Friday 28 May 2010

Some good news, some bad. And Younus (not Younis)

Lets start with the good: Stuart Meaker and Chris Tremlett come back into play for this match, the former after a foot injury and the latter was probably just rested because of the completely stupid schedule.  And the bad?  Well Andre Nel has gotten himself suspended again, another ECB Code violation, this time apparently for throwing a ball at Niall O'Brien.

Some will say that's just Andre Nel, I'd say its just stupid whoever you are.  He's been around too long now to still be getting himself suspended like that.  He's now been banned for four Championship matches - a quarter of the season and he's really letting the side down.  Coming off the back of a particularly splendid performance makes it all the more galling.

Anyway, back to the matter at hand, the squad for the Glamorgan game is thus:

Younus Khan
Arun Harinath
Mark Ramprakash
Rory Hamilton-Brown
Usman Afzaal
Steven Davies
Matthew Spriegel
Gareth Batty
Tim Linley/Stuart Meaker
Chris Tremlett
Jade Dernbach

12th man:  Chris Schofield

Perhaps a bit harsh on Schofield, who didn't bowl terribly at Northants, but he did only take one wicket bowling 21 overs in the fourth innings.  His 29 runs in our first innings were vital, but I think Batty offers more all round at the moment.  They should not, repeat not go for two spinners, the vast majority of wickets this season at the SWALEC Stadium have fallen to seamers.  The other decision to make is whether to play Linley or Meaker.  Linley bowled well at Northants and picked up his first five-for, but Meaker took a bunch before his injury, so its a tough call.  I think they'll go with Meaker, who also offers more with the bat, but I think either will do a decent job for us.  Of course they might elect to rest Tremlett with the Leicestershire game coming so soon after this one, and at the Oval, in which case they might play both Linley and Meaker.

The elephant in the room so far is that Younus Khan (it seems we're going with Younus rather than Younis) is finally in the side, though for how long remains to be seen!  To have Ramps, Younus, Afzaal, RHB and Davies in the side is an excellent mix of aggressive bats and accumulators, and if they can click we could be in for a big score.  Younus' arrival will probably mean Davies moves back to the middle order, which I'm more comfortable with, he looked very comfortable there at the start of the season.

However Glamorgan are a good side, coming off the back of consecutive innings victories followed by a ten wicket win, they will have bags of confidence.  James Harris, with 31 Championship wickets to his name already, will very likely take the field, Cosgrove got a hundred in the last match (and hit a massive 175 last time he played Surrey) and Allenby has been in good form.  Their full squad is as follows: GP Rees, MJ Cosgrove, JWM Dalrymple, BJ Wright, J Allenby, TL Maynard, MA Wallace, JAR Harris, RDB Croft, DA Cosker, WT Owen, DS Harrison and HT Waters.

Whatever the team and whoever the opposition Surrey have to continue in the positive frame of mind they showed for the last two days of the Northants game, no going back into your shell now boys!

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