Creditable draw against table toppers

April 2010, Sussex vs Surrey at Hove, it ended in a 10 wicket hammering in a game where Surrey barely looked at the races.  Fast forward to August and its a totally different Surrey, one that can take a very strong Sussex side right to the brink and since day one we've looked the side much more likely to force a win.

That is progress, without question, so there's plenty to be pleased about.  Today started in the best possible fashion with Tremlett sending Michael Thornely back to the pavilion with the first ball of the day and Stuart Meaker accounted for Murray Goodwin before the lunch break as well.  However thereafter Michael Yardy and Ben Brown got stuck in and rescued Sussex, only one more wicket fell for the remainder of the day and the captains shook hands on a draw once Yardy had progressed to his hundred.

There are still issues, Harinath still has yet to kick on and despite scoring 500 runs this season he has just three fifties to his name and no hundred, he also has comfortably the lowest strike rate of any of our batsmen.  Lancefield generally looks to score more freely and his 37 hinted at something bigger.  I like both players a lot and perhaps its unfair to expect too much of two youngsters being thrown in to open.  Our opening partnership has been a massive issue though, only once has the partnership passed 80 all season.  Michael Brown's absence has been keenly felt.

Plenty of positives though from this game.  Again Tremlett looked the business, surely there is no better pace bowler in the country that isn't already playing for England?  Meaker and Dernbach were also good and they should play as much as humanly possible between now and the end of the season.  Batty's bowling has been effective of late and I suspect he'll come into play more and more as the season reaches its climax.

This is a side featuring seven players under 25 and all of them are England qualified, that is something we as Surrey fans can be genuinely proud of.  More than that, they took Sussex right to the brink (well, nearly), who knows what would've come of this game if we hadn't lost an entire day to the weather.  Well played lads, lets see some more of the same from here on in!