs tomorrow, and I can see us only getting around 320, I know they put us in, but it hasn't done much, and it feels under par...and unnecessarily slow from us

jimbobgooner wrote:A very poor day against a bang average bowling attack

Ben Sanderson slander will not be tolerated.

JDizzle wrote:

jimbobgooner wrote:A very poor day against a bang average bowling attack

Ben Sanderson slander will not be tolerated.

Hi JD - please tell and educate me about Ben Sanderson, thanks.

JDizzle wrote:

jimbobgooner wrote:A very poor day against a bang average bowling attack

Ben Sanderson slander will not be tolerated.

guildfordbat wrote:

JDizzle wrote:

jimbobgooner wrote:A very poor day against a bang average bowling attack

Ben Sanderson slander will not be tolerated.

Hi JD - please tell and educate me about Ben Sanderson, thanks.

I think the simplest place to start is his FC record. 302 wickets at 20.81 is ridiculously good - even if you ungenerously say he has played the majority of his cricket in D2 and on helpful wickets that is still a phenomenal record.

He's an old school English seamer. Line and length and seams it about. CricViz did an article about Ollie Robinson before his Test debut and in one of their advanced metrics ("Contact Average" - trying to account for edges and middled shots) the only two bowlers who came out better than Robinson were Jimmy Anderson and Ben Sanderson! The pure numbers say he is good and the data for the stats nerds say he is good. But he just isn't quick enough got higher honours.

Now, the reason I like him more than normal is his backstory. He was released by Yorkshire in 2011 and didn't get another county gig. So I first came across when he was a pro for Shropshire, my local county, in the Minor Counties comp and he started for them in 2013. Whilst working as a builder! And he was the best pro I have seen for them.

His three seasons for Shropshire from 13 to 15 - 20 @ 16.20, 31 @ 14.87 and 17 @ 15.88. So he's comically too good for even the best amateur batters, but he's 26 at this point and you just don't see guys get signed from Minor Counties with three years out of the pro game anymore. You certainly don't see guys coming out of amateur cricket at 26 and then having the record he now has. He had to string three quality seasons together to get noticed by a county. Northants gave him a short term deal and he played against the Aussies when they were on tour getting Shane Watson out and going at 1.61 an over, against Smith, Warner et al. and he has never looked back.

He truly is unique in this era.

JDizzle wrote:

guildfordbat wrote:

JDizzle wrote:

jimbobgooner wrote:A very poor day against a bang average bowling attack

Ben Sanderson slander will not be tolerated.

Hi JD - please tell and educate me about Ben Sanderson, thanks.

I think the simplest place to start is his FC record. 302 wickets at 20.81 is ridiculously good - even if you ungenerously say he has played the majority of his cricket in D2 and on helpful wickets that is still a phenomenal record.

He's an old school English seamer. Line and length and seams it about. CricViz did an article about Ollie Robinson before his Test debut and in one of their advanced metrics ("Contact Average" - trying to account for edges and middled shots) the only two bowlers who came out better than Robinson were Jimmy Anderson and Ben Sanderson! The pure numbers say he is good and the data for the stats nerds say he is good. But he just isn't quick enough got higher honours.

Now, the reason I like him more than normal is his backstory. He was released by Yorkshire in 2011 and didn't get another county gig. So I first came across when he was a pro for Shropshire, my local county, in the Minor Counties comp and he started for them in 2013. Whilst working as a builder! And he was the best pro I have seen for them.

His three seasons for Shropshire from 13 to 15 - 20 @ 16.20, 31 @ 14.87 and 17 @ 15.88. So he's comically too good for even the best amateur batters, but he's 26 at this point and you just don't see guys get signed from Minor Counties with three years out of the pro game anymore. You certainly don't see guys coming out of amateur cricket at 26 and then having the record he now has. He had to string three quality seasons together to get noticed by a county. Northants gave him a short term deal and he played against the Aussies when they were on tour getting Shane Watson out and going at 1.61 an over, against Smith, Warner et al. and he has never looked back.

He truly is unique in this era.

Thanks, JD. I can't but like the guy a lot after that.

Curran and Clark fell early (no hundred again for Sam!) - but since then a hundred partnership and fifties for both Atkinson and Overton have got us approaching 400

401 made, and Northants 5 down at tea - good afternoon session for Surrey. Could've been even better, but De Grandhomme dropped a sitter off the belligerent Proctor. Hopefully that doesn't come back to haunt...

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:401 made, and Northants 5 down at tea - good afternoon session for Surrey. Could've been even better, but De Grandhomme dropped a sitter off the belligerent Proctor. Hopefully that doesn't come back to haunt...

no bucket hands for him

Excellent day eventually with bat and ball!

Another great team performance, well done lads, especially the bowling unit

thegooch7 wrote:Excellent day eventually with bat and ball!

Just a belated few lines on days 2 and 3 which I watched at the ground. Haven't been around much since.

Goochie's word ''eventually'' for Friday (day 2) was spot on. We lost 2 wickets early that morning and it should have been 3 in quick time as Overton went down the wicket to Kerrigan and missed only for McManus behind the stumps to fluff the stumping. Not saying that changed the result but it allowed us to get in the driving seat and we never looked back.

Overton and Atkinson put on over a 100 which saw us reach 400 - and a third bonus point for JimBob - when we could have been all out for under 300. Northants never recovered as our seam attack took them apart in their successive digs. C de G bowled very well in the first, good line with a bit of movement. The guy who most impressed me though - and I wasn't expecting too much having heard the views of some Gloucs supporters at the Oval late last season - was Worrall; the fastest bowler of the two sides and his radar was generally good, deserved more than his 5 match haul.

Surrey's catching was also impressive. Foakes totally reliable, gobbled a few bread and butter chances plus a couple of trickier low takes.