Momentum key for Scotland game

Yesterday's win against last year's beaten finalists was a great way to get the CB40 underway and Surrey will be looking to carry that winning momentum to Edinburgh tomorrow.

Zafar Ansari is not available for this game due to university commitments so Tim Linley comes in, the squad and possible XI is as follows:

Rory Hamilton-Brown
Steven Davies

Jason Roy

Jacques Rudolph

Tom Maynard

Zander de Bruyn

Matthew Spriegel

Gareth Batty

Jon Lewis

Stuart Meaker

Jade Dernbach

Bench: Tim Linley, Gary Wilson

Yes, you guessed it, I'm going for the same team I wanted to see yesterday. In hindsight, Adams got the selection right yesterday but without the extra spinning option in the squad now, I hope he'll go for the extra bat in Jacques Rudolph. De Bruyn and Hamilton-Brown will probably have a few overs to bowl between them.

Batty was excellent last night, he gave the batsmen very little and it was just one six from Craig Meschede where anyone looked to have the best of him. Even then, Batty promptly bowled him next ball. Spriegel though was a touch disappointing, going for 35 from his 4 overs and only scratching 11 from 16 deliveries. Everyone's allowed an off night though, and last year's game at Edinburgh was the scene of one of his best limited overs knocks to lift us to a decent total. He also picked up 2-29 in that match.

Jon Lewis, sharp caught and bowled aside, was also a bit below par and I would expect him to come back strongly. Dernbach and Meaker were excellent and for that reason I think Linley might find it hard to squeeze in.

We beat Scotland twice pretty comfortably last season and we should be looking to again tomorrow, but they aren't without threat. Last season they notched two wins in rain affected matches against Northamptonshire and Warwickshire, clearly they are no pushovers. The dangermen are probably Josh Davey, who scored an accomplished 50 against us at the Oval, and the allrounders Mommsen and Symes. Majid Haq's off-spin is also very tidy, indeed we could be facing 24 overs of spin tomorrow so the batsmen will need to get their feet moving.

With Meaker looking in supreme form and Dernbach to complement him with the new ball, followed by Batty and Lewis to keep it quiet in the middle overs we should have too much about us for Scotland to compete with.