SURREY VS MIDDLESEX SPECSAVERS COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP

Surrey have named a 13 man squad for their Specsavers County Championship match with Middlesex at the Kia Oval, starting on Monday 28 August.
Aaron Finch misses out on the match after sustaining a calf injury in Friday’s Natwest T20 Blast quarter-final defeat to Birmingham Bears while Moises Henriques has returned to Australia following the completion of Surrey’s white ball campaign.
Arun Harinath is also unavailable having failed to recover from a side strain picked up in the 2nd XI match with Middlesex earlier this month.
Tom Curran sadly remains on the treatment table
Youngsters Ollie Pope and Ryan Patel are in contention for their County Championship debut while Conor McKerr and Amar Virdi will both be hoping to make their third first-class appearances for Surrey.
The full squad is:
Gareth Batty (captain)
Scott Borthwick
Rory Burns
Rikki Clarke
Sam Curran
Jade Dernbach
Ben Foakes
Conor McKerr
Stuart Meaker
Ryan Patel
Ollie Pope
Jason Roy
Amar Virdi
For me Dernbach and McKerr to miss out the weather is lovely for spin now
Over to you chaps

Thanks as always, JimBob.

Think you're on the money with the eleven. Put another way, that's the team I would pick from the 13 in the likely conditions. It's pretty impossible to tell atm though just what we might actually do!

That said, I really can't see McKerr making the cut. Suspect he's only been named as a face saving attempt to try and justify him being yanked back from Derbys.

''Our team'' gives debuts to Patel and Pope. Not ideal to have two batting debutants but probably no way round that with so many others unavailable. Still no squad place for the Burger Van - I fear he'll be asked to drive away very soon.

Middlesex include Ollie Rayner and Toblerone Jones in their 14 man squad. Both normally do well or bl**dy well against us!

I'm going on Tuesday. There's a forum meeting before the start. Could be fiery - many unhappy about the fiasco over QF t20 tickets, the about turn to back the t20 franchise competition, players leaving, etc, etc.

Good call by us on the eleven JimBob!

Middlesex won toss and unsurprisingly chose to bat ....

Just going from the old scoreboard, tidy enough from Sam Curran and Clarke but no wickets. 23/0 off 10.

sadly not a day to lose the toss

jimbobgooner wrote:sadly not a day to lose the toss

Totally agree. Think we'll do well to get you 2 points by stumps tonight, JimBob!

forgot to say the club are live streaming the game a beauty from meaks to get rid of straight out of Compton

jimbobgooner wrote:forgot to say the club are live streaming the game a beauty from meaks to get rid of straight out of Compton

Thanks, JimBob. Had missed that before.

Just caught up with Compo's dismissal. Good ball and catch although the shot seemed a bit wet.

Surprised to see Patel bowling this morning. Know he does bowl and got wickets for England under 19s recently but he's primarily played as an opening bat for the stiffs. Anyway he was better than I expected, looked quite sharp.

the virdiator strikes

76/2 off 30 at lunch.

That's a good morning's work from us.

not had much luck this afternoon so far

jimbobgooner wrote:not had much luck this afternoon so far

But then ... a beaut from Meaker removes Robson's off peg! A point for you, JimBob.

guildfordbat wrote:

jimbobgooner wrote:not had much luck this afternoon so far

But then ... a beaut from Meaker removes Robson's off peg! A point for you, JimBob.

Middlesex 247 all out. Haven't been able to follow much today but that seems a top rate effort to get them all out on a day like today. The wickets shared around between 5 bowlers, none for Patel on debut but he still deserves credit for keeping it tight.

3 bonus points already, that's 1 more than I thought likely at the start. Good as well to limit the visitors to 1.

Be great if we can reach stumps with all wickets standing. Guessing Burns and Patel to open.

Nice start by Burns and Patel. 12/0 off 4 overs.

I'm sure usual dangerman Rayner will have an over or two tonight - watch out!

patel looking very comfortable out there

ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

toblerone gets third degree wih a snorter
terrible end as to what had been a good day

jimbobgooner wrote:toblerone gets third degree wih a snorter
terrible end as to what had been a good day

Bang on, JimBob.

Also agree with you that Patel looked comfortable. Such a shame how things ended up.

Important that Borthwick and Meaker hang in tomorrow morning. 30/3 would look awful, even if the third wicket is the night watchman.

PS A few years back, Toblerone played one second XI game for Surrey and was then let go.

Seems like we had a good day - I spent it scouting the cidermen and Essex and will post about that tomorrow on the county thread

72 needed to avoid the follow on

Guildford did I read there was a members forum this morning? Did anyone go?

We've had a good first hour - both Borthwick and Meaker still there, and we're onto 73-2. Now 174 behind.

Meaker certainly doing his job this morning. We're now getting a bit tied down with Rayner keeping the batsmen virtually scoreless - but hopefully we will come through this patch.

Borthwick eventually falls to Finn for 24 (off 78 balls). Sounds like quite a typical innings for him in recent months - never quite got going. 89 -3. Jason Roy up next. Rayner so far bowled 10 overs for 3 runs - wonder whether Roy will treat him with quite so much respect

Corporalhumblebucket wrote:Borthwick eventually falls to Finn for 24 (off 78 balls). Sounds like quite a typical innings for him in recent months - never quite got going.  89 -3.  Jason Roy up next. Rayner so far bowled 10 overs for 3 runs - wonder whether Roy will treat him with quite so much respect

1st batting point

100 partnership

50 for that's all

Jason

Oh jase you plonker

throwing it away now

Really poor to go from 231-4 to 279-8. Had a chance to build a commanding lead, and have thrown that away

280 all out pathetic

How have we come to have Ricki Clarke opening the bowling? What has happened to Surrey?

Disappointing end to the day after Surrey had shown so much application earlier in the day. Unlikely to be much if any play tomorrow due to rain - so a draw was likely result. Pity to miss out on at least one batting point.

Corporalhumblebucket wrote:Disappointing end to the day after Surrey had shown so much application earlier in the day.  Unlikely to be much if any play tomorrow due to rain - so a draw was likely result. Pity to miss out on at least one batting point.  

Perfect summary.

Roy's dismissal to part-timer Voges was very disappointing and (along with Foakes' which soon followed to a good ball from Franklin) got Middlesex right back into the match when I was starting to wonder about a 100 run lead. However, I could understand what Roy was trying to do and why - clear mid on for another boundary and keep the foot firmly on the gas. He just didn't get hold of it enough. He and Foakes had both batted well but a couple of 70s aren't enough to cement a decent lead; particularly, when too many wickets were recklessly chucked away soon afterwards. Sam Curran and Clarke tried to go for their shots from the off and soon perished, throwing away much of the earlier good work of others. Really frustrating partnership from a Middlesex perspective earlier in the day from Meaker and Borthwick - if you didn't know, you would have thought Borthwick was the night watchman with few of his shots being hit cleanly.

Middlesex fielded very well - for a big guy, Sterling really hurled himself about near the rope stopping a couple of fours - and generally kept at it with the ball.

A shame about the weather forecast as the game is nicely set but needs the best part of 4 days' play.

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:Guildford did I read there was a members forum this morning? Did anyone go?

We've had a good first hour - both Borthwick and Meaker still there, and we're onto 73-2. Now 174 behind.

Hi Olly - yes, there was. About 50 to 60 attended including your's truly.

Richard Gould (CEO) kicked things off with an apology for the mess over t20 QF tickets for members. He appeared to say they would be included in the package next year if we get to that stage - so that seems good news for you, JimBob! I would add though that the bumf he's just issued to members doesn't make that clear.

Gould got some flak concerning the about turn over now supporting the forthcoming t20 franchise competition. Gould's stance was that whilst ''we did more than any county to oppose it'', it was definitely going ahead and we had to accept that. Personally, I can understand that but would like him to stick his head above the parapet pointing out concerns that still remain and need to be addressed.

There does seem to be a worry that if we hack the ECB off too much, we could lose staging rights for Tests after the current arrangement ends in 2022 and that would have a very serious financial impact. [I didn't quite follow the entire logic of what followed but ...] In order to further increase our prestige as a Test ground and cater for up to 40,000 spectators (with the Ashes in 2023 heavily in mind), further building and development work is shortly to be proposed.

Alec Stewart then spoke with characteristic openness and humour. Things I recall:
* We had been too inconsistent in t20s, particularly the batting where we were often 15 to 20 runs light. He was surprised we achieved second place in our group. He added that he considered the South group to be stronger than the North.
* Pietersen was extensively tested and passed fit during the afternoon before the Middlesex t20 game. His injury when batting was regarded as essentially bad luck and one of those things. Stewie added - ''He certainly wasn't fit after Finch saw him!'' Pietersen's 50 in his first game was praised and it was clear that Steweie regarded his absence through most of the competition as a big loss. That's it now for Pietersen with Surrey and in England.
* A lot can still happen in the Championship over the next 5 games (including the current one) which could see us ending in top or bottom 3.
* Whilst Ollie Pope was very happy to get his CC debut, Ryan Patel smiled so much ''we could have got rid of the floodlights!''. More seriously, Patel's tight bowling and the thought he put into it was heavily praised.
* Stewie was ''annoyed and frustrated'' by Sibley's departure. He emphasised he would never give any player guarantees as to selection and considered Sibley to have ''made the wrong decision''. He didn't though rule out Sibley returning to the Oval one day.
* Ansari continues to be missed. A suggestion that the balance he brought to the side was underestimated, perhaps even by the cricket management,
* Stewie very pleased to have signed Clarke, a player he has enquired about for a few years.
* Footitt's homesickness issue had been going on for some time and there was nothing to be gained in holding onto someone who was too upset to play.
* Finch's calf injury means he won't be fit for our next match and then Sanga should be back. Tom Curran should be available again fairly soon.
* Sanga definitely retiring at the end of the season. As regards an overseas replacement - due to international calendar and the various overseas t20 tournaments, we are likely to sign ''two or three players for different times''. He has spoken to Amla but there is no truth in him becoming a Kolpak now - he's signed up to South Africa until 2019. As regards Morkel and any others, we'll monitor the position but won't entice them down the Kolpak route.
* Someone asked about the Surrey captaincy. Stewie referred to the finals that Batty had taken us to but didn't want to get drawn on the matter now. He said that it would be considered in October and stressed the priority currently being given to the remaining CC matches. Although that was a fair enough answer, it didn't come across to me as massively supportive.

A pretty cool tweet Ollie Pope put out earlier - https://twitter.com/opope32/status/902853536454729728

JDizzle wrote:A pretty cool tweet Ollie Pope put out earlier - https://twitter.com/opope32/status/902853536454729728

That's just great! Thanks, JD. Ollie Pope has the rare distinction of looking even younger than Sam Curran!

guildfordbat wrote:

JDizzle wrote:A pretty cool tweet Ollie Pope put out earlier - https://twitter.com/opope32/status/902853536454729728

That's just great! Thanks, JD. Ollie Pope has the rare distinction of looking even younger than Sam Curran!

This is the first time since 1939 a team has fielded four teenagers in a county championship match. Only the 6th time ever

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:

guildfordbat wrote:

JDizzle wrote:A pretty cool tweet Ollie Pope put out earlier - https://twitter.com/opope32/status/902853536454729728

That's just great! Thanks, JD. Ollie Pope has the rare distinction of looking even younger than Sam Curran!

This is the first time since 1939 a team has fielded four teenagers in a county championship match. Only the 6th time ever

I'm sure Guildford and corporal remember that match well

jimbobgooner wrote:

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:

guildfordbat wrote:

JDizzle wrote:A pretty cool tweet Ollie Pope put out earlier - https://twitter.com/opope32/status/902853536454729728

That's just great! Thanks, JD. Ollie Pope has the rare distinction of looking even younger than Sam Curran!

This is the first time since 1939 a team has fielded four teenagers in a county championship match. Only the 6th time ever

I'm sure Guildford and corporal remember that match well

Shush, JimBob. I don't want the Corporal remembering my drinks went on the tab that day!

guildfordbat wrote:

jimbobgooner wrote:

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:

guildfordbat wrote:

JDizzle wrote:A pretty cool tweet Ollie Pope put out earlier - https://twitter.com/opope32/status/902853536454729728

That's just great! Thanks, JD. Ollie Pope has the rare distinction of looking even younger than Sam Curran!

This is the first time since 1939 a team has fielded four teenagers in a county championship match. Only the 6th time ever

I'm sure Guildford and corporal remember that match well

Shush, JimBob. I don't want the Corporal remembering my drinks went on the tab that day!

Lol!  Meanwhile, until the current crop (Sam Curran in particular) I'm struggling to recall seeing any Surrey teenager - apart from Ben Hollioake - playing in a first class match. (I don't think I saw Ansari play when he was in his teens.)

I did see Jack Richards and Monte Lynch both play for Surrey when they were just teenagers, as Surrey replaced the old guard in 1977........yes, I am that ancient!
Great pic/tweet of the 4 youngsters..........makes me feel even older!
Cracking report on the members forum guildford!......well remembered.....seems like more questions than answers!

thegooch7 wrote:I did see Jack Richards and Monte Lynch both play for Surrey when they were just teenagers, as Surrey replaced the old guard in 1977........yes, I am that ancient!
Great pic/tweet of the 4 youngsters..........makes me feel even older!
Cracking report on the members forum guildford!......well remembered.....seems like more questions than answers!

Cheers, Goochie.

Although I've watched Surrey for a long time, it's only in relatively recent years that I've been a member and pretty regularly attended matches at the Oval. I'm fairly sure though that I saw a teenage Alex Tudor playing for Surrey at Guildford. That would have been circa 1996/97. Having just looked him up on cricinfo, I was surprised to see Tudor won't be 40 until October.

baby face on fire

If only we didn't have a day washed out to rain!

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:If only we didn't have a day washed out to rain!

If we get 'em all out by tea, we could have a dart at anything up to 170.

Be aware though that although Simpson isn't quite up there with Rayner and Toblerone, he's someone else who normally likes to put on a good show against us.

There's apparently some rain on the way too...

Also - we're going to need the Corporal on overtime with the weather forecasts. Had some rain my neck of the woods in the last hour.

PS and Edit: Olly's last post just beat me to it.