For the second match in succession Surrey were batted in to submission on the final day, Gareth Rees and Michael Powell the offending batsmen on this occasion.
I will say this at the outset, Glamorgan batted very sensibly and very responsibly, Rees was extremely watchful while Powell was more aggressive. This wasn't a pitch for the bowlers to put it mildly, and in any case our most threatening bowler, Meaker, was off the pitch for most of the day and bowled only three overs all told in the second innings. Unless Meaker can recover by Wednesday Tim Linley looks increasingly likely to gain a deserved recall and Yasir Arafat, who has now gone two full four day championship matches without taking a wicket, will almost certainly remain. If we have to go without Meaker for the Middlesex game I fear we might struggle to take 20 wickets again.
After Meaker plucked Cosker from the crease for his 5th wicket (and 11th of the season) to end the Glamorgan innings Arafat and Dernbach didn't make the batsmen play enough with the new ball, although they were hardly profligate. Chris Schofield and Gareth Batty toiled away manfully and economically on a fourth day pitch which seemed to be offering some turn from time to time, but again without that x-factor bowler there was no one to force the issue.
We haven't been helped by starting the season under virtually cloudless skies on pitches which haven't offered much at all for the bowlers but the ongoing inability to finish sides off once we've maneuvered ourselves into good positions is really a concern. Of course there is much to be happy with, that we are maneuvering ourselves into those positions is pleasing and the absolute truckload of runs we scored is a real positive. Plus Meaker's bowling continues to impress. There is just something missing, some of it is down to decisions not going our way, but there is also that last piece of the puzzle that provides the moment of genius which just hasn't worked out. It would be really handy if it did so at Lord's next week.
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2 comments:
Seems like the Glamorgan players worked hard today.
I was chatting to my Dad about the pitches Surrey are playing on and the suggestion that as we have one of the best bowling attacks in the league, the opposition teams are putting up a very flat lifeless track to take the draw and move on. 2 from 2 so far... Plus the oval is almost always flat...
Which takes me back to the point you made in a previous blog - having a wicket taking spinner would be rather useful... shame they don't grow on trees.
Evening Chapters
Interesting, that could be the case, very negative approach but not beyond the realms of possibility. Our 'true' Oval pitches have been hurting us for some time, new groundsman doesn't seem to have changed anything. Having one of Dernbach/Meaker unavailable for large chunks of this match really hurt us, but you get the feeling nowhere near as much as not having a dangerous spinner will hurt us throughout the season. Ah well!
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