Right selection, wrong execution?

Well it remains to be seen, but with Chris Tremlett at number 8, a theory advanced by this very blogger yesterday, the top 6 had to perform.  At the premature close of play this afternoon three of them had failed to do so - Lancefield, Roy and Ramprakash were all dismissed for less than 20, so all the more pressure is now heaped on the remainder of the frontline batsmen.

And maybe that's no bad thing because Kevin Pietersen and Rory Hamilton-Brown have compiled a 67 run partnership at 4.5 an over and in the last game of the season is the skipper about to play that long awaited innings of responsibility?

And yet with just one more batsman to come in the shape of Gary Wilson, there is always the risk that this innings could be over in the blink of an eye.  From a Surrey and England perspective, Pietersen's runs tomorrow are absolutely crucial.

On a damp day in Bristol, with the players on and off at various times for rain and bad light, it can't have been easy for the batsmen, and against a seam attack as strong as Gloucestershire's (the best in the division in my opinion) perhaps some top order fragility isn't as bad as it seems.  On the issue of the light and the weather, it seemed particularly odd that in an over where the bowler went for 2-1-4-2-6 the umpires saw fit to leave the field for bad light, but they know best!

The weather forecast for tomorrow isn't looking great, and that for Thursday has deteriorated somewhat, so the chances of a result are receding rapidly.  There's unlikely to be anything much more than an innings each in this match, so KP's knock tomorrow suddenly has much more significance, and RHB will want to get some runs in tricky conditions as well.