The Surrey rollercoaster rumbles on

Nine days ago Surrey meted out a severe mauling on Gloucestershire, today the Gladiators returned the favour with a hugely comfortable 46 run win.

The result was made all the more disappointing after Hamilton-Brown won the toss and sent the opposition in to bat and duly had them reduced to 26-3. But a combination of Ian Cockbain, Alex Gidman, Chris Taylor and some poor Surrey bowling saw Gloucestershire to a very competitive total of 168.

The game was however played on a small ground and with Surrey's much vaunted batting lineup the total was by no means out of reach. For the second time in consecutive innings Surrey lost one of their openers in the first over. The game against Gloucestershire at the Oval aside, the opening pair of Hamilton-Brown and Davies which fired so often last year has delivered very little in all limited overs cricket which has been a huge disappointment.

Thereafter the awaited recovery never arrived. With the required rate approaching 10 an over, de Bruyn and Pietersen combined saw out 51 balls for 48 runs. Their 47 run partnership over 5 overs would've been valuable if either of them had used the platform to cash in, but neither did. Aside from 20 from Tom Maynard the rest of the batting order contributed very little, it was a hugely disappointing performance.

Adams has a problem on his hands now. Four matches in we have just three points on the board, and have played probably the weakest side in the group twice. Though Chris Schofield has played four matches he hasn't a single wicket to his name, Arafat is only one better off, Nannes and Dernbach have shouldered the burden admirably but it's not quite enough. The return of Stuart Meaker cannot come soon enough, in the meantime I think Linley (or possibly Dunn if Adams is feeling especially aggressive) must come in and de Bruyn should bowl more overs. There is then a case to bring in an extra batsman to replace Schofield, how long can we leave Ramprakash on the sidelines?

On the batting front the top order simply has to deliver more. The kind of power they have is not translating into big totals consistently enough. They have all the talent in the world, it's time to deliver.

Thanks to the ridiculous format of this tournament there is still plenty of time to turn things around but a game on Monday against an excellent Essex side will not be an easy way to kick start that turnaround.

Update: Thanks to the comment below (and @ColsaCricket) or pointing out the article in the Evening Standard where Ramps says his knee isn't quite up to the rigours of T20 cricket just yet - think Adams might want to persuade him that it is!