We've been on the receiving end of a few very impressive hundreds in the last few days. Last week it was Graham Napier's faintly ridiculous 196, then Benny Howell's mature 122 on Sunday and today Alviro Petersen hit his first hundred for Glamorgan, and ended the day 178 not out.
Petersen had scored just one fifty in the 11 innings before today and had received a bit of stick from some Glamorgan fans, notably on Twitter, but I had a funny feeling his first really big score for them might just come against us, and so it proved. Mike Powell batted well too, only to be bowled on 99 by Chris Jordan, his only wicket of the day. Some idiot (me) suggested Ben Wright was "in form", he was out for a 23 ball duck this evening and looked particularly uncomfortable throughout.
We were always likely to struggle today with an almost entirely second-string seam attack, but it is nonetheless disappointing to have ended the day with Glamorgan in a fabulous position to push on towards the 550-600 mark tomorrow. I saw 12 overs play at the end of the day and we bowled pretty well, though Glamorgan were clearly trying to make it through to close. Dernbach looked sharp and better than figures of 2-103 suggest. Chris Jordan didn't look threatening and unless he is right on song, as he was back in April against Northants, Tim Linley can be left appearing a bit one-dimensional. He hasn't taken a single first class wicket since that game. We badly need him to find that x-factor which he undoubtedly has from time to time.
The pitch looked very green but there didn't appear to be any extravagant bounce or movement on offer for the seamers. Schofield and Batty bowled only 16 overs all day, with just three for the former. Zander de Bruyn again did a sterling job returning 1-32 from 14 overs but he shouldn't have to do so much bowling in a five man attack.
We are looking at conceding a second consecutive first innings total of over 500 and again it will make it difficult, if not impossible to push for a win unless we really get amongst them tomorrow morning. On paper at least we have the superior batting unit so if Glamorgan can rack up a big total, so can we, we can't afford to throw this away.
Congratulations should go to Jade Dernbach though, not for his bowling return today but on receiving his county cap. If it were down to me I'd have given it to him before now, he gives his absolute all for Surrey whenever he goes out there, we're very fortunate to have him.
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4 comments:
Whilst it's too early to be know how batsmen friendly this pitch is I can't help thinking that we are never going to get promoted unless we can prepare more result pitches.
These pitches are great for limited overs but not for first class games. I know that the weather hasn't helped this year but it's also been a problem in previous seasons
Morning Tim You're right, although Steve Davies on Twitter said yesterday was a 'very bad day for Surrey', so maybe its not such a batsman's paradise after all! We do need to be looking at result pitches for sure, I thought the Leics game was a good indicator, that pitch was very lively and we had a great attack. We've had four draws out of five now, two of them at home. At this rate we'll only win three games all season and that's nowhere near good enough.
Get the sense you're not a huge Jordan fan - didn't see him yesterday but to my eyes at Whitgift on Sunday I felt he bowled much better than his figures suggested.
What struck me was that, when Simon Jones got red carded and came to field on the boundary, the Hampshire fans were making encouraging noises and generally at least sounding supportive. The crashing silence when Chris J came out to graze after going for a few was stark contrast.
Can't shake the feeling he's deemed persona non grata in the team and the stands - which is a shame, I think, because having seen a fair bit of him over the past few years (in between injuries) I would say he is or was as good a prospect as anyone we have on the books with the ball...
- @SteveTheJones -
That isn't my intention though you're right, it does come across that way and I probably ought to be a bit more positive about CJ. It's just frustrating, he looked such a promising talent and every time I've seen him bowl (admittedly only three times) this season es looked ok but not really threatening. I really really hope he gets that cutting edge back because he can be a fabulous player for us. I agree with you by the way, I do think we as a group of fans could do with being a bit warmer towards our players.
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