Whitgift School has a lovely cricket ground but I had my doubts about whether it was suitable for Twenty20 cricket. Those doubts remain, but Surrey collected a good win against Sussex there tonight.
All told 18 sixes were scored this evening, half of them by Sussex's opening pair in attempting to chase down Surrey's total of 203. At 109-0 in under ten overs it looked like they were well on target but in the end the pressure of runs on the board told, along with a bizarre decision to promote Wayne Parnell up the Sussex order.
Steven Davies scored a superb 99 not out in batting through the Surrey innings and was ably supported by a fifty from Hamilton-Brown and a quickfire 29 from Tom Maynard who was dropped twice in the field. In the innings break 203 looked a good score but not out of sight.
The game was being bullied out of our hands by Luke Wright with 72 from 31 balls before Chris Schofield pegged Sussex back with two wickets and Zafar Ansari bowled intelligently to restrict their batsman. Meaker too was excellent towards the end of the innings. Those three bowlers' economy rates of at or around seven an over would equate to something much lower at, say, the Oval. Gareth Batty didn't bowl a single ball and Hamilton-Brown reasoned that bowling off-spin with such small boundaries in a high pressure game is too tough. That doesn't quite sit right with me, they knew the size of the boundaries before the game and even with that in mind Batty is one of the most experienced hands in the side.
As ever I might not agree with the intricacies of the selection, but I can't argue with the result. We now sit a point behind Somerset, Sussex, Kent and Essex with a game in hand on Somerset and a marginally superior run rate to Kent and Essex, in short, there is still everything to play for. A win against Middlesex on Thursday would set us up nicely going in to the final three games.
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The World Cup is here Again!
1 year ago
3 comments:
Good to see the blog back & running - a mid season break, tsk tsk!
My twopenneth:
team selection - fair enough as there doesn't seem to anyone else playing well enough to be included
Good captaincy bringing Meaker back at the end.
Whilst Luke Wright was playing superbly, with the rate required down to about 8 an over he should have then batted more circumspectly.
On Sky the ground looked fairly empty - perhaps £25 is too much? It's £20 for Lords on Thursday.
Loved the delivery of Butch's comment on Sky of "send in your emails" after Charles Colville said that Vincent batting like a blind man and they should put a bell in the ball.
Steve Davies batted beautifully to top-score 99 not out from just 56 balls with the help of Hamilton Brown both gave surrey a respectable score.Surrey has sealed an important victory as the battle for a quarter-final place hots up. Keep it Up boys.
Evening Tim
Fair point about there being few alternatives, I guess that is the major limiting factor, just thought they might stick a Burns or Lancefield in. I think £25 is crazy for outground prices, but the crowd seemed ok, difficult to tell at Whitgift, but £20 should be the maximum for me. Really enjoyed seeing Meaker come back after an expensive first over.
Thanks for the comment Fantasy Cricket, it was indeed a crucial win.
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