The game is up

This one is as good as over, but it needn't have been, for with just a few overs left in the day we were 57 without loss and the possibility of at least saving the game wasn't out of the question.  However some misplaced youthful exuberance from Tom Lancefield and four wickets later, and Worcestershire are on the verge of completing an impressive win.

However the ills didn't begin there, Surrey's bowling, the redoubtable Tremlett aside, was poor today.  Stuart Meaker, as promising as he may be, has been woeful in this match returning 1-129 from 29 overs, 4.4 an over across the match in case you were wondering.  And while Worcestershire's world class spinner Shakib al Hasan looks likely to wrap up the win for them, our frontline spinner, Gareth Batty, was terribly expensive in collecting his three scalps today.  Wickets at 40 apiece at this stage in the season from your leading spinner is just not good enough, an awful lot of weight falls on the shoulders of your spinner in the second innings come August and September, and Gareth Batty with just 16 5-fors in 150 First Class games, isn't going to run through sides.

Though the bowling was poor, I'm sure better bowlers would've been put to the sword by young Kervezee today, he really does look a special prospect and I suspect there will be interest from England in the not-too-distant future.

The fielding throughout this match has been poor and I understand there was at least one more drop today, if you're having to create two chances for every one wicket you take, it doesn't take a genius to work out that you're setting yourselves up to fail.

There has been precious little to draw any pleasure from in this match.  The batsmen have batted without much intelligence and the bowlers don't seem to have had much in the way of plans.  The fact remains that we are the 17th 'best' county out of 18 if you look at the tables and today that seems about right.  On our day we look a million dollars, but those days are few and far between at the moment.

Tomorrow will be uncomfortable viewing for those that do turn up to cheer on Surrey I fear.  Although Davies is still at the crease, I don't think that he and Rory Hamilton-Brown are the type of player who will be able to bat out the majority of the day to save the game.  That said, I want more than anything for the pair of them to prove me wrong.  This game has been a terrible disappointment, we as fans should never expect to win but Worcestershire and us are pretty evenly matched sides and we should've been pushing them hard for victory, we haven't come close to doing so.