SURREY VS MIDDLESEX SPECSAVERS COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP

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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

To be fair Jimbo Roland Jones/Murtagh is a bloomin good 10th wicket partnership haha, still a shame for Surrey to let them put on extra runs

Middlesex all out for 395. Both teams will be a little unhappy about that I think

Olly

From an outsider looking in, i would say Middlesex would be happier of the 2 teams. 327-9, to get another 70 odd runs... Although Middlesex look a little short on the bowling front. Murtah, Harris, Roland Jones, then the spin of Rayner. And a bit from Stirling and Franklin?

Every other ball from Murtagh seems to be going past the edge!

Rayner doing the damage

Slow start then both openers out in 3 balls.

Rayner looking to do a Laker

And Sangakkara follows now. He and Burns both victim to a failure to commit to either defending or attacking and instead chipping to fielders.

Ollie p1ssing Rayner

Christ what a painful session that was

68-3 in 34 overs. What is wrong with them? At this rate we won't get more than 2 batting points (that is if we aren't all out well before then).

Davies out to the worst ball Murtagh has bowled all day

40 overs gone 1 extra

Not even 2 a over

74-4 off 42!!! Is Boycott playing for us?

Going for a draw only a day and a half in is err different

100up. In the 49th over.

Buffet bowler Milan gets Roy

Burke living up to his name again

This is pants

Thought it was going to be a bore draw again olly

jimbobgooner wrote:Thought it was going to be a bore draw again olly

There's still time for the Baron to channel the spirit of his Hove innings and hit 62 off 290 balls again #believe

Christ we are going backwards fast what a awful day

jimbobgooner wrote:Christ we are going backwards fast what a awful day

Hard to disagree with jimbob on this one. Maybe the only saving grace is that after this game, the one day stuff starts - and Sam Curran's 'A' Levels surely must be over soon, too. Maybe Zaf will finally get match fit again, too. Meanwhile, we may do well to get anything more than three bowling points out of this game now, which is a real shame. High flying Lancs away next doesn't really inspire confidence either.

I guess the 'glass half full' outlook is that we have key players missing, and several fit players underfiring, well below levels we believe they are capable of. So, the theory goes, the squad we have could be good enough to keep us in, then establish us, in CC1 if we get close to our top 11 playing and close to their ability.  

I feel really sorry for Ben Foakes in all this. At least he's regularly getting a bat here, even if it always seems to be at a time of crisis, which is more than might be the case if he'd stayed at Essex

PS: Gary Wilson, of whom I have not always been the greatest advocate in the past (), must be close to a recall as a batsman alone if he shows any kind of form for the 2s or if/when given the chance in the one day stuff

Hi guys - was at the Oval today. Didn't see your post, James, until I was on the way home - otherwise, I would have tried to say hello and let you buy me a drink.

First off, I reckon there are 2 unofficial groups in Div One. The first comprises Yorks, Durham, Warks, Notts and Middlesex. They should all have ambitions of winning the Championship. Then there's the second group - their aim is to avoid relegation. We're clearly in that bunch with Somerset and Hants. Lancs should be with us as well but currently seem to be playing from a different script!

Given that, it's probably not too surprising we're already massively on the backfoot in this game. Murtagh and Roland-Jones are a class combo at any county level. Hardly a bad ball today between them, they totally dried up the runs in the way that Stewie and MDV are so desperate for our bowlers to do and created the situation for Rayner to thrive. Well led by Voges, clever captaincy to bring on Malan towards the end and instantly get Roy with a sucker punch. Ruthless as well to only allow him one more over before taking him off.

As for Surrey, we're actually not rubbish even though the scoreboard suggests it. What we are though is far too inconsistent. So often in this match, we've fallen behind, just about got back into it with fight and skill, only to then fall further behind.

3 examples.

Took a bit of time but got Harris and Franklin out within the first hour. Looked as if we could get them all out for 330 odd at that stage but allowed them 60 more than that. Felt Burke should have come on earlier. Curran was again bowled too much.

Fine battling display from Baron and Third Degree to withstand the opening salvo from Dial M and Toblerone, only to then both get out in the same over. Poor shot from Burns (although, as James posted, not as bad as that from Davies).

Tremendous uncharacteristic restraint from Roy tp try and prevent Middlesex getting into our tail, only to be hoodwinked by Voges and Malan as above.

My bottom line is we can do it but that won't be enough unless we do it much more.

Great report Guildford....troubling times for Surrey...but there is always hope! The Corporal is on his holidays....I bet he is glad he is missing this

Meeting in London finishes at 1 today...do I go watch some cricket at the oval in the afternoon or go home? Hmmm

Olly - always take the opportunity to see some cricket! Enjoy the lovely weather, check out the new stand, have a beer, watch a good side - oh, and see Surrey as a well!

Further to my post yesterday evening [I'm not there today], just to also mention that the wicket wasn't a horror track but certainly wasn't a road either. Bit of a light green top but getting browner, pretty true although the ball on occasions keeping low and scuttling through. Even ignoring how we chucked some of our wickets away yesterday, feel Middlesex's total was a good one and put them in the ascendancy. My guess would be 340 as par first dig - that's boosted a bit by the boundary on the School side being fairly short.

Anyway, we're a long way behind and in heaps of trouble. I'll be surprised if we avoid Middlesex having the option to make us follow on - assuming Voges gets the choice, it'll be interesting to see what he decides. The wicket is not going to get easier so he might well prefer us batting last. However, there's said to be rain about tomorrow so that might come into his thinking ....

TC didn't last long

jimbobgooner wrote:TC didn't last long

Drat! Although not too surprised. He's done a bit better since you, JimBob,were pushing for him to go in number 11 , but still feel he's not as good as an 8. Not yet anyway.

If there's been one positive from the fragility of our batting against the stronger Div 1 attacks it's that Foakes is really showing some back bone under pressure and developing an ability to hang around with the tail. For a man who's touted as a future England keeper the ability to cling onto the edge of an innings after most the mainland collapsed is a very handy trait!

As for this innings Middlesex seem to have taken the obvious strategy against a young and aggressive batting line-up of drying up all runs and seeing how the young guns cope. Both opening bowlers going at less than 2 runs per over with none of the other 4 bowlers used going above 3 runs per over.

That level of discipline from a whole attack was always going to be steep learning curve unfortunately.

I am worried by how our line-up will look when Finch replaces Sanga. He's capable of entertaining pyrotechnics in the shorter forms but with a FC average in the low 30s and a reputation of being a flat track bully I can't see him making consistent/any CC runs.

Foakes looked really good yesterday with the bat. Impeccable technique, didn't look troubled and was more proactive in taking singles than anyone other than Roy. The two of them ran very well together, turning a good few ones into twos.

1st and only batting point reached

James100 wrote:Foakes looked really good yesterday with the bat. Impeccable technique, didn't look troubled and was more proactive in taking singles than anyone other than Roy. The two of them ran very well together, turning a good few ones into twos.

Hi James - yep, that's right.

Btw, do you agree with me about Murtagh and Roland-Jones' bowling yesterday?

chichestersurryfan wrote:Great report Guildford....troubling times for Surrey...but there is always hope! The Corporal is on his holidays....I bet he is glad he is missing this

Thanks, Chichester. It's a shame the Corporal has tunnelled under the wire - suspect he might actually have enjoyed this morning's rearguard action by Foakes, invoking memories of his old hero Barrington. 66 runs scored by Surrey in the session of 32 overs.

Anyway, a few games going on within the game. Middlesex need 2 more wickets within the next 12 overs to take a 3rd bowling point. We need 50 more runs in the same allotment to get a 2nd batting point - don't see that as realistic, would need a totally different mindset and approach. 46 more runs though to avoid the follow on - that's possible but still very difficult as we crawl along with runs coming so slowly.

Hi Guildford - yeah I agree, thought they bowled exceptionally well, hardly a bad ball between them. Harris was less consistently troubling the batters, but hit a good length and was still hard to score off. Similar to Pillans for Surrey, though Harris erred too wide for me, whereas Pillans erred too straight.

50 for that's all

Foakes' 50 came off 207 balls with just one boundary. The Corporal would be worshipping at the Shrine of Barrington!

Batty gone 32 still needed

James100 wrote:Hi Guildford - yeah I agree, thought they bowled exceptionally well, hardly a bad ball between them. Harris was less consistently troubling the batters, but hit a good length and was still hard to score off. Similar to Pillans for Surrey, though Harris erred too wide for me, whereas Pillans erred too straight.

Hi again James - that's a very good point about Pillans. He's so far bowled 57 overs in the Championship for Surrey with a cumulative figure of 0/197. I accept (bad)luck plays a part for all at times but I doubt that's the sole reason he's still wicketless. He almost certainly needs to introduce some / more variation. At a (slightly) lower level, his accuracy would be sufficient but in Div One he may struggle to cut it, particularly against the best or those with their eye in like Toblerone yesterday morning.

Don't know if you're aware but Surrey actually came close to signing Harris a couple of years ago. He's another bowler I've never been convinced about. Again your post may have the reason.

Last over for middlesex to get full bowling points

14 to avoid the follow on

jimbobgooner wrote:Last over for middlesex to get full bowling points

They don't - a minor achievement by Surrey.

226/8 off 110. The Corporal would be lapping this up.

20 more to avoid the follow option.

Will Ravioli bat? If so, what condition will he be in - after 2 days with his feet up in the canteen?

Pillans is better with the bat

guildfordbat wrote:

jimbobgooner wrote:Last over for middlesex to get full bowling points

They don't - a minor achievement by Surrey.

226/8 off 110. The Corporal would be lapping this up.

20 more to avoid the follow option.

Will Ravioli bat? If so, what condition will he be in - after 2 days with his feet up in the canteen?

Into single figures to avoid the follow on Guildford he will have to put the food down

Here comes ravioli

4 needed

Ravioli l is out there batting with a runner ( third degree )