SURREY VS SOMERSET SPECSAVERS COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP

New signing Theunis de Bruyn is in the 14-man squad to face Somerset in the 80th annual Guildford Festival starting tomorrow.
I'm sure Guildford and corporal have seen all of them
Full squad is as follows:
Rory Burns (captain)
Gareth Batty
Scott Borthwick
Rikki Clarke
Theunis de Bruyn
Jade Dernbach
Arun Harinath
Will Jacks
Morne Morkel
Ryan Patel
Mat Pillans
Ollie Pope
Mark Stoneman
Amar Virdi
Batty, Harinath and Pillans to miss out for me.
The tail is too long as it is so Jacks for extra security.
Over to you chaps

Cheeky sod! This will probably be about my 30th Festival - didn't use to attend all days though and missed some altogether due to being down the Woking salt mines.

I'll go with you on the three most likely to miss out.

Lol - I've probably only ever been to about six matches at Guildford - generally seeing Surrey play really badly. The company is often better than that cricket!  

Unless the groundsman has prepared a turner, which could see the return of Batty alongside Virdi, I too would agree with Jimbob on likely composition of the team.

Rocky (family reasons) batty and Pillans miss out
Undecided toss Surrey batting

Whilst it's a shame that Stoneman has had some family issue crop up, one suspects it may not do him any harm to have a week or two away from the game...

And always good to have a stalwart like the Baron to come in. Agree with the XI chosen, no way we could have gone in with Clarke at 7 imo.

Big chance for the likes of Jacks, Patel and Harinath to push for a place in the squad more regularly. Especially as Guildford has been known to be a decent pitch for batsmen in the past...!

Also strange that Somerset didn't decide to contest the toss, despite playing both Leach and Bess - you'd have thought despite any overhead help, they'd want to be bowling last

Will be interesting to see which if any of Leach, Bess and Virdi catch the eye. Was just reading the cricinfo profile of Jack Leach - where he was described as looking like a "slightly apologetic junior accountant"!

Cautious start at 32 - 0. I agree with Olly that it might well be in Stoneman's interests to take a bit of time out. The psychological pressure must be intense where you've been in the pressure cooker of test cricket and no doubt disappointed yourself by coming up well short of your hopes and expectations. Not so easy just to shake that off in a week or two I would imagine.

Should also note, I like the make up of our batting line up - the top four are all those who occupy the crease, and can take time and effort out of the bowlers, then 5/6/7 are all naturally attacking players who can *hopefully* take advantage, if the top 4 give them a platform against a tired attack.

Ah the Baron out two short of a half century!

1st batting point

Burns and Borthwick both make half centuries, as Surrey progress beyond 200 only two wickets down. Burns out for 66, Borthwick currently on what appears to be a very fluent 62*

Borthwick hits a six to move onto 74.  Useful partnership between Borthwick and Patel.

239 - 2 at tea. Good session for Surrey.

Very good first two sessions for Surrey - now time to hammer home that advantage after tea

Is that Guildfordbat I can see on the live stream mingling with those inspecting the wicket during the tea interval?

351-5 at close of play - Surrey had a wobble post tea but yet again Ollie Pope is in the runs and Will Jacks has stuck around so far too.

Definitely Surrey’s day, I imagine Mr Abell will be getting a few stern looks from his bowlers for bowling first today...

Not a bad day shame no batsman could go on and get a hundred after getting in.
Would say honours even on that ground.

I'm inclined to agree with Olly that it was Surrey's day but understand Jim's thinking. 351-5 at Guildford isn't worth as much as at most grounds.

Side issue but does Sam Curran getting called up for the England ODI squad instead of the Lions mean he will be available for the jolly boys outing to Scarborough ?

350-5 is definitely Surrey's day! Unless Somerset can roll them very quickly tomorrow morning, then this could very quickly become a first innings total that a Surrey defeat becomes very unlikely.

That last unbroken partnership made the difference in tilting the balance of play somewhat in favour of Surrey. Encouraging to see useful contributions from the Baron, Patel and Jacks.

Perhaps unfairly I had for some while been assuming that Patel was probably destined to be the next Harinath - someone who would not necessarily be able to cement a place in the first team, but who would always try to get his head down and bat responsibly, doing a solid job for the team. Patel hasn't set the world alight with his batting so far but he's made several very handy contributions.

Wondering whether the latest regeneration of The Brain may have had a malfunction. But I suppose anyone can get out before they get in.

With Surrey's total the usual caveat applies these days - with Dernbach at no 9 it's entirely possible that come 1125 tomorrow morning we're all out for 370.

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:Also strange that Somerset didn't decide to contest the toss, despite playing both Leach and Bess - you'd have thought despite any overhead help, they'd want to be bowling last

Described by one local at the ground as ''bizarre''. To be fair to Abell, it was overcast early on and the track* had some green patches (the colour doesn't really show up on the stream). However, it was a long way from being the decision I would have made - Guildford is typically a good batting track and there was insufficient evidence that today would be an exception.

On the whole, we batted sensibly and battled hard. That ties in with another good point made by Olly - although Pope was the most fluent and, without checking, I'm sure had the highest run rate, some of the credit for that goes to the top 4 who established such a sound base for him. There was a lovely bit of play from Surrey's perspective in Bess' final over when things were really shown to be going our way.

Pope drove to mid on and set off to scamper a single - the fielder (Byrom?) raced in towards the ball in the hope of gathering it quickly for a possible run out, only for it go through him and run away to the boundary. The very next ball Pope pushed the ball back towards the bowler and took a step forwards as if teasing Bess he was going for a single. Bess was having none of that as he hastily gathered the ball and hurled it back from the direction it came. Unfortunately for Somerset, the ball missed the wicket and Davies' attempt to take it as it sped away for another four. 8 runs off 2 consecutive balls when we should have had 1 at most - thank you very much!

Somerset bowled pretty tidily although their seamers were rather samey. Abell didn't appear to have much confidence in Leach. Not given the ball until 60 overs had gone and more than 200 was on the board.

I would say it was our day and so we are ahead but the match is clearly still at an early stage and things can certainly change yet. My stretching but realistic aim from here would be to bat just beyond lunch tomorrow and total 460.

* Don't think it was me at that time, Corporal, must have been someone else suitably distinguished pretending they understand cricket wickets! My posing was done at lunchtime.

jacks gone 2nd ball

Need 30 off 10 overs with 4 wickets left to get Jimbo's full batting points

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:Need 30 off 10 overs with 4 wickets left to get Jimbo's full batting points

100 for pope

Hundred for Pope and he brings up full batting points too - what a great prospect he is, top run scorer in division one now too.

Surely he'll be touring with England this winter?

Pope got one that kept low from Groenewald to dismiss him for 117, a shame but also encouraging for Surrey's bowlers!

Morkel in at 9 - and in typical Morne fashion, is swinging the willow hard - useful lower order runs so far, 433/7

Rikki Clarke CC

Patel’s bowling figures 2-4-3

Now 3-4-5

our own Darren Stevens

That is incredible!

Enforce the follow on?

RYAN PATEL

churchy informs us that patel figures equals jim laker from 1955

Corporalhumblebucket wrote:...  Encouraging to see useful contributions from the Baron, Patel and Jacks.

Perhaps unfairly I had for some while been assuming that Patel was probably destined to be the next Harinath - someone who would not necessarily be able to cement a place in the first team, but who would always try to get his head down and bat responsibly, doing a solid job for the team. Patel hasn't set the world alight with his batting so far but he's made several very handy contributions. .....

When I wrote that I came within an ace of also adding that Patel's bowling clearly isn't going to make much of a contribution in Div 1 - it's certainly what I was thinking! What a magnificent performance by Patel today - from the clips on Twitter it looked like he was getting a lot of wobble and swing. And superb performances too by The Pope and Rikki Clarke.

Better follow the usual rules about not drinking during a match! But let's hope the bar will be open by tomorrow evening or failing that by lunchtime on Saturday!

Somerset collapsing again this morning, now 33-3 with two for Morkel and one for Dernbach already. Still trailing by 246 - looks rather bleak for the Cidermen

Corporal open that bar

I think the Corporal May be in the bar....at Guildford today

Had the good fortune and good sense to pop down to Guildford for today's play. That was a mighty impressive team effort. And, for the benefit of a County whose name escapes me just now, it was achieved with the minimum of fuss without several key players: eg Roy, Foakes, Stoneman, Curran T and Curran S, while the likes of Batty, Meaker and Dunn were left kicking their heels.

The PA kindly informed us at the end that this was Surrey's first series of three consecutive CC innings' victories since 1958. How good can this squad be once they're all old enough to wear long trousers off the field as well as on it??

chichestersurreyfan wrote:I think the Corporal May be in the bar....at Guildford today

I can confirm he was. I can also confirm he wasn't alone.

A totally convincing win. Hugely impressive,

Evening All!  The bar is - belatedly - open! #hic

Excellent two thirds day out at Guildford with some sustained hostile bowling from Morkel, Dernbach and Clarke.  Chanced upon Guildfordbat inspecting the pitch during the lunchtime and so we had a couple of .  Hildreth batted very well, with useful support from Gregory and Davey - but really there was not a lot else from Somerset.  Surrey's performance in this match exceeded my highest expectations.

Btw both Guildford and I were impressed by the Morkel-like speed of service in the beer tent!

Corporalhumblebucket wrote:Btw both Guildford and I were impressed by the Morkel-like speed of service in the beer tent!  

Almost as quick as Morkel!

very exciting times at the Rey

Posed this question on twitter so will do so here...if everyone is fit and available (no overseas) what is our strongest county championship XI? I genuinely find it impossible to pick!

Well, that’s a good old fashioned towelling for the Cidermen! Poor in all facets but the weak looking batting finally came unstuck and wasn’t bailed out by Renshaw or Hildreth. Onwards and upwards! Well played Surrey.

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:Posed this question on twitter so will do so here...if everyone is fit and available (no overseas) what is our strongest county championship XI? I genuinely find it impossible to pick!

Olly - virtually impossible to answer as you appreciate but if you hold a gun to my head to choose a CC eleven for tomorrow, I would go for the line up immediately below. I've assumed everyone is fit and available as you say. More importantly though, I haven't assumed everyone is at the top of their game - instead, I've based selection on how they are currently or have been recently performing which I reckon is fair enough.

Burns
Harinath
Borthwick
Patel
Foakes
Pope
S Curran
Clarke
Morkel
Dernbach
Virdi.


This leaves a back-up twelve (which is ok as 12 normally play in seconds' Championship games) as follows:

Stoneman
Jacks
Roy
van den Bergh
Smith [Academy keeper]
Pillans
T Curran
McKerr
Batty
Meaker
Atkinson
Dunn.

To be clear, Stoneman is generally a better bat than Harinath. However, that's not the case currently. Meantime, Roy and TC can consider themselves unlucky to miss out but all the others imo merit retaining their place.

Getting a little bit back towards reality and next week's match away to Yorks, expect Dunn to be in the squad travelling to Scarborough.

guildfordbat wrote:

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:Posed this question on twitter so will do so here...if everyone is fit and available (no overseas) what is our strongest county championship XI? I genuinely find it impossible to pick!

Olly - virtually impossible to answer as you appreciate but if you hold a gun to my head to choose a CC eleven for tomorrow, I would go for the line up immediately below. .....I've based selection on how they are currently or have been recently performing .... Meantime, Roy and TC can consider themselves unlucky to miss out but all the others imo merit retaining their place.  

Guildford - presumably Roy's blizzard of recent ODI runs has been somewhat discounted in terms of counting as recent good form on basis that Aussie ODI bowling attack is inferior to that of a typical cc Div 1 side

Understand why you'd want to stick with the guys currently doing well but Roy and TC would easily slot back into a full strength side for me. Stoneman probably too though Patel would at least push him closer.

Burns (c)
Stoneman/Patel
Borthwick
Roy
Foakes (wk)
Pope
S Curran
Clarke
T Curran
Morkel
Virdi

Also - I went to the first two days of the Somerset games (my parents live in Guildford so doubled up visiting them with getting some cricket in). Everyone has mostly covered the positives, but the main negative for me was Virdi's evening spell on the second day. I don't know if he improved today, but that was a poor spell by any frontline spinner's standards, nevermind one looking for England honours. It was my first time seeing him bowl live so I was probably just unlucky in what I saw but it did at least temper my expectations somewhat.

I should probably answer my own question!

I would go for;

Burns
Stoneman
Borthwick
Roy
Foakes
Pope
Curran S
Clarke
Curran T
Morkel
Virdi

This is assuming everyone is fit and on form. Guildford's second XI just shows the depth of bowling we have at the club, and some promising young batsmen in reserve too! And of course, stalwarts like the Baron himself

Back to the real cricket - a 21 point lead over 2nd in the county championship after 6 games is a very strong position - essentially a whole victory ahead and points ahead of everyone else