SURREY VS MIDDLESEX SPECSAVERS COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP

First topic message reminder :

Is it safe  

SURREY HAVE NAMED AN UNCHANGED 13 MAN SQUAD FOR THE SPECSAVERS COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP GAME AGAINST MIDDLESEX AT THE KIA OVAL STARTING ON SUNDAY.
Zafar Ansari and Jade Dernbach remain on the treatment table Stuart Meaker is not deemed ready enough to start a championship game. As for Dom Sibley inclusion guildford's gut let him down  
The Surrey squad to paly Middlesex in the Specsavers County Championship at the Kia Oval on Sunday 15th May, Monday 16th May, Tuesday 17th May and Wednesday 18th May :
Gareth Batty (capt)
James Burke
Rory Burns
Tom Curran
Steven Davies
Matthew Dunn
Ben Foakes
Arun Harinath
Mathew Pillans
Ravi Rampaul
Jason Roy
Kumar Sangakkara
Gary Wilson
Pillans for Dunn will probably be the only change I'd like to see Wilson come in as he is scoring runs for fun in the seconds but that would mean Harinath being the fifth bowler and as we know Batty isn't really backing himself which is worrying when you are the captain.
over to you chaps

Follow on enforced

Just about sums up how this season is going

Ravioli just too keen to get back to another lunch!

jimbobgooner wrote:Follow on enforced

Right call in my view, admittedly old school. Can't see us getting out of this mess.

Harinath and Burns really need a proper partnership. Together they've failed to gel so far this season with Third Degree particularly too often falling early.

Follow-on enforced the only really sensible decision Middlesex could make IMO. Surrey may not have scored many, but they batted plenty of time, largely thanks to an admirable effort by Foakes, so it's not going to be easy for Middlesex to force a win. Think people are being a tad pessimistic on here (or maybe I am), I would make the draw a strong possibility.

guildfordbat wrote:Not looking good, guys (unless you're the Middlesex supporter MfC who will undoubtedly be popping up some time to applaud his boys and wind us up about Batty's captaincy! ).

68/0 off 14. 7 on the reel from Rampaul with 5 and 2 from Curran and Pillans going at 4, 5 and 7 per over respectively or thereabouts.

MfC - in case not seen before.

More meaningful post (I hope) on Surrey's woes and Middlesex's strengths from me yesterday evening.

Agree with MFC that a draw is the most likely result

Was that Surrey's slowest ever innings? Admirable effort by most of the tail.

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:Agree with MFC that a draw is the most likely result

Provided the weather stays reasonable, I don't.

Edit: that might appear aggressive - wasn't my intention, honest!

Once more, it's a game of opinions.  Mine is based on Middlesex having good bowlers*, Surrey batting poorly / inconsistently atm and the track likely to worsen throughout day 4.

* Two are especially effective against Surrey. Going into this match Roland-Jones had taken 28 Surrey Championship wickets at 13 each whilst in his last match against Surrey in 2013 Rayner took 15 wickets (with an eightfer and a sevenfer). Since that match and before his sixfer in the Surrey first innings yesterday and today, Rayner had never taken more than 3 wickets in any innings!!

guildfordbat wrote:

guildfordbat wrote:Not looking good, guys (unless you're the Middlesex supporter MfC who will undoubtedly be popping up some time to applaud his boys and wind us up about Batty's captaincy! ).

68/0 off 14. 7 on the reel from Rampaul with 5 and 2 from Curran and Pillans going at 4, 5 and 7 per over respectively or thereabouts.

MfC - in case not seen before.

More meaningful post (I hope) on Surrey's woes and Middlesex's strengths from me yesterday evening.

Didn't see that

Still think Middlesex will do well to force a win here, their bowlers will be tired, and Surrey dug in quite well in the first innings. I would make it about 50-50, or 48-48, with a 4% chance Surrey win as Middlesex crumble tomorrow afternoon, but really don't see that happening, hence the post about the follow-on being the only sensible decision.

Hi again MfC - the modern trend though seems a lot more towards not enforcing the follow on. That's right, isn't it?

I need Alfie here to back me up but also - bowlers don't get nearly so tired when they're taking wickets.

guildfordbat wrote:Hi again MfC - the modern trend though seems a lot more towards not enforcing the follow on. That's right, isn't it?

I need Alfie here to back me up but also - bowlers don't get nearly so tired when they're taking wickets.

Yes it is. There are decent reasons for it. The main one is fresher bowlers, and a tendency for following-on teams to dig in better second time around (these two not entirely unrelated). There are also the faster scoring rates in the modern game, which makes it easier to have time to take the ten second innings wickets if batting again. Batting again also gives you the option of batting the other side out of the game, which means you can set more attacking fields etc. (and again, in the modern game, batting for the draw is becoming something of a lost art).

However, there are situations where you realistically won't lose by enforcing the follow-on, and doing so gives you quite clearly your best chance of victory. This is one of these cases, and even fans of the modern way of thinking wouldn't suggest Middlesex should have batted again here (at least I don't think they would). A similar situation happened on a recent-ish England tour to NZ, the one which ended with three draws after some Prior heroics in the third Test. In the second Test, England scored something over 400, and bowled NZ out just before the follow-on mark. Time had been lost to weather, so England's best chance of forcing a win was to enforce, which they duly did (though they couldn't complete the job).

I was surprised Middlesex followed on but figure the weather reports would've played a factor

If there was good weather guaranteed for tomorrow I would have batted again if I were them

Thanks for your post, MfC. I'm not dismissive of that but still tend towards my old school preferences as below.

What always / often puts me off not enforcing the follow on is the difficulty of deciding when to declare. Bat on too long, you take too much time out of the game and risk your opponents getting away with a draw. Declare too soon, your bowlers fail to fire second time and you could end up with egg on your face and defeat.

I also like to go for the jugular when the batting side has been dismissed first dig a long way short. As said, bowlers don't get so tired when amongst the wickets.

Meanwhile, a decent start second dig by Burns and Harinath. Somewhat overdue. Currently 57/0 off 25 overs.

That's the first time this season and at the tenth attempt that they've put on 50 together.

Rain dance didn't work for Yorkshire I'm blaming Gooch

50 for third degree

Stumps 98 for 0 excellent session

Excellent work from the Baron and Third Degree to see out the day, draw a firm firm favourite now

Surrey get through 45 overs to stumps without loss. Great spirit and fight by Burns and Harinath but need to keep it going tomorrow. Too often in this match, we've got out of a hole and then jumped into a bigger one.

Weather forecast is poor for tomorrow, maybe a bit of luck starting to come our way ....

Foakes 59 off 235 balls with only one boundary must have been a joy to behold #digin

I imagine Zaf was crying tears of pure ecstasy in the dressing room

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:Foakes 59 off 235 balls with only one boundary must have been a joy to behold #digin

I imagine Zaf was crying tears of pure ecstasy in the dressing room

Not sure all the 5,000 (yes, five thousand) kids who were at the Oval today as part of Surrey's schools initiative would agree. According to the cricinfo report, one of them hid under the tarpaulin sightscreen until he was dobbed in by Harinath.

Rain dance working so far

Match drawn

25 miles south of the Oval, weather has improved this afternoon. If we had been 5 down overnight, I'm sure Voges would have been in the umpires' ears to let his bowlers have 20 overs before stumps. Anyway, that's not the case. Credit to Burns and Harinath for safely seeing out 45 overs yesterday - cracking effort. Vital now that we start doing it from the off.