Surrey Cricket Blog

Return of the Nannes

2012-01-26T19:46:00.001Z

Surrey have confirmed that Australian fast-bowler and global Twenty20 mercenary, Dirk Nannes, will be returning to the club for the 2012 Twenty20 Cup. Nannes had a successful 2011 campaign, playing every game and picking up 19 wickets at 20 runs apiece along the way.

News of his return is a boon, its good to have certainty around our overseas contingent for the tournament due to start in June, and his pedigree is unquestioned. He will turn out alongside Murali Kartik, putting to bed any suspicion that a third overseas player would be signed purely for the T20.

I wonder whether there is a danger of us being a batter or two light, not just for the Twenty20 in fact, but in general for 2012. Chris Schofield's absence from the squad may be felt more keenly than anticipated should one or two of our big hitting batsmen have a complete loss of form. We may even look back fondly on Yasir Arafat's lower order biffing if the worst came to the worst.

It undoubtedly gives us a very strong looking bowling lineup, if everyone is fit and available, to be able to pick from Nannes, Kartik, Tremlett, Dernbach, Linley, Meaker, Dunn and Lewis will be a nice conundrum for Adams to have. But assuming there is no Kevin Pietersen, and there's no reason to suspect there will be, beyond a top six including Roy, Davies, Maynard, Hamilton-Brown, de Bruyn there isn't a huge surplus of pure batsmen in the squad. Sprigel's flashes of brilliance in 2011 may be called upon more often and in more formats for the coming season. Gary Wilson too may be drafted in.

Interestingly, Chris Adams' latest interview on the Surrey website suggests that we are pursuing an overseas player in Murali Kartik's stead while the Indian will be playing in the IPL. He says that they won't sign someone "for the sake of signing", but if someone of sufficient quality is not picked up in the February 4th IPL auction they may dip into the market - so keep an eye on that one. They could do worse than explore the possibility of signing a batsman, given the strength we have in fast bowling and the early-season conditions. Although perhaps unlikely, with Dernbach, Maynard and Roy on the preliminary list for the IPL, Adams could have more gaps to fill!

With February almost upon us, and friendlies due to start in March (yes, March), cricket is just around the corner again and Adams will want to have as many of his ducks in a row as possible. Members of the squad who disappeared on various overseas crusades this winter haven't had the best of times by and large, here's hoping they're getting their iffy form out of the way before the English season gets started!

Morgan recommendations to be adopted

2012-01-11T19:33:00.000Z

The powers that be, namely the England and Wales Cricket Board, have decided in their infinite wisdom that the reforms recommended in the review conducted by David Morgan will be adopted.

Much will be written and debated over the coming days and weeks about these decisions, mostly by people better placed to do so than myself. But for what it's worth, here are my thoughts.

The reduction in the amount of County Championship games played, from 16 to 14 was met with opposition from the vast majority (but admittedly not all) of county regulars. Not that we were ever consulted by the club it must be said. David Morgan, I understand, did consult widely, though again how much of this was with the average cricket punter I don't know.

Many if not all the changes are aimed at improving the national side, a laudable goal I think we'd all agree. But these are changes to a domestic structure which has produced players good enough to make England the number one side in the world for the first time in decades, surely now of all times is when we should be looking more at the status quo than sweeping alterations to the longest form of the game?

Not that I am opposed to change in principle, I just think it should be done with more than a single goal in mind. I can't help thinking that the interests of the lowly cricket fan have been rather neglected in this process.

On the limited overs front, having reduced the number of Twenty20 group games this year to 10 per side, it is now planned to go back up to 14 in future. As Middlesex's Angus Fraser pointed out on Cricinfo, that could lead to a lot of redundant group games if you get off to a poor start. The lingering threat of Twenty20 overkill now looms large again. There is also the proposal to go back to 50 over cricket which is logical, although I personally prefer 40 overs.

This isn't a disaster, English cricket will live on and we'll all come to terms with the changes eventually. But it is disappointing. The seemingly muddled thinking of the ECB rarely has the interests of the fans at heart, this is just more evidence of that.

The worst kept secret: Murali Kartik signs

2011-12-02T19:02:00.000Z

The signing of Murali Kartik, first mooted around the time of the CB40 final in September, possibly even before that, was duly announced on the Surrey website yesterday. The former Lancashire, Middlesex and Somerset left-armer will be available in all formats for most of the 2012 season (more of that later).

Adams has made a virtue of a "mystery" spinner, specifically one that turns the ball away from the right handed batsman. Kartik certainly fulfills the second of those requirements, I'm not sure he can be considered a 'mystery' though. His formidable county pedigree - 319 wickets and counting - coupled with his ability to hold the bat competently make him a solid signing.

Pragyan Ojha, Kartik's countryman and late-season hero in 2011, will be the hardest of acts to follow, Ojha's recent exploits (20 wickets at 22 apiece) in India's recent series against the West Indies ought to herald a lengthy run in the national side. However, Kartik has proven a matchwinner in the past, 2011 was no vintage year as he only played 8 Championship games, returning 26 wickets but 2010 was far better. In 11 matches for Somerset he took 45 wickets at less than 20 each, and bagged five 5-fors in the process.

Hopefully he can rediscover his best form, 591 First Class wickets doesn't happen by accident. His presence will be a positive thing for the development of fellow left-armer Zafar Ansari, and other young spinners like Spriegel and Freddie van den Bergh. Though with Gareth Batty also scrapping for a place, it will be interesting to see how Adams builds his teams. Presumably 2011's spinner-heavy limited overs sides will be replicated next year.

His precise availability is by no means certain and the announcement on the official site has undergone something of a refinement. From declaring that Kartik will be available for the pre-season preparation, and a quote from Chris Adams stating that he'll be available "for the entirety" of the 2011 season, there is now considerably less certainty. On his own Twitter feed he has said he'll join after the IPL (he played for Pune Warriors in 2011 and presumably will do so again next year) which ends on May 27th.

This is par for the course for any top-quality overseas spinner these days, but it does seem odd that the announcement should be unclear on that note. It remains to be seen whether a short-term replacement will be sought, but because of the record-breaking early start this year, it does mean we are potentially without an overseas player for seven Championship matches and three CB40 matches.

In short, Kartik's signing is very positive news. An attacking spinner, provided he can find his best form, is hugely valuable as we know only too well. Further action on the player signings front may well be very limited from now on, but 2012's squad is taking shape rapidly.

David Morgan's report - good or bad?

2011-11-23T19:39:00.000Z

The England and Wales Cricket Board congratulated David Morgan on his interim report into the domestic game. I'm not sure I'd do the same.

There's a lot to consider, but the main conclusions seem to be a reduction in the number of Championship games from 16 to 14, a return to 50 over cricket and Twenty20 games played more regularly on Thursdays/Fridays and Saturdays. I'll take each in turn.

I would vehemently oppose a reduction in the number of Championship games for two main reasons. First, I think it is the most complete test of a batsman's or bowler's skills, and therefore it is the best way to prepare England's players for the pinnacle (or at least what I consider to be the pinnacle) of international cricket: tests. The second reason is that it would invariably mean the creation of a more complex structure than that which we have at the moment. David Hopps of the Guardian suggests that this would mean a first division of eight counties and the 'lower ten' would be split into two "notional regional groups" - Hopps speculates that this would "remove the competition's credibility" for some. You can count me amongst that "some".

So what would I do instead? Well since a reduction in the number of counties is off the table, as I see it we should continue with the current structure. And I might point out that it seems to be working pretty well for the side currently number one in the world. I would also try and ensure, in conjunction with the rest of the fixtures, that as much cricket is played at the weekend as possible. Four day cricket is never going to attract big or even medium sized crowds during the week because everyone is at work, so I'd like to see a few more games with play on a Saturday and Sunday.

The logic behind the return to 50 over cricket seems sound. I personally prefer 40 over cricket, but accept that the ICC isn't about to change the international game to that format. Therefore it makes more sense for the English limited overs game to mirror that of the ICC precisely.

As for the Twenty20, I have gone on record as saying I think a city-based franchise system is at least worth proper exploration as one of very few models which could be self-supporting financially. But since that seems beyond the pale for most people, we have the current structure for the time being. The proposal to have more games played on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays seems sensible. Big crowds at Twenty20s relies on more than just a particular day of the week though. The ECB needs to do more to make sure England's top players are available to their counties, games need to be meaningful (the reduction in games from 2012 onwards should help in this regard) and unfortunately for us English, the weather plays its part as well - not much any of us can do about that last one.

The structure of the four day domestic game ain't fundamentally broke, so does it need fixing? I don't think so. There are many issues around how the domestic game is financed, but I'm not sure reducing the number of games in the Championship solves that. I don't claim to have all the answers - but I don't think David Morgan's report does either. I would really like to hear what everyone thinks about this!

2011 - better, but how much better?

2011-11-09T21:26:00.000Z

How long has it been now? Seven, eight weeks of mandatory mourning for the end of the cricket season? It feels like it's been an age in any case. There's been a steady drip of new contract announcements, surprise call-ups and debut training sessions since that momentous day at Lord's, so where do we stand with Division One cricket looming large on the horizon?

It doesn't take a genius to work out that 2011 was substantially better than 2010, we got promoted and won a trophy, neither of which happened in the previous season, need I say any more? Well, probably not, but that wouldn't make a very good blog.

Broadly speaking you can say two things, the bowling was better and our batting stayed pretty much level (and in some respects fell back slightly). For all the agonising over our opening pair, it was actually the equal second most successful partnership of the lot. In 2010 the average opening partnership was 25, with only five scores of 50 or more and no hundred partnerships, this year the average was 38 with ten scores of fifty or more, including three hundreds.

The news is less good at the fall of the first wicket though, this partnership did almost exactly the reverse of the openers. In 2010 the average second wicket partnership was 38, this year that was 26. This can partly be put down to Mark Ramprakash's patchy form, which will hopefully turn around in 2012. The rest of the batting was pretty constant from 2010, although our average first innings score was down on last year by 30-40 runs.

So it's the bowling where we improved substantially. In almost every case the average opposition partnership for every wicket was lower than last year (the eighth wicket being the exception, more of which later). This can be attributed in part to the consistent excellence of Tim Linley, and the late season fireworks from Pragyan Ojha.

However, similarly it's not all good news here, we are still letting teams off the hook far too regularly. The cases of Kent (where 87-6 became 250 all out) and Northants (where 163-7 became 376 all out) stick most prominently in the mind, but there are others. In general opposition tail ends were allowed to plunder far too many runs. The number eight, nine and ten partnerships added, on average just shy of 70 runs. Some of the worst examples were that early-season game against Northants where they added 213 for the final three wickets, twice in one game Essex's lower order added 190 and 123, against Glamorgan it was 118 and at Lord's it was 117.

This area is one in which there is a clear pre and post-Ojha split, for the millionth time making clear how important an attacking spinner such as he is. Before Ojha arrived the average eighth wicket partnership was 26, with him in the side it was just 12. The story is similar for the rest of the tail, with Ojha present opposition tail ends typically added 30 fewer runs than without him.

Over the course of the last two seasons captain fantastic Hamilton-Brown has proved an effective tosser, winning 19 and losing 13. However in 2011 there was a split between choosing to bat and choosing to bowl, and it's one area where the bowlers fell down. Hamilton-Brown won the toss and batted five times, ending with an average first innings score of 404 in those instances. The average opposition first innings score in those games was over a hundred runs shy of that. When we win the toss and bat, generally we put ourselves in a strong position.

However, there is a down side. On the four occasions where Hamilton-Brown won the toss and bowled, three of those resulted in opposition scores of 400+, and the total was never less than 300. The old adage of "nine times out of ten, you bat first, and the other time you think about bowling but still bat" seems fitting here.

So there's plenty to be pleased about but, perhaps encouragingly, there are still areas where we can improve significantly. One thing that is certain is that if we are to prosper in Division One in 2012, everyone will need to step it up a gear. However three areas hold the key, first: Mark Ramprakash, second: an attacking spinner and finally: decisions at the toss. Over to you Mr. Adams!

The Unofficial 2011 Awards

2011-09-25T20:16:00.000+01:00

After a season which brought promotion and a one day trophy, there is much praise to be dished out - the whole team did a magnificent job. Here's my take on the individuals most worthy of praise.

Player of the season: Tim Linley

No one else at the club stood so clearly and consistently head and shoulders above the rest this season. Linley took over a quarter of all Surrey's wickets in the Championship, and he very nearly tripled his career haul of wickets. He doesn't have express pace and he doesn't swing it round corners, though he did appear this season to have an extra yard of pace on 2010. He does just enough with the ball and bowls it in uncomfortable areas for the batsman. His economy rate in the Championship of 2.78 was bettered only by Pragyan Ojha and incredibly he bowled 22% more overs than the next most frequent bowler, Gareth Batty. He will have a harder time of it next season with better batsmen and a less bowler-friendly ball than the Tiflex he bowled with this season, but I don't doubt he'll go away in the winter and work even harder on his game.

Batsman of the season: Zander de Bruyn

This one was almost as much of a no-brainer, de Bruyn scored a third as many runs again as the next highest scorer, Hamilton-Brown. Adams would have signed him with an eye on him being the steady pair of hands in the middle order, and he was just that all season long. He averaged over 50 batting at number three, four and six, wherever he came in he could be relied on to come up with the goods. His bowling was also more than useful in all formats, he was even called on to open the bowling on a couple of occasions late in the season and was never profligate when required to turn his arm over. It was a huge relief when he signed an extension to his contract and I don't doubt that he'll continue to reassure us all in 2012.

Bowler of the season: Tim Linley

What more can I say? I toyed with giving someone else the award just to share it about but such was the quality of Linley's bowling this season that wouldn't have been fair. Honourable mention for Stuart Meaker who had he not been injured mid-season would unquestionably have passed the 50 wicket mark. The few televised games that he played confirmed that he is still a 90mph+ bowler and when he gets his radar right his yorker is absolute dynamite. He suffers occasionally in limited overs because of a slight lack of variation but I'm sure that will come with time.

Fielder of the season: Zafar Ansari

Jason Roy and Tom Maynard, both of whom often took catches leaping salmon-like in the outfield, would have been worthy recipients but Ansari deserves an award. A couple of his diving stops on the boundary really stick in the mind, one in the T20 against Sussex at Whitgift and one in the CB40 final at Lord's. He is extremely quick across the ground and his hands are as safe as houses. He will be a pleasure to watch as his game develops over the next few years.

Innings of the season: Tom Maynard 123 vs Derbyshire

Again this was a tough call to make, because late-season efforts will always stick in the mind more readily. However Maynard's third hundred of the season was without doubt the most important. If he'd given his wicket away early I doubt if we would have made the 400 mark that we desperately needed. But he didn't and although he didn't shepherd the side all the way there he hung around until we were within 18 runs of the mark. The pace at which he scored his runs, at a strike rate of almost 80, meant we got to the 400 mark with overs to spare. Another honourable mention, this time for Chris Schofield for his knock of 72 in the CB40 game at Northants. This was the game where Adams chose to debut his Schofield-as-pinch-hitter strategy and a fine debut it was too. Schofield forged partnerships of 72 and 88 with Roy and Maynard, both at better than 7 an over. If we hadn't successfully chased Northants' impressive total of 296 it could have precipitated a late season slump in form (just a couple of days before we'd been thumped by Kent), as it was we went on a roll after this game and never looked back.

Spell of the season: Stuart Meaker 5-37 vs Northants

Was this the moment we all started to genuinely believe promotion was going to happen? We'd been bowled out for a less-than-dominant 269 and Northants were cruising at 174-3, looking more than likely to take a handy first innings lead. Stuart Meaker had other ideas though and with a spell of four wickets for six runs in seven balls he ripped out the heart of the Northants batting and precipitated a collapse to 194 all out. The promotion bandwagon rumbled on. Another honourable mention, from the same game Pragyan Ojha's incredible spell of six wickets for just eight runs which consigned Northants to the biggest runs defeat in first class cricket in England in 2011.

Most improved: Tim Linley

Seriously, what more can I say? 38 wickets in his career prior to April the 8th 2011, 73 wickets since then. Enough said.

Opposition player of the season: Rob Key

There was really only one contender in my mind for this, he averaged 112 in four Championship innings against us this season. His knock of 162 in the second innings took Kent to within 21 runs of winning the game, it was a herculean effort. His second innings 110 at Canterbury, in a match where the next highest score on either side was 49 was no less impressive. He is still one of the finest county batsmen around. One final honourable mention: Lou Vincent for his 14 off 19 balls at in the Twenty20 at Whitgift. An innings with a strike rate of 73 - no one else who passed ten in the game scored at a strike rate of less than 130 on the postage stamp-sized ground. Vincent came to the crease with Sussex cruising at 118-2 off 11 overs, well up with the required rate but Vincent's stuttering effort allowed us back into the match.

That's it for another year, the next six months are going to drag on and on but there's so much to look forward to in 2012, and this far from the last you'll hear from me in 2011, there's plenty still to come!

Season Review: The 'allrounders'

2011-09-24T20:27:00.000+01:00

And finally, the allrounders get their turn, here follows an appraisal of how Surrey's crop of bowling-batsmen and batting-bowlers did in 2011. And there's a fair few of them, only four players slotted into this category last year, in 2011 there are six.

Gareth Batty
LVCC: 36 wkts @ 33 & 532 runs @ 26, CB40: 13 wkts @ 23 & 29 runs @ 7, T20: 8 wkts @ 33 & 24 runs @ 8

As those number show, Batty was only to be considered an allrounder in Championship cricket, but his importance to the side is without question. When you watch a side with Gareth Batty in it, there's no doubt about who is the beating heart of the side, the one who peps everyone up when heads start to drop (it doesn't necessarily always work). He must be an intensely irritating person to play against, he's always buzzing around getting in everyone's ears, and that's part of what makes him important. That's not to say his cricketing abilities are negligible, in both the CB40 and the Championship his contributions were hugely important. His strike rate and economy were an improvement on last year and in the CB40 he was the most economical bowler of all, giving away just 4.7 runs an over. His value was never more apparent than during his spell of 2-35 in the final. He also had a canny knack of breaking partnerships, and coming up with runs when the team needed him most, his 49 in the first innings against Essex is a great example. His county cap during the final game at the Oval was richly deserved.

Matt Spriegel
CB40: 11 wkts @ 27 & 424 runs @ 53, T20: 16 runs @ 5

Spriegel: Crucial

Spriegel was perhaps unlucky to miss out completely on Championship cricket in 2011 - and I hope rumours that he will soon sign a new deal at Surrey prove correct - but he has become a key cog in our 40 over side. He has not missed a game over the past two seasons, in that time he's scored almost 700 runs at an average of 46, and a strike rate better than 100, only Davies and Hamilton-Brown have scored more. His batting was more accomplished this season, and more powerful too - his 82 against Scotland was spectacular and his 86 against Durham nearly shepherded us home to an unlikely victory. In a side packed with look-at-me players, Spriegel has become a reliable and high-class presence in the middle order. He also captained the Second XI from time to time and should Hamilton-Brown decide the job was not for him, the coach could do a lot worse than look in Spriegel's direction.

Chris Schofield
LVCC: 5 wkts @ 46 & 179 runs @ 59, CB40: 17 wkts @ 23 & 246 runs @ 35, T20: 3 wkts @ 61 & 37 runs @ 18

Schofield: Gradual improvement

After distinctly average performances in the Championship, a poor T20 campaign and three wickets and only 88 runs in his first 7 CB40 games, Chris Schofield's future at Surrey looked likely to end as the curtain fell on the 2011 season. However, Adams kept faith and in the final month of the season Schofield repaid him in spades. He scored 158 runs at an average of 31 in a 'floating' role in the CB40, and took 13 wickets at 14 apiece in the last six matches. He can be a slow starter as a batsman so the decision to push him up the order as a pinch-hitter was a gamble, but once he does get going he hits the ball in unusual areas and is tough to tie down, largely it worked. His bowling wasn't at its best this year but he remained a useful option for Hamilton-Brown to turn to. I think his opportunities in the Championship will be limited again next year and it may come down to whether he wants to remain at the club when he's only likely to play the one day matches.

Zafar Ansari
LVCC: 6 wkts @ 26 & 43 runs @ 7, CB40: 4 wkts @ 42 & 47 runs @ 23, T20: 4 wkts @ 55 & 108 runs @ 36

I wrote at the start of the season that I was particularly interested to see the progress of Ansari after his impressive debut against Sussex in the CB40. I couldn't have hoped that he'd be as good as he was though, and the fact that he'll be missing from the early part of the season to continue his studies at Cambridge is a real shame (not for him, obviously). He only played three Championship games but if there was a more vital wicket this season than Ansari's wicket of Rob Key as he was ushering Kent towards victory, I can't recall it. He saved his most impressive performances for the Twenty20 during which he was the second most economical bowler and played some very important knocks with the bat - only Davies scored his runs faster. His returns in the CB40 weren't so good but his bowling in the final confirmed what the T20s hinted at - he has the coolest of cool heads, hugely impressive for a 19 year old. He's also one of the best boundary fielders around. Another at the club from whom there is so much more to come in the coming years.

Chris Jordan
LVCC: 11 wkts @ 48 & 228 runs @ 28, CB40: 1 wkt @ 92

Jordan

A return to cricket having lost a full year to injury was always going to be tough, and so it proved for Jordan. Another, along with Schofield, who redeemed himself with a couple of performances towards the end of the year, but he still doesn't look like he's back to his 2008 vintage. There was talk that Jordan was heading away from Surrey but I hope not given how much the club have invested in him and his recovery. A fully fit and firing Chris Jordan would be an invaluable asset - fast bowling (if not the 90mph he once was) and hard hitting players are like gold dust. His 160 runs and four second innings wickets against Essex in the Championship were instrumental to us winning at Chelmsford. His bowling in the CB40, when he played, was dire though - he bowled just 10 overs all season in that format but went for nearly 100 runs and only collected a single scalp. He may also find his opportunities limited in 2012 but I hope he has another go at cracking the Surrey nut.

The Other

Just a solitary performance for promising allrounder Tom Jewell this season resulting in a single wicket and six runs in the win over Derbyshire in May. He doesn't look as quick as Jordan or as powerful with the bat but could yet end up a more reliable option. Hard to see where he fits into a side on a regular basis in 2012 though.

Season Review: The bowlers

2011-09-22T20:42:00.000+01:00

Following on from the review of this season's batting performers, it only seems fair that the bowlers get a go, so here it is:

Tim Linley
LVCC: 73 wkts @ 18, CB40: 7 wkts @ 21, T20: 3 wkts @ 14

Linley on one leg

What to say of the man, the machine, the leading wicket-taker that is Tim Linley? I will hold my hands up and admit that I doubted if Linley would ever progress beyond a reliable keep-the-runs-down option. I am happy to say that I was very wrong (again), this season he's been that and our key strike bowler with it. I watched him take four Northants wickets for not very many on just the second day of the season at the Oval back in April and wondered if he'd turned a corner but he was then dropped for the subsequent fixture. After that though he was irresistible, he just seemed to take wickets whenever he bowled, if we needed a breakthrough Linley was often the man to get it. From the second innings of the Essex game at Whitgift onwards he took at least one wicket in 22 consecutive innings. And it wasn't just tailenders he cleaned up. I lost count of the number of times he rattled out a couple of the opposition's top order to set us on our way. As much as de Bruyn was the lynchpin of the batting, Linley was the key to our bowling and without him we'd have been miles from promotion. He hardly played in the limited overs games as Adams plumped for the spin-heavy attack, but still picked up wickets along the way, if not with the regularity he did in the Championship. And to cap it all off he always comes across as one of the nicest, most grounded blokes around. Hats off to the Viscount.

Stuart Meaker
LVCC: 44 wkts @ 22, CB40: 4 wkts @ 27, T20: 6 wkts @ 42

Had it not been for Meaker's early and mid-season injuries he may have been pushing Linley for leading wicket taker. But that is the lot of a young fast bowler, he bowled 66 overs in the first two games and was injured in the second of those at Cardiff, similarly at Whitgift he toiled away for 30 overs on a pitch with nothing in it for the bowlers and hey presto, another injury. Thereafter Hamilton-Brown seemed to use him more sparingly (he never bowled more than 19 overs in an innings after that), shielding him from the new ball - infuriatingly at times - and using him in the middle and at the end of innings. Meaker continued his habit of taking wickets in bunches, to which three five-fors and three four-fors will attest and he is quite simply deadly to tailenders. In limited overs he was less impressive, often going for plenty of runs though his end-of-innings bowling against Sussex in the Twenty20 at Whitgift was a match-winning spell. 2011 was also a landmark year for Meaker who, two and a half years on from being hailed the 'fastest bowler in England' achieved Lions recognition, playing in their series against Sri Lanka. This season saw Meaker begin to fulfil his obvious potential, hopefully next season we'll see even more.

Jade Dernbach
LVCC: 22 wkts @ 39, CB40: 23 wkts @ 14, T20: 13 wkts @ 11

Dernbach

Another who had his season disrupted though this time not by injury but by England duties. I speculated at the start of the season that his fine efforts over the winter for the Lions might result in a peripheral spot in the England side but he went several better than that. He was a late call up to the World Cup squad and although he didn't play there he will finish the season with 14 England ODI and T20 caps under his belt along with an incremental contract from the ECB. His appearances in the Championship were sporadic and not terribly successful but in the limited overs games he came into his own. He was the overall leading wicket taker in the CB40 and it was he more than any other that was crucial to us winning the competition. He was also the most parsimonious of our bowlers during the Twenty20 competition - no mean feat when Dirk Nannes is in the same side. As I've said before Dernbach loves playing for Surrey, sometimes his desire to win can spill over into unnecessary outbursts but I wouldn't change any aspect of his game. His variation has long been too much for county batsmen and his appearances in England colours (bowling almost exclusively during powerplays or end-of-innings slogs) this season have given other international sides a flavour of that as well. The only downside is we might not see very much of him next season. He might be a late bloomer, but he's certainly blooming alright.

Yasir Arafat
LVCC: 20 wkts @ 47, CB40: 19 wkts @ 24, T20: 10 wkts @ 28

I toyed with putting Yasir in the allrounders group but in the end elected to designate him a bowler for the time being. He arrived with a serious county pedigree even if his 2010 season was unproductive by his standards. But he just never clicked, I kept on assuming he would deliver in the next game, and the next game, but at the start of the season he went four innings without taking a single wicket (in fact he was wicketless in almost half the innings he bowled in the Championship) and was unable to even offer control to boot. His returns in the CB40 were better, but he would still have games where his line was particularly errant and the T20 was no different. There's no getting away from the fact that Arafat, a proven overseas seamer available for the duration of the season, was a massive disappointment in 2011.

Pragyan Ojha
LVCC: 24 wkts @ 12

Timely overseas replacement or cynical splash-the-cash last ditch effort at promotion? Either way, it worked a treat. The crowing from some sections of the press about him being parachuted in seemed to ignore similar moves by Warwickshire for Chanderpaul and Worcestershire for Kemar Roach, but such is life. His 24 wickets at a cost of just 12 runs each were the single most important factor in us winning those last four games, but to suggest he was the only reason we are in division one does a disservice to the efforts of our other players - what about the 117 wickets from Messrs Linley and Meaker? That aside, Ojha was outstanding and really showed the value of an attacking spinner who actually spins the ball hard. During his spell of six wickets for eight runs against Northant he had their batsmen tied up in knots, unable to score off him at all. Rumour has it that he is unlikely to appear on the county circuit in 2012 and more's the pity. If India had any sense whatsoever he'd be playing every game possible for them. Thank you Pragyan, it was a blast.

Chris Tremlett
LVCC: 6 wkts @ 51, T20: 6 wkts @ 14

From the highs of 2010 where The Treminator bagged almost 50 Championship victims even having missed the early part of the season, to the comparative lows of 2011 where England duty and injury restricted him to just a handful of appearances - but he was still mighty impressive at times, his spell of 4-16 against Hampshire in the T20 was one of the best I saw all season. A low for the club that is, for 2010-11 has seen a coming of age for the once gentle giant. He established himself as an England regular in the Ashes where he took 17 wickets in three tests and was man of the series in the home tests against Sri Lanka this summer. That was before Tim Bresnan elbowed his way into the side, batting and bowling himself into a regular spot. That may mean he is available for substantially more cricket in 2012, with stronger opposition in prospect we will probably need him.

Dirk Nannes
T20: 19 wkts @ 20

When the news broke that we had signed Shaun Tait for the Twenty20 I was very pleased. I was therefore equally displeased when he admitted his own concerns to the club that he couldn't make it through a 16 game English Twenty20 regime. Ultimately he decided not to go through with his contract. Still, all's well that ends well because we ended up with Dirk Nannes. The leading wicket taker in the history of Twenty20 did not disappoint, he was rapid and hostile from the word go and could usually be relied on to take wickets. I would be chuffed to see him steaming in for us in 2012 as well, a class act.

The Others

He may have only made only fleeting appearances, but Matt Dunn made his mark on 2011. His 5-56 on Championship debut against Derbyshire ensured a morale boosting win. Curiously he only made one other appearance, against Gloucestershire, notable only for the fact that Hamilton-Brown refused to give him even a single over in the second innings. George Edwards didn't play for the First XI but was in the squad for the final two matches. He's still incredibly raw but looks to have genuine pace and is tall and lanky in build.

Season Review: The batsmen

2011-09-21T20:35:00.000+01:00

The season drew spectacularly to a close last week, and while the Champions League Twenty20 rumbles on pointlessly (from a Surrey fan's perspective) in India, now seems like a good time to take a look back on 2011. Starting with the batsmen.

Rory Hamilton-Brown
LVCC: 1039 runs @ 37, CB40: 372 runs @ 28, T20: 232 runs @ 17

On the face of it, those numbers don't add up to a terribly productive season for Surrey's young captain. However, in his second full year in the role, RHB appeared to grow into it somewhat. He's still not prone to inspired decisions too often (though his rotation of the bowlers in the CB40 was very good - not just in the final), and he is not considerate enough when it comes to using our younger bowlers, but boy did he do a good job this year. His Championship return, while playing well out of position almost all season long, is impressive and 200 runs better than last year. Though he does have a habit of getting out once set, in the Championship alone he was out between 20 and 47 fourteen times in all. In both the CB40 and T20 he was below par across the year and yet Surrey as a unit still performed well generally in the limited overs - very well indeed in the case of the CB40. A year older and a year wiser, he will return next year stronger than ever. Of more importance than perhaps anything else, the players want to play for him and they seem a very tightly-knit unit. He might not be everyone's cup of tea, but I for one hope he remains at the helm for the foreseeable future.

Steven Davies
LVCC: 1035 runs @ 39, CB40: 395 runs @ 30, T20: 365 runs @ 33

Davies' Championship form seemed to track the fortunes of the team, insofar as he came good at precisely the right time. In his last eight innings he helped himself to two hundreds and two fifties as Surrey surged into division one. Like Hamilton-Brown he prefers the middle order to the openers slot in four day cricket but his form at the back end of the season might just persuade him to keep at it. Also like Hamilton-Brown he was below par in the CB40 - that's as compared to 2010 where he scored 485 runs at an average of 60. In the T20 though he was often spectacular, never more so than during his 99 not out against Sussex and he finished the competition with a strike rate above 150. He has curiously been ignored by England who have a glut of power hitting wicketkeeper-batsmen to pick from, while this is disappointing for Davies personally, from a purely selfish point of view I'm happy to see him turning out for us a lot.

Mark Ramprakash
LVCC: 700 runs @ 33

Returning from serious knee surgery, 2011 was never going to be the easiest of Ramprakash's many as a professional cricketer. I though he would be unlikely to appear much before July but incredibly it was barely May when he first turned out for the club. Throughout the season he never looked fully fit and will appreciate the winter break to get back to his very best - a back injury created some technical problems this year, probably contributing to his being dismissed bowled or lbw 13 times out of 23 dismissals (by way of comparison, he was dismissed that way only four times in 2010). He will likely never get back to his peak but even so he still warrants a place in our batting lineup. He deserves the chance to go out at the very top level - and he'll be relieved not to have to face up to the Tiflex ball next season.

Zander de Bruyn
LVCC: 1383 runs @ 55 & 15 wkts @ 39, CB40: 328 runs @ 32 & 7 wkts @ 26, T20: 275 runs @ 34 & 6 wkts @ 24

Whether he was filling in for Ramprakash at number three or batting in his more customary number four slot Zander de Bruyn hardly stopped scoring runs in 2011. Like Davies he stood up to be counted during those crucial last four games with two fifties and two hundreds. His 13 scores of fifty and above was not bettered by anyone in the country this season, in either division and he never went more than three innings without notching a fifty. I can't escape the nagging feeling that without him, we'd have been up a creek without a paddle. In the CB40 he was less impressive though his useful medium pacers were called upon frequently, in the T20 he wasn't spectacular (particularly in that bizarre innings against Kent) but he was a reassuring presence in the middle order nonetheless. It came as a huge relief when he signed an extension to his contract, he's been warmly welcomed by the Surrey faithful and I can't wait to watch him bat, and bat, and bat in 2012.

Tom Maynard
LVCC: 1022 runs @ 40, CB40: 481 runs @ 40, T20: 392 runs @ 43

Maynard: Special

The only one of Surrey's front line batsmen to average over 40 in all formats, it turns out Adams' "opportunistic" recruitment of him over the winter was pretty crucial to Surrey's 2011 season. That was never more apparent than when he was compiling a vitally important hundred against Derbyshire in the final game of the season. He came to the wicket at 132-3, by the time he'd departed we were only 18 short of that important fifth batting bonus point. That was his one and only hundred from the number five spot, his other two and all his fifties came from number six. That hundred also ended a run of nine innings without a fifty, it was a mighty fine time to break that sequence. His runs in the CB40, in which he scored five fifties were equally important to our cause and in the T20 he was, along with Davies, a cut above the rest.

Jason Roy
LVCC: 623 runs @ 29, CB40: 585 runs @ 45, T20: 363 runs @ 27

Roy: Also special

The 2011 season from Jason Roy was a bit of a curate's egg. Absolutely peerless in the CB40 where he recorded consecutive hundreds on his way to topping the Surrey runscorers chart - over 100 more runs than anyone else. However his returns in the Championship and the T20 were less than we've come to expect - which is possibly harsh on such a young man but merely a mark of the high regard in which he is held. To my mind there are few more talented batsmen of his age in England. His hitting in the 'v' is exceptional and his CB40 hundreds, particularly the one against Warwickshire, showed he is capable of playing a very mature innings. I think he was probably batted a bit low in the Championship, while he averaged 35 as an opener that became 27 from the number six slot. His ground fielding and catching remain excellent and it is clear for all to see that he loves batting for Surrey. He will doubtless go away in the winter and work on his batting for the longer format, his innings of 45 from 64 balls against Gloucestershire and 46 from 72 balls against Leicestershire showed that he is capable of innings that are less frenetic than his early season efforts suggest. There is so much more to come from Roy that it's almost frightening.

The Others

I was sad to see Michael Brown call time on his career, the injury that befell him last season had obviously caused more serious issues than first thought. I had hoped that his second innings knock of 46 against Northants way back in April would signal a return to form, but it was not to be. Gary Wilson also had a wretched season in which he scored only 121 runs in all formats. Having ended the season in 2010 so well he'll be hugely disappointed not to have continued that, but his runs of late for Ireland suggest that all is not lost, he will be back. Oh, and Kevin Pietersen, he batted for us, a bit.

Champions!

2011-09-17T20:27:00.000+01:00

A week is a long time in cricket. This time seven days ago we were merely a division two side in the final of the CB40, today we are a division one side and CB40 champions.

After the dark days of 2008 and 2009 I, and many other Surrey fans I'm sure, wondered how long it would be before we got back to winning ways. Well now we have, and in fine style too. The best part of it all is that this team is a long, long way from reaching its peak.

Chris Adams sprung something of a surprise before the start of play by naming Zafar Ansari ahead of either of the seam bowling options, leaving us with five spin bowling options on a ground with pretty short square boundaries. When Somerset, with their immensely powerful batting lineup won the toss and chose to bat I feared the worst.

But I was a fool to do so. Has Adams not done enough this season to shut me up moaning about too many allrounders? Matthew Spriegel opened the bowling from the nursery end and kept the Somerset openers largely quiet before capturing the big fish, Trescothick, stumped in the fifth over. Thereafter it was a steady stream of wickets, with every bowler chipping in and Somerset failing to forge a partnership north of 45.

Everyone contributed but special praise should be reserved for two bowlers, one always in the limelight, one rarely. Jade Dernbach bowled beautifully utilising his sharp bouncer well and not over-doing the slower ball. His return of 4-30 was just reward and he ends the campaign as the leading wicket taker in the country with 23 at 14 apiece. The other was Gareth Batty who never allowed the batsmen to get a hold of him and picked up 2-35. His 13 wickets this season is not spectacular, but his economy rate of 4.7 is excellent - the captain knows he can trust him to stem the flow of runs.

Also more than worthy of mention is the innings of Somerset's Jos Buttler. He played with a maturity far beyond his 21 years for 86 off just 72 balls. He will be a big part of England's future limited overs plans without a doubt.

With rain threatening, Surrey's openers were uncharacteristically quiet, rightly seeing that keeping wickets in hand was key with Duckworth/Lewis likely to come into the equation. It was particularly frustrating then that the first two wickets should go down to two poor shots. All the while Hamilton-Brown was at the other end playing a fine captain's knock, but in between rain breaks it did look as though Somerset could still somehow force a win.

When the longest of the rain showers subsided Surrey required a revised 186 runs from 30 overs. Schofield was again sent up the order after Maynard was caught behind off Arul Suppiah, and he was a fine foil to Hamilton-Brown as they put on 58 - the only fifty partnership in the entire match - in just over nine overs. He and Hamilton-Brown fell in quick succession though, the captain caught short by an excellent throw from Buttler as he was backing up - his outstanding knock of 78 from 62 balls appeared to have broken the back of the innings though.

With five wickets down and 39 runs still needed, there were plenty of nerves still about. Apparently not in the middle though. While de Bruyn and Spriegel were hardly fluent, they set about the task of winning the match with aplomb. In the end, as Spriegel cut the winning runs to third man it was a fairly comfortable win. It was somehow appropriate that it was Spriegel who hit the winning runs, with over 400 runs in the middle order (not to mention 11 wickets) this year his contribution has been vital. I hope his long term future lies at Surrey.

And that was that. A week which began promising much, ended having delivered everything. Rory Hamilton-Brown and his tightly-knit group of players had their hands on a major domestic trophy just days after securing promotion back to the big time. This team is as talented as any other in the country, maybe more so, and they have so much time still to develop. I am immensely proud of my team today, Hamilton-Brown, Chris Adams and Co., take a bow and have a few drinks, you have earned it.

One last hurrah

2011-09-16T17:12:00.000+01:00

A first Lord's final since 2001 when we won the B&H Cup against Gloucestershire beckons tomorrow, and wouldn't a win be a nice way to cap a special week?

Chris Adams has rightly stuck with the same basic set of players that have got us to this point, the fourteen brave souls who will go into battle are as follows:

Rory Hamilton-Brown
Steven Davies
Jason Roy
Tom Maynard
Zander de Bruyn
Matthew Spriegel
Chris Schofield
Gareth Batty
Yasir Arafat
Stuart Meaker
Jade Dernbach

Bench: Tim Linley, Gary Wilson, Zafar Ansari

The team largely picks itself when you look at recent performances. By and large every one of the top six batsmen have a score to their name of late, the exception being Hamilton-Brown who has tended to get out when well set - he has four scores between 24 and 46 in his last five CB40 games. Spriegel and Schofield's form with the bat has been a real bonus and has allowed Adams the luxury of picking so many allrounders. Spriegel is our third highest scorer with 400 runs and Schofield is averaging 36 - both have strike rates above 100. That said we need our top five to stand up, most of our success in this format over the last two years is built on going hard in the opening overs - don't expect that to change tomorrow. Each one of our top five is a potential game changer if it comes off. Hopefully it will!

The real conundrum comes in the bowling, and specifically which of Tim Linley or Stuart Meaker should play? Neither has really nailed down a spot in the CB40, in stark contrast to their Championship form. I am sure both would do a fine job if called upon tomorrow but what I keep coming back to is that when Stuart Meaker bowls, things happen. It might be a flurry of boundaries, or it might be a flurry of wickets, but things definitely happen. His economy rate of over 6 across this season's CB40 games isn't good, but he's not a bad limited overs bowler - witness his nerveless bowling in the closing overs at Whitgift in the Twenty20 against Sussex game there as proof of that. His tail is up and I think the nature of the game will get him going. As ever it's hard to say which Yasir Arafat will turn up, he's wavered between brilliant and abject at times in this format, but hopefully he'll be on his best behaviour for a final.

The return of Jade Dernbach, motoring down the M4 having bowled for England today, should be a boost of untold proportions. His CB40 returns this season have included analyses of 2-13 and 4-7, all told his 19 wickets have come at a cost of just 15 runs each. If he is on song tomorrow his eight overs could go a long way to deciding the match.

Somerset, perennial finalists but curiously never winners lately, are a seriously good side. A more powerful batting lineup you are not likely to see; Trescothick, Kieswetter, Trego, Buttler, Hildreth...quality, big-hitting batsmen just keep coming at you. If they get off to a good start no total is too big. That said, as Leicestershire proved in the Twenty20 when Claude Henderson tied them down and Josh Cobb cleaned them, they can be tamed. They are perhaps a little bit weak in the bowling where beyond Kirby and Thomas they don't have many experienced seamers, but in Dockrell and Kartik they have two impressive spin options.

After the pressure of having to win our final four Championship games, one 80 over blast ought to be a walk in the park for our merry band of players. Confidence will be at previously unknown highs and as most of these players will not have experienced a domestic final before, they will likely have no fear. Throughout this season Hamilton-Brown and Adams have trumpeted this fearless brand of attacking cricket and I don't expect that to change. I don't think there's a clear favourite for tomorrow, except perhaps the weather, but with the kind of form we've been in for the last month, I certainly wouldn't bet against us.

Division One - here we come!

2011-09-14T19:44:00.000+01:00

Surrey will be playing division one cricket in 2012 after an extraordinary day capped off an extraordinary month. Less than a month ago we lay in seventh position in division two, had just been hammered by Kent inside three days and the future was looking anything but bright.

However the subsequent four fixtures saw a scarcely believable turnaround in form and the four consecutive wins we needed to be withing shouting distance of promotion were duly delivered. The man who must surely count as the biggest single contributor to that run of victories, Pragyan Ojha, delivered again today in polishing off Derbyshire with 6-48 and 10-90 in the match. In our final four fixtures where we've won 89 of a possible 96 points, Ojha has taken precisely 30% of the wickets to fall - 24 victims at a cost of just 12 runs apiece. It was about time Adams had some luck on the overseas signing front, and what a time to get it. It's a great shame that it seems unlikely he will be available for 2011 - it is imperative that we recruit a world class spinner in his place.

That's not to say there weren't other big contributors. Tim Linley kept on churning out the wickets and Stuart Meaker had a timely return to form - his two five-fors in the final two games were vital. Zander de Bruyn kept up his excellent 2011 form and Steven Davies helped himself to two hundreds. And lastly Tom Maynard stepped up to the plate with an enormously important hundred in the final game.

After the Kent game I had all but thrown in the towel, indeed I said the rest of the season was about gaining respectability and giving the members something to be proud of - boy did they deliver on both those counts! Hamilton-Brown and Adams have been on the receiving end of some fairly strident criticism - some of it from me - but they should now enjoy their moment in the sun. Promotion with a young and relatively inexperienced side is a huge achievement.

So to 2012, can we compete with the best in the country? The kind of batterings we've dished out in the last three weeks suggest we'll be a match for most, and I expect there to be at least two new faces before the winter is out which will hopefully strengthen the side further. Maynard, Roy, Meaker and Hamilton-Brown himself have another season of top level cricketing experience under their belt - all a year older and wiser. This side has a great opportunity to grow together and should only improve as time goes on. And we don't have to worry about the Tiflex ball any more! Talking of Tiflex balls it will be interesting to see whether Ramprakash decides to stick it out for another year. I hope he does, he deserves the chance to go out on a high at the top level.

The players have now got an extra day of rest before Saturday's CB40 final. They go into the game on the biggest possible high and with confidence through the roof - they will be more than a match for Somerset. A win in that game would cap an absurdly successful six days of cricket, and a great climax to 2011. Come on the 'Rey!

Surrey on top but Derbyshire resist

2011-09-13T21:42:00.000+01:00

Division One cricket looms larger and larger on the horizon as Surrey ground down a determined Derbyshire side today, 13 opposition wickets stand between us and victory.

Stuart Meaker and Tim Linley started the day in rather more sedate fashion than expected and they accumulated rather than biffed their way to a 73 run partnership. Meaker was left on 55 not out to underline his impressive return to form with the bat as Surrey were all out for 468.

That score looked even more impressive as Derbyshire, with 35 minutes to bat until lunch, were reduced to 17-3 before the break. Linley, as is customary now, made the breakthrough having Lineker caught at slip off just the third ball of the innings (Stuart Meaker was again denied the new ball, needless to say, I can only assume it's his preference as well as the captain's!). Linley had a second victim when he caught and bowled Wayne Madsen while Pragyan Ojha picked up the bonus wicket of Wes Durston with the third ball of his first over just before lunch.

Tim Linley had a third victim, Dan Redfern not long after lunch and Stuart Meaker then chimed in with the wicket of Rob Whiteley. There then followed a dogged recovery from opener Paul Borrington and captain Luke Sutton who put together a steady 90 run partnership. They looked like getting to the close without further loss but Chris Jordan, who had bowled just three overs in opening the bowling, returned to collect the crucial wicket of Sutton and expose the Derbyshire tail. Jon Clare provided some fireworks in his 21 from 22 balls before falling LBW to Ojha just before the close.

That left Derbyshire still 141 runs short of the follow-on target with only three wickets remaining. The spinners were getting good turn and importantly sharp bounce so batting is unlikely to get easier. If the last three wickets fall without too much resistance the follow-on will surely be immediately enforced.

The weather forecast is very sunny for tomorrow, meaning the interruption we had today is unlikely. There is plenty of time yet for Surrey to force the issue, and force our way into Division One. Northamptonshire had an impressive day but they may still live to rue not collecting their fourth and fifth batting points on day one. They dismissed Gloucestershire for 183 and have them 84-5 following on, David Willey taking eight wickets in the day. However the points situation is such that if we are able to overcome Derbyshire, we will be promoted ahead of them.

Tim Groenewald and Paul Borrington are likely to put up a good fight with the bat but once one of them falls Knight and Footitt shouldn't be allowed to add much more to the score. A first innings lead of 250 is not out of the question and Derbyshire could be batting a second time before lunch on the third day.

And yet we are still only half way through the game. I've seen too many Surrey games to call this one a foregone conclusion, but on the back of three and a half of the most impressive Championship performances in at least four seasons, I wouldn't bet against us wrapping it up tomorrow. One more big push, one more massive effort and what seemed so unlikely just four weeks ago will be within their grasp.

Cometh the hour, cometh the Mayn man

2011-09-12T20:29:00.000+01:00

Surrey are but one Northamptonshire wicket away from holding their 2012 destiny in their own hands as they closed day one against Derbyshire on precisely 400-8.

That score, made in just 96 overs gave them a full quota of five batting points while Northants look likely to pick up four at the most against Gloucestershire - they are 316-9 with only 14 overs left to score the 84 runs they need for full batting bonus. Surrey's 400 was made largely on the back of Tom Maynard's third Championship hundred of the season, with handy contributions from the usual suspects Steven Davies and Zander de Bruyn.

In scoring their runs today Davies and Maynard passed 1,000 runs for the season, giving Surrey four players past the mark in 2011. By way of comparison in 2010 just one player, Mark Ramprakash, made it past the 1,000 run mark. Surrey batsman comprise 40% of the top ten leading runscorers in Division Two, no other county has more than one representative.

Surrey were helped along the way by some profligate bowling from Derbyshire, Mark Footitt was particularly wasteful. With Surrey on the verge of 400 Footitt first bowled Meaker and then had him caught in the gully, both off no-balls.

The only negatives from today were the low scores (or no-scores) of Ramprakash and Hamilton-Brown. Their dismissals left Surrey reeling at 12-2 and ordinarily a further collapse might have been in the offing. But this is a different Surrey, this Surrey has self-belief and confidence as first Davies and de Bruyn, then Maynard and Roy, and then Maynard all by himself dug us out of the hole. Tom Maynard stood up to be counted quite beautifully today.

Stuart Meaker and Tim Linley will return to the crease tomorrow morning, presumably with some license to give the ball a whack. Hamilton-Brown will then look to them to deliver the goods with the ball as well. I think 400 plus whatever the last three can cobble together is better than par, and our bowlers should be looking at bowling out Derbyshire cheaply to gain a healthy first innings lead.

The idea of First Division cricket is all of a sudden looking very possible, if not quite probable just yet. There is still a lot of cricket to be played in this and the Northants game, but we are well on top, and the Surrey of the late-2011 season is not the type of team to let things slip. Keep it up lads!

Same squad named for final promotion push

2011-09-11T14:23:00.000+01:00

On the back of three wins Chris Adams would be well advised to stick with a winning formula, and for the Derbyshire game starting at the Oval tomorrow he has done just that.

The same twelve brave men have been named as those which defeated Essex, and barring injuries late in the day, the XI will be the same too:

Hamilton-Brown
Davies
Ramprakash
De Bruyn
Maynard
Roy
Jordan
Batty
Meaker
Linley
Ojha

12th man: Edwards

Of the top six batsmen Hamilton-Brown, Ramprakash, Roy and Maynard are all without big runs in recent weeks as Davies and de Bruyn have shouldered much of the burden. Given that we should be looking at full bonus points for our batting I think there is an argument for tweaking the batting order. I would like to see de Bruyn bumped up to the number three slot, where he scored a hundred and a fifty in five innings earlier in the season, with Ramprakash moving down to number four. I also think Maynard and Roy could switch places at five and six in the order. Earlier in the season Maynard recorded three fifties and two hundreds batting at number six and is to my mind a slightly better option to bat with the tail. These are of course just minor changes but I would certainly be considering them if I was Adams.

Despite Dernbach being dropped for the fourth ODI at Lord's today there was never any likelihood that he would be released to take up his place in our bowling attack. And in any case there is case for debate as to whether he'd get into the Championship side as it stands! Meaker, Linley and Ojha have taken hatfulls of wickets in recent weeks (32 between them in the last two games in fact) but it is the second innings return to form of Chris Jordan against Essex which was particularly pleasing.

Derbyshire have been something of a surprise package this season. They have a young and inexperienced side but one which has recorded five wins in the Championship. Their recent form has been a mixed bag though with a win, a draw and a defeat in their last three games. Wes Durston has been the key to their batting this season but Rob Whiteley, with a hundred against Kent last week, is also in good form. In Groenewald, Clare and Palladino they have three bowlers with almost 150 Championship wickets between them but they don't have a great deal in the spin department.

To keep it simple, we need a win with maximum bonus points to give ourselves the best hope of promotion - and as decent a side as Derbyshire are, on form and on paper we should be looking at beating them. The weather forecast is looking pretty friendly at the moment, as it is for Northampton who themselves can secure promotion with a win-plus-bonus - regardless of what we do. All the players can do is forget about what Northants are up to and focus on their own game. They are on the mother of all rolls at the moment and Derbyshire have nothing to play for, a win this week would cap a remarkable turnaround in the final month of the season.

Whatever happens I am sure there will be no lack of commitment on the part of our players, promotion would be a fine reward for a season which will have taken a lot out of them - mentally and physically. Once more unto the breach dear friends, once more!

Three in a row and still in the hunt

2011-09-10T17:26:00.000+01:00

Surrey rounded off their third successive win in impressive fashion before lunch on the final day to go within a single point of the second promotion spot. Going in to the final round of games next week the top three teams are now covered by ten points and Gloucestershire, in fourth, lie just 8 points further back.

Surrey didn't give the expected rain time to have an impact and they got the day off to the best possible start, Tim Linley had ten Doeschate LBW off his third ball of the morning. It was to be his only success as Chris Jordan took over the wicket taking duties. Jordan bowled an unbroken spell of 11 overs but it wasn't until five or six overs in that he made the first breakthrough. He'd beaten the bat several times but looked destined to go wicketless again. I'd have hauled him off and given Meaker a go earlier but in to Hamilton-Brown's great credit he stuck with him and was handsomely rewarded.

First Jordan had Foster excellently caught at slip by Gareth Batty. That was the cue Graham Napier had been waiting for as he began to tee off. Stuart Meaker took most of the pain from Napier who ended with 80 from 64 deliveries - he's now scored 72% of his Championship runs for 2011 in two knocks against us.

Masters was Jordan's next wicket and the first of three catches off the same bowler to Mark Ramprakash. Napier was finally out in the 68th over having put together a 53 run partnership in six overs with Tom Craddock to which Craddock contributed precisely zero runs. Craddock himself was the last man out off the very next ball as Jordan, who has set two personal bests with the bat in the last three days, returned career-best figures of 4-57 - he can consider it a job very well done and I hope it proves a turning point for him.

We now face a game against Derbyshire who themselves completed a 101 run win over Kent today, on Monday and currently the weather forecast is predicting showers. Northamptonshire face fourth placed Gloucestershire at Wantage Road - a game which both sides have much riding on. With the CB40 final a week today, most of the Surrey players face by far the biggest week of their cricketing careers.

A month ago, on the back of a 265 run defeat to Kent, I'd almost completely given up hope that promotion was possible. Three wins on the bounce later we're the form side in the division and we're just four good days of cricket away from division one in 2012. For the first time in a very long while we're starting to look like we belong there. Credit to Hamilton-Brown and Adams who have resisted any major shuffling of the pack and the players have delivered in spades. Here's hoping that the players can stick to their task, seven more days of hard graft and you can have a well earned rest.

Five wickets from glory

2011-09-10T09:32:00.000+01:00

Surrey will have to dodge the Chelmsford showers to claim the final five wickets that they need for a remarkable third consecutive win, and to move within one point of second placed Northamptonshire.

The forecast has light rain showers throughout the day which could scupper the push, but hopefully there will be enough time to force the issue.

Yesterday Surrey added 186 to their overnight 104-4 despite losing Jason Roy and Gareth Batty early in the day. Zander de Bruyn progressed to his fourth Championship hundred of a magnificent season and Chris Jordan bettered his highest first class score for the second time in three days with an attacking 79 not out.

That left Essex needing 349 runs to win and again they got off to a sedate start but there was no hundred partnership for the openers this time. Tim Linley bowled Tom Westley in the 11th over and Owais Shah four overs later, he is now just a single wicket from recording 70 victims this season. Pragyan Ojha then got into his stride and took the wickets of Mickleburgh and Wheater before Linley returned to have Godleman caught behind.

So weather permitting Essex require another 207 runs, and with ten Doeschate, Foster and Napier still to come that isn't impossible and Surrey require five wickets. Fingers crossed the weather holds off and the charge for promotion continues.

Positive Surrey press on

2011-09-08T19:27:00.000+01:00

Surrey go into the third day of the crucial tie with Essex 166 runs ahead with six second innings wickets still in hand. And guess what? The match is still in the balance.

It was another bravura performance from Tim Linley that dragged Surrey back ahead of the curve today. Essex's openers had put on 100 steady runs in 37 overs before Linley intervened and took four wickets inside ten overs. It was the eighth time this season that the Viscount had snared four or more victims in an innings.

Pragyan Ojha took the wicket of Wheater before Meaker cleaned up the Essex's lower and middle order to record his second consecutive 5-for in Championship cricket. Their first four wickets fell in the space of ten overs and the last five fell in almost exactly the same timeframe. It was only a rapid 56 from Ryan ten Doeschate which saved Essex from an even bigger first innings deficit.

As it was they were bowled out for 253, 62 runs behind. It would seem that Surrey had in mind the grim-looking weather forecast for Saturday throughout their second innings batting. Davies fell in only the third over but Hamilton-Brown, de Bruyn and Maynard all looked to score quickly. Hamilton-Brown was out for 23 off 31 balls, his eleventh score this season between 20 and 40. His role in these situations is to put pressure on the opposition bowling by scoring quickly but with Davies gone so early I thought he might have been a bit more circumspect.

De Bruyn and Maynard were motoring along at better than a run a ball in the evening session and Surrey were looking well set for a decent lead with time left to bowl Essex out. Maynard though was out LBW to Masters off what was the final ball of the day's play.

So Surrey have six wickets left and will want at least 270 runs on the board - with Roy, Batty, Jordan and Meaker still to come, that is possible. De Bruyn needs to stay in while others come in and score around him, the forecast for tomorrow is warm and humid - good conditions to bowl in. A draw in this game does us very little good and with rain likely on Saturday it might be win-or-bust at Chelmsford tomorrow.

Lower middle order rescue day for Surrey

2011-09-07T19:23:00.001+01:00

Surrey had an up and down day in Chelmsford as the top order collapsed but the lower order stood up, by the close of play the match was finely balanced.

Sent in to bat by Essex skipper James Foster the openers didn't last long, Steven Davies was sent back to the pavilion in the 8th over. The rest of the batting was largely gone when Jason Roy was sixth man out with only 148 runs on the board. The pitch was offering plenty to the bowlers and the cloudy conditions over Chelmsford helped them too. Surrey's 2011 nemesis Graham Napier was the destroyer-in-chief, not content with equalling the world record for most sixes in an innings during his spectacular 196 at Whitgift, he ended the day with career best figures of 6-53.

Only Roy and Hamilton-Brown (who became the second Surrey batsman to pass 1,000 Championship runs this summer during his innings) of the batsmen were able to post any kind of score, with 43 and 31 respectively, scored at a very healthy rate. But the hard graft was done by batsmen seven, eight and nine today. First Gareth Batty, who forged a 54 run partnership with Roy and in doing so himself passed 500 runs for the season, and then Chris Jordan and Stuart Meaker rescued Surrey's innings towards a competitive total. It is interesting to note that the more 'accomplished' batsmen of the top order perished looking to attack the ball - 55% of their runs were scored in boundaries, where the lower-middle order were more circumspect - only 40% of their runs were scored in 4s and 6s.

Special praise should be reserved for Jordan who's had a very lean run with the bat. Without his 71 runs we would be in a far weaker position. It was a career-high score and I hope it spurs him on to greater feats with the ball.

Essex had two overs to bat out at the end of the day. I'd have thought Hamilton-Brown would've wanted their openers, who between them have mustered 96 runs in their last eight innings, to face the in-form Stuart Meaker for one of those overs. Alas no, the new ball was again thrown to Zander de Bruyn to partner Tim Linley. Essex made it safely to the end of the day with no damage done and six runs on the board.

Despite the failure, for the most part, of the top order Surrey are still in a fairly strong position. The forecast for tomorrow is cloudy all day and to have posted 315 on a green pitch is not to be sniffed at. Tim Linley should be a handful and so too Meaker when the skipper finally tosses him the ball (in Hamilton-Brown's defence de Bruyn will probably enjoy the pitch and conditions). Our bowling attack should be a danger throughout tomorrow.

We may have missed out on two bonus batting points, but the 16 points for victory is what really matters in this game, and a bundle of wickets tomorrow morning would go a long way to securing that.

Promotion hunt continues

2011-09-06T20:43:00.000+01:00

The unexpected quest for Division One cricket in 2012 continues as Surrey travel to Chelmsford tomorrow to take on Essex. A win with a full quota of bonus points will put us in second spot, any kind of win will make the final week of the season unbearably tense.

Chris Adams has kept faith with the 13 man squad who returned victorious from Northamptonshire, and why change a winning formula? I would expect the same XI to be named:

Hamilton-Brown
Davies
Ramprakash
De Bruyn
Maynard
Roy
Batty
Jordan
Meaker
Linley
Ojha

12th men: Ansari, Edwards

On the batting front the game against Northants was a story of two men, Davies and de Bruyn, leading the line. They both passed 50 in both innings, no other Surrey batsman passed 50 in the match, indeed only one other batsman on either side passed the mark. There were 30s and 40s but nothing substantial - Hamilton-Brown, Ramprakash, Maynard and Roy will not want the same to happen in this game. Maynard in particular will be looking for a score, he only has one 50 in his last 14 visits to the crease and since moving to number five in the batting order in the game against Gloucestershire has only averaged 19. As the game on Sunday against Sussex showed, he's not short of form, he just hasn't found that big score lately.

It takes something exceptional to eclipse a spell of bowling that included four wickets in seven balls, as Meaker's did, but eclipse it is just what Pragyan Ojha did. His return of 6-8 finished off Northants in double quick time and I hope he carries that form into this game, and Meaker too. If Linley takes a wicket in the first innings it'll be 20 consecutive innings in which he's taken a wicket - there's not many superlatives I haven't already used to describe his performances this season. Chris Jordan meanwhile has only taken one in his last seven Championship innings, he last took a wicket against Derbyshire in May, he's bowled 276 deliveries since then. With Meaker, Linley and Ojha in form it's not a big deal, but it would be good to see him back in the wickets. He could also do with some runs, 64 runs in 10 innings is not the return of an allrounder.

Essex have nothing to play for but pride in this game, they sit fifth in the table 16 points behind Gloucestershire, but I don't expect they'll be in any mood to roll over and give us the points. Their last two games have seen a defeat to Kent and a rain affected draw against Derbyshire and their batsmen don't appear to be in the best of form - their last three completed innings totals read 144, 185 and 207. For a side with Owais Shah, James Foster and the power of Ryan ten Doeschate and Graham Napier (remember this?) that's sub-par - so expect a backlash! Watch out for young Adam Wheater too, he's scored two hundreds this year on his way to 785 Championship runs.

They haven't named Maurice Chambers, who had a poor game against us at Whitgift in May, in their squad but three very exciting bowling talents are named - left arm quicks Tymal Mills and Reece Topley and legspinner Tom Craddock. All three have shown plenty of promise this season. There's also the small matter of the leading wicket taker in county cricket this year, David Masters. He is having a remarkable season and comes into this game just 14 wickets short of 100 in 2011.

After consecutive Championship wins in recent weeks, and a Lord's final in the bag, morale among the players should be sky high. A draw or a defeat would not make promotion impossible, but it would make it a damn sight harder and it would return the initiative back to Northants. Let's just do this the easy way and make this game the third win of the four we need to go up.

Lord's here we come!

2011-09-04T20:00:00.000+01:00

Surrey continued what is beginning to look like a suspiciously good end to the 2011 season by comprehensively beating Sussex by 71 runs in the shortened CB40 semi-final at the Oval today.

The rain threatened to curtail the day's play completely until it finally relented at about 3pm and play began 45 minutes later with the game cut to 24 overs aside. Earlier in the day Surrey had won the toss and asked to bat first. When they did eventually get going Hamilton-Brown, dropped by the 'keeper early in his innings, helped us off to a fine start. Each batsman that came and went thereafter helped keep the run rate above 9 almost throughout.

It was an outstanding knock of 60 off just 33 balls from Tom Maynard which did the bulk of the damage. Scoring his runs almost exclusively on the leg side he hit four huge sixes, while Davies, Roy and de Bruyn all did their bit to keep the pressure on the Sussex bowlers. Monty Panesar was the only bowler who was able to exert any control over our batsmen, though Chris Liddle did bowl a lot better than his economy rate of almost 8 an over suggests.

In the end Surrey managed 228 off their 24 overs, significantly eclipsing a couple of totals they've managed at the Oval in full 40 over encounters this season. Again Hamilton-Brown opted to open the innings with spin though this time it was Spriegel rather than the captain himself. His faith was rewarded as he had first the dangerous Prior caught at cover, and then he caught Murray Goodwin off his own bowling to set Sussex back early on.

Yasir Arafat also bowled two good overs early on but Ed Joyce remained at the crease, threatening to single handedly make Sussex competitive. Gareth Batty soon accounted for him though, and Joe Gatting soon after. By the time Chris Schofield was introduced into the attack Sussex we under massive run-rate pressure but he nonetheless bowled some good deliveries and ended with 4-22, including the final wicket to fall, that of Monty Panesar for a first ball duck.

It was as comprehensive a victory as we have seen this season, against a very good, albeit slightly short-of-form Sussex side. We now move on to a major domestic final at Lord's against final-specialists Somerset, sure to be a massive test but we really are getting on something of a roll at the moment. I said at the start of the season that the CB40 was probably our best chance of winning something, it hasn't quite happened the way I thought it would, but we are still there!

The ECB have confirmed that England players who are fit and selected will be available for the final, which means Jade Dernbach will play for us. What that means for Chris Tremlett and even Kevin Pietersen I don't know. For now though, let's just focus on the the major positive - Surrey are 80 overs away from a trophy - just to be in the final is a real achievement. The players can be very proud but most of all, take a bow Rory Hamilton-Brown and Chris Adams, I hope you enjoy this!

Keeping the promotion fires burning

2011-09-03T17:14:00.000+01:00

Surrey inflicted the heaviest defeat by runs in first class cricket this season on Northamptonshire today, 333 runs to be exact, and in doing so promised to make the final couple of weeks of the cricket season mouthwateringly tense.

It was another collapse, the final five wickets for just 55 runs this time, which did for Northants. It wasn't the searing fast bowling of Stuart Meaker this time (though his wicket of Kyle Coetzer started the rot), but the left-arm spin of Pragyan Ojha. He ended with extraordinary figures of 6-8 off 16.3 overs, including 10 maidens. That is what you call a match-winning spell. He now has 11 wickets in two matches at a cost of just 8 runs each, finally Chris Adams has snared his trump card overseas player.

The result leaves Surrey 23 points behind Northamptonshire having played a game less. To be sure of promotion Northants now have to win their final game at Wantage Road against Gloucestershire who themselves won today against Glamorgan. And even then Northants could come up short. Having been clear at the top of the division for so long, they could in fact fine themselves fourth in the final analysis. Form is deserting them at precisely the wrong moment, or precisely the right moment from a Surrey fan's perspective.

Of course there is much cricket to be played between now and then, and possibly much autumnal weather to avoid as well. Surrey need to win their final two matches and make it an extraordinary four consecutive wins to be sure of promotion, but we do seem to be hitting our straps at just the right time.

We have needed to win the last two games to maintain hope, and we have done so emphatically - the players have shown a great deal of character and no little skill. Given the morale-sapping defeats that have been inflicted on us this season it is testament to the spirit in the team that we are even in this situation. Winning is a habit, and it's a habit we've been indulging in more often than not lately - just need to keep it up for another 14 days!

Two games from glory

2011-09-03T10:43:00.000+01:00

The last time Surrey reached the last four of any major tournament was in 2006 when we journeyed to Trent Bridge for Twenty20 finals day. We lost our semi final that day to Nottinghamshire - tomorrow we face Sussex with the prospect of a Lord's final a maximum of 80 overs away.

Chris Adams has named a 13 man squad containing no surprises whatsoever. The squad and possible team is as follows:

Rory Hamilton-Brown
Steven Davies
Jason Roy
Tom Maynard
Zander de Bruyn
Matthew Spriegel
Chris Schofield
Yasir Arafat
Zafar Ansari
Gareth Batty
Stuart Meaker

Bench: Tim Linley, Gary Wilson

The prospect of Adams changing the formula which saw us win 10 out of 12 matches in the group stage, so the chance of Gary Wilson playing are effectively zero. There is again a tough call to make between Meaker and Linley. Meaker's 7 overs for 65 runs against Durham on Bank Holiday Monday, without taking a wicket, weren't the best advert but it was a very good pitch and the boundaries were short. Does Adams prioritise Linley's long term outstanding form in 2011 or Meaker's short term form evident from the Northamptonshire game? It's a very tough call and I think Adams may stick to the selection he plumped for last week.

Of the batting, everyone but Hamilton-Brown has scored substantial runs of late - though he hasn't exactly looked woefully short of form during a slightly lean period. Spriegel, in such good batting form, has become an important part of the middle order and his presence provides a degree of insurance for the top five. Still, on a pitch which is likely to take turn I would expect the openers to go hard at the new ball.

Sussex are a mighty fine team and will be no pushovers. In Chris Nash and Ed Joyce they have two classy openers who have four CB40 hundreds and over 1,100 runs between them this season. Beyond that they have Joe Gatting, Lou Vincent, Ben Brown and of course Murray Goodwin. They are strong in the bowling too, if we prepare a turning track we'll have Panesar and Nash to deal with, and their seam bowling is strong too with Parnell, Liddle and Amjad in their ranks. Don't forget Mike Yardy either, a danger in both departments. Clearly then there will be no let-up.

Not for five years then have Surrey had something riding on a game quite like this, and with a win over Northants in the Championship likely to come today we could have an intense couple of weeks coming up. We didn't end the group stage with the best record of any team by accident, so we are more than capable of beating Sussex. However I do think we'll have to step up a gear - something we saw in parts against Durham - if we are to make it to the final on the 17th of September. Making it this far is a real achievement no doubt, but having done so only progressing to the final will be satisfying. Come on the 'Rey!

Surrey continue to dominate

2011-09-02T21:26:00.000+01:00

Surrey are just six (possibly only five depending on Stephen Peters' fitness) away from a victory which would make the final weeks of the season very tense indeed.

Beginning the day already 190 runs ahead of their opponents Surrey started the day in fine style, de Bruyn and Davies accumulating with ease rather than seeking to blast Northants away - though they were by no means slouches in doing so. In compiling a 216 run partnership they effectively took the game away, and Steven Davies bagged his second century in as many Championship matches.

After securing his hundred Davies continued to keep the flow of boundaries going, he was eventually out on 156 top edging Chaminda Vaas behind. Maynard and de Bruyn didn't let up though and the runs kept piling on. De Bruyn eventually went to his third hundred, and 11th score of 50 or better this season. He's been as much of a lynchpin in the batting as Linley has been in the bowling this year.

The wicket of Jason Roy before tea brought the declaration which asked Northants to chase 486 in 138 overs. For reasons which are beyond me, Meaker was overlooked for the new ball again. I assume there is some logic somewhere to keeping the new ball away from him, but I for one cannot fathom it. If he was in poor form I could perhaps understand it, but having taken 5-37 in the first innings you'd think his tail would be up. Even Zander de Bruyn and Chris Jordan (both of whom had a bowl before Meaker today) would struggle to make the argument that they are better bowlers than he at the moment.

In any case, it was Tim Linley who made the breakthrough, first innings top scorer Rob Newton becoming his 100th first class victim. It doesn't seem that long ago that he was taking his 50th, he really has been outstanding for us this year. When Meaker was finally introduced in the 13th over he proceeded to bowl 10 overs on the bounce, and in tandem with Pragyan Ojha they accounted for three further members of the Northants top order.

So Northants begin the day tomorrow still needing 383 unlikely runs to win with perhaps only five wickets still in hand. Ojha is likely to become more and more of a handful as the pitch continues to wear and Linley and Meaker will be a constant threat even as the ball gets older. Wrapping up a sixth Championship win should be fairly routine, and it will take us to within a win of snatching second place from our opponents in this game - and we have a game in hand over them. It is still a long shot, but consecutive wins at this stage of the season is just what the doctor ordered.

Magic Meaker inspires Surrey fightback

2011-09-01T21:11:00.000+01:00

Stuart Meaker produced a spectacular spell of four wickets for six runs in seven deliveries just before tea on the second day to bowl Surrey into a great position.

At 174-3 with Andrew Hall and Rob Newton comfortable at the crease Surrey looked set to concede a first innings deficit before Meaker intervened and collect career best figures of 5-37. Tim Linley, as ever, chipped in with the final wicket after Pragyan Ojha had accounted for Chaminda Vaas. Only nine wickets were required as the injured Stephen Peters was unable to bat. With his side comfortable at one stage, Peters might have hoped he would not be needed today.

Meaker is one of those players who has a tendency to take wickets in bunches, much like Jade Dernbach in many respects, and when he is on song he complements Tim Linley perfectly. He now has 34 wickets at 21 apiece from just 8 games, and his strike rate of 35 is better than anyone in the division with 30 or more wickets. Impressive stuff.

That left Surrey with a first innings lead of 75, and importantly it deprived Northamptonshire of even a single batting point - that could well prove crucial in the final analysis. With two-and-a-bit days left in the game, Hamilton-Brown and Davies could set about steadily building on that lead. However the captain seemed to have other ideas as he raced to 22 off 21 balls before he was caught behind off Vaas.

Davies and Ramprakash then set about doing the steady job, a 75 run partnership had Surrey looking very comfortable indeed. Ramprakash though didn't make it to close, his score of 38 was his ninth score between 20 and 38 this year, and it was the 11th time he has been dismissed either LBW or bowled this season. Even the greatest are allowed blips in form, and I hope this is just that.

Linley was sent in as nightwatchman, a job he couldn't quite fulfill to the same standards he's set as leader of the attack as he was bowled by James Middlebrook for a duck. De Bruyn joined Davies and no further wickets fell.

That leaves Surrey with a lead just shy of 200 and fully two days left in the game. I expect Davies and de Bruyn will look to build steadily in the morning session and if they do so, Roy and Maynard will be able to come in and add plenty more to that if required. Any lead over 300 is probably going to be pretty tough to chase especially with Ojha wheeling away at one end.

Today Surrey showed a lot of character, at the time when we needed someone to step up and make an impact, Meaker did just that, and in fine style. Tomorrow I hope we can continue in that same vein and really put Northants under real pressure.

Northants take the spoils on day one

2011-08-31T19:22:00.000+01:00

Northamptonshire will start day two with all 10 wickets still intact and a mediocre Surrey total of 269 firmly in their sights. We'll have to bowl extremely well tomorrow to have any hope of a win in this match.

And bowl extremely well is exactly what Northants did today, none of their bowlers gave away more than 3.3 runs an over and it was disciplined bowling that did for Surrey. Steven Davies continued his good form with 81 and Zander de Bruyn pitched in with 58, he's only failed to pass 50 in four of his 14 Championship matches this season. But those two aside, there was little from Surrey's batsmen.

Davies and Ramprakash settled in before lunch to build the only 50 partnership of the innings but Ramps' dismissal after the break precipitated a disappointing collapse. In the end the final nine wickets fell for 165 runs with only de Bruyn's contribution standing out, word is that the pitch isn't up to any tricks either.

Chaminda Vaas ended the innings with 4-57 to give him 65 wickets in what has been an outstanding season. Andrew Hall, James Middlebrook and Dave Burton shared the other six wickets between them. Rob Newton and Kyle Coetzer saw out the final five overs of the day, delivered by Linley and Jordan, Linley extracting seamingly endless inside edges in the process.

Northants will be very pleased with their day's work and they are definitely making the running. However we're by no means out of the game and can learn from Northants' example that all it takes is a disciplined line and length to get wickets (when has that ever not been the case?). Such is his form that Tim Linley will doubtless be in the wickets but he could do with some back up from Meaker and Jordan, both short of form.

If we can restrict them to a small-ish total Pragyan Ojha ought to make batting last a tricky prospect - but there's a long way to go until that's a factor. Tomorrow we need to show a lot of guts under plenty of pressure, or we're kissing any lingering promotion hopes goodbye.

Make or break time

2011-08-30T20:08:00.000+01:00

Surrey travel to Wantage Road tomorrow knowing that a win over top-of-the-table Northamptonshire will move them a big step closer to an unlikely promotion.

Chris Adams has named a 13 man squad including the 19 year old fast bowler George Edwards to take on the leaders, the squad and possible XI is as follows:

Hamilton-Brown
Davies
Ramprakash
De Bruyn
Maynard
Roy
Jordan
Batty
Meaker
Linley
Ojha

12th men: Ansari, Edwards

As much as I want to see Zafar Ansari play as much first team cricket as possible I think it is unlikely that Adams will go into a four day game with only two frontline seam bowling options. That means an unlikely reprieve for Jordan who despite bowling well against Leicestershire returned nothing in the wickets column in that game and his line and length in the CB40 game yesterday was woeful.

Adams could yet spring a surprise though, especially in light of de Bruyn's increased bowling workload lately, and play Ansari as the third spinner. Personally I think that would be the better option. In two fewer games than Jordan this year Ansari has taken one more wicket and has been significantly less expensive in doing so. I hope Meaker is given a chance to recapture his best form and isn't restricted to cameo spells as third change bowler. He hasn't been right on the money since his injury early in the season but he still has 29 wickets to his name from just 7 matches. On his day he is devastating, and that day will come around again soon. Ojha should continue the good work that saw him pick up four wickets for 48 runs in the last match.

Again the shortage of genuine batting options means the top six pick themselves and after Davies got his hundred last week, Hamilton-Brown will be looking to follow suit. There is still no definitive word on whether Ramprakash will play on next season but just to be on the safe side I'd like a hundred from him. Tom Maynard, who has only passed 30 once in his last 11 visits to the crease, could also do with some big runs.

We seem to have played Northants an awful lot over the last couple of seasons and our last two visits to Wantage Road have seen us come back with two wins. However this season they are a much tougher prospect than in the past and they've only lost one match all season. Whilst they've had no standout batsman they do have six men with over 500 Championship runs under their belt, and 11 hundreds all told. They also have four bowlers with over 30 Championship wickets for good measure too. 200 points on the board with two games still to play doesn't happen by accident but we are capable of beating them, and having had them 163-7 at the Oval in April we should already have done so once this season.

A win would shrink the current 41 point gap to Northants to something around 20 points with a game in hand. With Middlesex in almost as dominant position as is possible against Leicestershire it looks increasingly like it will have to be Northants that we overhaul if we are to win promotion. Anything other than a win would more or less seal promotion for the two sides above us. No pressure then.

It had to happen eventually...

2011-08-29T21:04:00.000+01:00

You can't win 'em all, and today Surrey lost their first CB40 game of 2011 despite a spirited effort with the bat.

Hamilton-Brown lost an important toss and from the word go Surrey were chasing the ball around. The captain himself elected to open the bowling again and Phil Mustard proceeded to sweep him around at will, 13 runs were on the board with the game only six balls old. Mustard didn't let up there either as Chris Jordan was carted about at ease. Jordan's first ball was an impressive yorker but that was almost where the good bowling ended, he provided the batsmen with too much width and it was boundaries galore for Durham's opening batsmen.

When Matthew Spriegel was introduced for the seventh over 71 runs were already on the board it was a relief to see him have Callum Thorp stumped off a wide. Stuart Meaker took a good catch an over later to send Mustard back to the dressing room but he'd already feasted on some very average bowling to reach 66 off just 31 balls.

The Durham innings was anchored by an impressive 96 from Paul Collingwood who rarely seemed to take any risks at all. Only two Surrey bowlers (incidentally the sixth and seventh bowlers to be used in the innings) finished with economy rates below 8 and they weren't helped by some uncharacteristically shoddy fielding. 17 runs were given away in wides and no balls and probably 20 more were given away through mis-fields.

The Durham total of 325 looked well out of reach even if the pitch was looking decidedly docile. Graham Onions, who was a cut-above all day, gave them an excellent start having Steven Davies caught off a top edge in the first over and it all looked like it would be well beyond Surrey. Jason Roy scored just five and Hamilton-Brown was involved in another run out, this time he was the man who had to go as he didn't dive to make his ground.

However first Tom Maynard and then Chris Schofield and Matthew Spriegel had other ideas. Maynard played an excellent innings of 56 from just 40 balls before he was bowled by Callum Thorp. And then Schofield - reverting to his more usual number spot in the order combined superbly with Spriegel in a counter-attacking partnership of 98, both finding the boundary regularly. The batting powerplay was delayed and had it been taken with the two of them firing, who knows what might have happened. As it was, Schofield, who had feasted on the spin of Blackwell and Breese, found life tougher against the quicker bowlers as Claydon sent a ball across him and he was caught easily by Collingwood.

Spriegel kept at his task gamely, peppering the boundaries but first Batty, who criminally failed to run his bat in, was run out and then Chris Jordan completed a dreadful day at the office with a first ball duck. When Spriegel was out bowled off his pads by Claydon the game really was up, Surrey ended 36 runs short but without Spriegel things would have been far worse.

So the unbeaten run ends and we now know our semi-final opponents - Sussex will come to the Oval on Sunday. That will be an incredibly tough ask and Chris Adams has some real thinking to do. Jordan's terrible performance today effectively rules him out of such a crucial game but with Schofield and Spriegel in such good form with the bat that might not be such a headache. Will he persist with Meaker or go back to Linley? Which of Ojha or Arafat should play? Is Chris Tremlett going to be available after injury?

Despite winning 10 of 11 group games, Adams probably still does not know his best side. Wholesale changes are unlikely ahead of Sunday and the same basic ingredients will probably comprise the side, but the precise make-up may be tinkered with. The next six days are easily Adams' biggest test as coach - a must-win Championship game against Northamptonshire starting on Wednesday followed by a CB40 semi-final on Sunday. Here's hoping they can rise to the challenge.

Ojha named in squad to face Durham

2011-08-28T16:16:00.000+01:00

With a home semi-final already in the bag and only pride and momentum at stake Surrey take on Durham at the Oval tomorrow. Adams has resisted the temptation to name a second string side (rightly in my view) and named the following 14 man squad:

Rory Hamilton-Brown
Steven Davies
Jason Roy
Chris Schofield
Tom Maynard
Zander de Bruyn
Matthew Spriegel
Chris Jordan
Gareth Batty
Tim Linley
Pragyan Ojha

Bench: Gary Wilson, Zafar Ansari, Stuart Meaker

Arafat's absence - and given Adams' comments when Ojha signed it would seem it must be injury related - creates a bit of a selection headache. A like-for-like replacement would be Jordan who offers a similar level of ability with the bat as Arafat, and it would keep the same selection format as for recent games. I would be tempted to go the attacking route and name both Meaker and Linley but given previous selections I think that unlikely. That would also leave us with a very lengthy tail and with Gareth Batty only having provided 20 runs in four innings in the CB40 this year Adams will be reluctant to risk that. The choice between Meaker and Linley is a very tough call, Linley is likely to offer slightly more control but Meaker's extra pace makes him a real threat. I would guess Adams will go with the experience of Linley this time but don't be surprised to see Meaker in the final XI.

That leaves Ansari, Meaker and Wilson as the likely bench. Dernbach's resting ahead of his England duty is a big blow and much will rely on Jordan rediscovering his wicket taking abilities. I am pleased Ojha is playing and if he bowls well he could earn himself a spot in the squad for the semi-final.

On the batting front, Davies' hundred against Leicestershire just goes to show he's not truly been out of form, he just hasn't managed to bag that big score, until now. Hopefully he and Hamilton-Brown can really cash in on another quick start, the captain has only two scores of 50 and nothing better than 57 this season - he'll want to change that. Expecting a third hundred in succession from Roy is a bit much but he's more than capable of it. Maynard and de Bruyn could do with some more runs as well and I would expect Schofield's 'floating' role in the batting order will continue depending on the match situation.

I would guess with Ojha in the side the onus will be on the groundsman to prepare another turning track with the boundaries well out, especially with Batty, Schofield and Spriegel to call upon. There's a very small chance, if a real dustbowl is prepared, that Ansari could play in place of Jordan but that would leave Linley and de Bruyn as the only seam-up bowling options - too much of a gamble I'd have thought. However Durham do have spin bowling pedigree in the shape of Borthwick, Blackwell and Breese so Hamilton-Brown will hope to bat first, post a score well north of 250 and let his spinners tie them down as the pitch wears. Durham aren't light in the batting department either, despite the loss of Stokes to England duty, and with a semi-final spot at stake Collingwood, Mustard, di Venuto and Benkenstein will all have the bit between their teeth. Graham Onions in their seam bowling ranks, along with Mitch Claydon and a bit of Collingwood's dobbers (fitness and pitch dictating) make them a real all-round threat.

This game will be a real test for Surrey. Without their form limited overs bowler and against a side with something to gain and some real quality in their ranks. There could be a temptation to rest on the laurels of already having a guaranteed home semi-final but it's important the winning habit is maintained.

Three day win at Grace Road

2011-08-25T19:16:00.000+01:00

Surrey capped off an impressive all round performance by wrapping up a 10 wicket win inside three days at Grace Road this evening, keeping the flicker of hope that promotion is still possible just barely alive.

Rory Hamilton-Brown took his season's tally to 943 runs (seventh in division two) at an average of 41, and a strike rate of 80. His talent is unquestionable, though it is equally unquestionable that he is far from the finished article. He and Davies knocked off the 111 runs required in just 16 overs - and a good thing they did too because the forecast for tomorrow might have made a result very difficult.

The win was set up thanks to another sterling performance from the man making the running in the player of the season stakes, Tim Linley. His career-best haul of 6-57 took him to 59 wickets at 18 apiece and he has now taken at least one wicket in each of the last 17 innings he's bowled. To say he's been the backbone of the bowling attack is an enormous understatement. Ojha took another two wickets to end with 4-48 in the match and Gareth Batty also collected two. Chris Jordan toiled through 22 more overs for no wicket, his five wickets in four games this season have only arrived once every 19 overs and at a cost of 74 runs each.

As the ever vigilant Marcus Hook points out on Twitter, Surrey's last seven results read WLWLWLW - we always knew consistency would be an issue this year! This is though, the first time we've recorded five Championship wins in a season since 2007, progress that might not be startling, but it's progress nonetheless.

Given the decidedly grim-looking forecast for Northampton tomorrow their game with Middlesex looks to be heading for a draw. That will leave Middlesex on 183 points and Northants on 201 - with us back on 160 points and a game in hand over Northants. And to add a little extra spice, we're playing Northants next week. If we beat them we would be on a real roll and who knows where it might take us. This could be the making of Hamilton-Brown as captain, not to mention a real test of the mettle of the rest of the side. It's still the longest of long shots, and weather might yet play a part, but what's the sense in giving up hope?

This game was a comprehensive three-day dismantling, albeit of a side who have comfortably the worst record in the division. However, they say winning is a habit, and maybe we can get into that habit for the final month of the season. Well played.

Surrey still on top thanks to Davies hundred

2011-08-24T18:51:00.000+01:00

Bad light forced an end to the day at Grace Road but Surrey, who had toppled two Leicestershire wickets for 66 runs by the time the umpires called time, are still in the ascendancy.

De Bruyn didn't last long this morning but Steven Davies, who remarkably has recorded scores in the 90s in every format this season without hitting a hundred, got the monkey off his back in this game - and what a good time to score it. He went on to score 121 off 218 balls to provide the backbone for Surrey's eventual total of 343. 40s from Jason Roy and Gareth Batty were the only other substantial contributions.

Again Stuart Meaker was held back from the new ball as Tim Linley and Chris Jordan performed opening bowling duties to kick off Leicestershire's second innings. I'm not sure what the rationale behind holding Meaker back is but I'd have thought exposing a Leicestershire lineup against whom he's taken 13 wickets to him as early as possible would've been better.

It was Linley again who made the first breakthrough as he had Matthew Boyce caught behind but Jefferson and Greg Smith made steady progress in a 46 run partnership in between breaks for bad light. Jordan bowled 8 overs for 19 runs without success - although he did have Jefferson caught at slip off a no ball (his eleventh of the season - Linley has bowled six no balls in about 300 more overs this year for comparison!). Three overs before the close Gareth Batty had Smith caught behind and nightwatchman Nathan Buck helped his side through to the end of the day.

Still 110 runs in arrears, but with 8 wickets left in hand, Leicestershire are down but not out just yet. I'd like to see Meaker bowl alongside Ojha tomorrow morning (or whenever rain allows them to get play started) as an early breakthrough or two might start Leicestershire sliding. With Middlesex in a mighty strong position against Northants it might not matter all that much, but with the door open for a victory Surrey must force the issue.

Surrey in dominant position after day one

2011-08-23T19:28:00.000+01:00

Another fine bowling performance from Surrey has made a victory in spite of the delightful August weather eminently possible. The bowlers were backed up by a determined effort to see out the day and Surrey will begin tomorrow only 45 runs behind with 8 wickets still in hand.

After losing the toss and being asked to bowl Hamilton-Brown will have been very pleased with a scoreboard that read 83-5 by the time the lunch interval came around. Three more wickets for Tim Linley plus one apiece from de Bruyn and Stuart Meaker put us in the driving seat right from the word go.

They didn't let Leicestershire off the hook after the break either and it was only 70 runs from Rob Taylor which protected them from complete humiliation. Pragyan Ojha, who was signed only yesterday, made an impressive debut picking up 2-19 from just shy of 14 overs. An attacking spin option on a day one pitch is something we've been missing for a very long time and Ojha's return - not just wickets but restricting the scoring - shows how valuable that can be.

Hamilton-Brown might have had the weather forecast ringing in his ears as he came out attacking from the off. That was before he was caught behind off Nathan Buck for 17 from 19 balls. His opening partner, Davies, then put on 60 runs with Mark Ramprakash before the latter was out LBW to Shiv Thakor - his first ever Championship wicket. The unthinkable thought that Ramps might be playing his last few games for Surrey is moving ever more starkly into my mind, I hope I'm wrong.

Steven Davies went on to make his first Championship fifty since early June as an unbeaten 37 run partnership with Zander de Bruyn saw Surrey through to the close of play. A brighter day beckons tomorrow and Surrey will be looking to pile on the runs and hope to dodge the showers on day three to force a victory.

A win is an absolute must in this match and Surrey have got off to the best possible start - don't let up!

A win needed to keep promotion hopes barely alive

2011-08-22T20:25:00.002+01:00

After a week of CB40 games County Championship action resumes as Surrey take on Leicestershire at Grace Road and there's still the merest flicker of hope that we might be able to muscle in on the promotion action this year. If we are to do so, a win is an absolute must - and they'll likely have the weather to contend with to fashion that victory.

No official squad has yet been named but the likelihood is that the side will be very similar to that which faced Kent ten days ago:

Hamilton-Brown
Davies
Ramprakash
De Bruyn
Maynard
Roy
Ansari
Batty
Arafat
Meaker
Linley

Jade Dernbach has been named in the England ODI squad to play in Ireland on the 25th so will be unavailable for selection, so Linley and Meaker, our two best Championship bowlers this year will be reunited in the attack. Depending on who else is named in the squad (and at Canterbury the 12th man was Jordan) Ansari and Batty look likely to be doing spinning duties. However given that Matt Dunn was not named in the Second XI squad to play Glamorgan tomorrow there's always a chance he could sneak in.

Much of the top order batting is in search of a score. Hamilton-Brown is without a fifty in all forms in a month, Davies' search for a big score continues and our form batsman of the season, Zander de Bruyn has a string of low scores to his name of late. Mark Ramprakash and Tom Maynard, despite a century apiece in their last three matches (coincidentally the same score - 141) have also had a bit of a lean run in recent matches, this game would be a good time for one or all of them to hit Championship form. I fear Jason Roy's good form may be wasted down at number six in the order and with Davies poor form Adams might consider switching them again.

Leicestershire are a strong bowling side without being exceptional. Naik and Henderson have 72 Championship wickets between them and while Hoggard isn't the threat he once was, he's still a fine bowler. Their batting is weakened somewhat by James Taylor's trip to Ireland but Will Jefferson and Matthew Boyce are capable.

If we win this match with a full quota of bonus points we could slot into third place and depending on other results, not a million miles behind Middlesex in second. However the weather forecast doesn't bode well for a result which would be frustrating. With that in mind they will probably look to go hard as far as possible in what cricket they do get, and who knows, we could yet salvage something.

Update: This preview, from the Telegraph, seems to suggest we are waiting on clearance from India to debut Pragyan Ojha. Goes without saying that a spinner of his quality would be more than welcome, watch this space!

Ten out of ten - full marks!

2011-08-21T20:51:00.000+01:00

The Surrey CB40 juggernaut rolls on as we today recorded our tenth consecutive win in this format, only one no-result against Durham blotting the copybook ever so slightly.

I said after the last game that Jason Roy's maiden List A hundred wouldn't be his last but I didn't expect him to make a second just four days later. Today's hundred was quicker but no less impressive as he guided Surrey from 12-2 to 244 by the time he was out. Some very useful runs from Matthew Spriegel and Yasir Arafat boosted the final total to an impressive 292. Roy now sits second in the list of leading run scorers, his 538 runs comfortably eclipsing any Surrey batsman's best effort from last season (Davies with 485). Spriegel has also been accumulating his runs nicely, 307 runs at 51 and a strike rate only just shy of 100 is impressive. His form with the bat has meant Adams' allrounder-heavy approach has paid dividends - credit to both of them for that.

I also said that Leicestershire had a tendency towards the collapse and today they did so again. After a rapid 50 from Josh Cobb saw them to 75-0 they then crumbled in a heap to Jade Dernbach (who recorded stunning figures of 4-7) and Chris Schofield (4-26) to 151 all out. Du Toit, Jefferson and Taylor all passed 20 but none got more than 26 and the final six wickets fell for 20 runs.

I wasn't all right though, of the bowlers who I named as potential dangers, Gurney and Naik both went for 10 an over or worse. And it wasn't quite all positive for Surrey either, Arafat was expensive and again failed to take a wicket, he now only has three scalps in his last four CB40 games - not good enough for a strike bowler. His lusty lower order hitting can be valuable but Adams might wonder whether Linley, Meaker or Dunn might be worthy of a chance against Durham on Bank Holiday Monday. Ansari leaked runs as well and where in the T20s he was largely quite economical in the 19 overs he's bowled in this format he's gone at nearly 7.5 an over, though he still offers his exceptional fielding talents which counts for much. So clearly abundant is his talent I think Adams will stick with him.

Our last two victories have been by 130 runs and 141 runs, and ten wins out of ten means a home semi-final is guaranteed. One fixture remains, a home game against Durham in eight days time and although there is nothing riding on it from our point of view, momentum is still hugely important. For the time being though, I'm sure they'll be basking in the glory of an exceptional run of form.

Home semi-final up for grabs

2011-08-20T21:14:00.000+01:00

With a semi-final spot in the bag there might be a temptation for Surrey to take their foot off the gas, but they have to keep pushing because 1) a home semi-final is important and 2) keeping momentum going will help in all forms of cricket. In reality I'm not sure this group of players know anything less than full throttle anyway!

Chris Adams can welcome back Stuart Meaker from England Lions duty and will have the use of Jade Dernbach for this game before he departs for Ireland with the full England side. The squad and expected XI is as follows:

Hamilton-Brown
Davies
Roy
Schofield
Maynard
De Bruyn
Spriegel
Arafat
Batty
Meaker
Dernbach

Bench: Ansari, Wilson, Linley

This construct of the bowling attack is quite a tough one to call for this game. There will be a temptation of course to stick to a winning formula with the spin barrage of Batty, Ansari, Schofield and Spriegel (with some Hamilton-Brown thrown in for good measure too) but there haven't been large numbers of wickets falling to spinners at Grace Road this year. In the two games Leicestershire have won in the CB40 this season (and they were both at Grace Road) most of the wickets fell to seamers.

Given Schofield's new found promotion to number four - and I think it's worth persisting with that experiment for now - he seems to have a home in the side. Spriegel bowled very well at Edgbaston and has been in decent nick with the bat, so it probably comes down to two of Meaker, Batty and Ansari. Meaker bowled very well against Leicestershire at the Oval earlier in the season in both the Championship and CB40 games (11 wickets all told) so I hope he gets the nod. It's very hard to pick one of Batty or Ansari but I wonder if Batty's experience might give him the spot.

There can be no changes in the batting but now that Roy has got the big score that had been coming for a while, one of Davies or Hamilton-Brown will dearly want to follow suit after some good starts lately.

Leicestershire have been poor in the CB40 this season with a tendency towards the collapse. Chasing just 207 at the Oval they collapsed from 70-0 to 189 all out and against Durham they fared even worse, collapsing from 72-0 to 155 all out. In Cobb and Taylor they have two very exciting top order batsmen and Taylor (if he plays) is in great form following two hundreds for the England Lions. I also really like their bowling attack, Nathan Buck, Jigar Naik and Harry Gurney are three under rated bowlers and we all know what Hoggard and Henderson are capable of.

It's very important, especially given the impressive nature of the win against Warwickshire, that we maintain the momentum we've gained from nine consecutive wins in this format. If we are to peak at the right time and go all the way in this competition we can't allow the last two games to just drift. If we win a home semi-final is guaranteed which would move us a big step closer to Lord's in September.

Farewell Ali, and thanks for the memories

2011-08-20T11:06:00.000+01:00

"I always believed that the day my age exceeds my batting average it would be time to consider calling time on my career."

And so as his age creeps up towards 42 and with his batting average hovering around that same mark, Alistair 'Lordy' Brown announced that he would be retiring from all cricket at the end of the current season. Surrey fans everywhere should salute a fine servant to the club and the game.

There is a temptation to think of Brown as an under-achiever, and I'm sure he himself would have liked to have done better in an England shirt (or perhaps have been given more chance to do better) but in Surrey colours he didn't disappoint, to which nearly 15,000 first class runs plus over 10,000 List A runs for the county will attest.

He will of course be remembered mainly as a one day player, in part because he holds the one day cricket world record for his 2002 innings of 268 - after which the Long Room bar at the Oval is named, and also because he is the only player to have recorded two double century scores in limited overs cricket (he scored 203 against Hampshire in 1997). But lest we forget he was an important part of the massively successful Surrey side that won three Championships in the late 90s/early 2000s.

I best remember Brown in two innings, starkly contrasting ones at that. I am struggling to remember which exact game the first was but looking through the records it was probably this game against Gloucestershire at the Oval in 2006. Brown came to the wicket with the score at 295-3, Mark Ramprakash was on his way to a mammoth 292 and Surrey to 639 (and an innings and 300 run win). It was probably three or four balls into Brown's innings, a particularly unkind and vocal member of the watching crowd cried "bat properly!". Brown promptly smashed the next ball for four and was clean bowled a couple later.

My next and most vivid memory is that faintly ridiculous innings of 176 off 97 balls against Gloucestershire again, at the Oval in 2007. He helped Surrey to 496-4, smashing the 50 over world record and he also set a new opening partnership record for Surrey - putting on 294 with James Benning (remember him?!). Brown was probably well into his innings when he smashed a six as straight as a die, it came racing towards me sitting on the pavilion balcony, or so I thought as it dipped and headed instead towards the woman sitting three rows in front who let out an enormous scream before diving out of the way as the ball crashed into her seat. I'm quite sure I would've snaffled it comfortably...

I was hugely disappointed when he was released by the club in 2008. As he showed as recently as last season when he scored almost 900 runs in a Nottinghamshire side which won the title, he could still have played a role for us. He would have doubtless enjoyed exchanging fastest strike rates with Rory Hamilton-Brown, Jason Roy et al. Not only was he a fine striker of the ball and sharp slip fielder, I'm sure his mischievous character would've fitted in well with this current crop of youngsters.

I am sure Surrey fans everywhere would want to wish Ali Brown the best in retirement, having played cricket at the top level for over 20 years and in three decades, he deserves a rest.

Semi-finals here we come

2011-08-17T21:54:00.000+01:00

For the first time in what feels like a very long time, Surrey are into the latter stages of a major competition after a comfortable 130 run victory over Warwickshire tonight, with fully 11 overs remaining.

Even taking into account Warwickshire's focus on their Championship fixture against Hampshire starting tomorrow, this was probably our best CB40 performance of the season. But for some determined slogging from Steffan Piolet at the end the margin of victory would probably have been even higher.

On a surface which was much better suited to our battery of five (including Hamilton-Brown) spinners than Warwickshire's seam-heavy attack, our openers got off to their third consecutive flying start putting on 50 in five overs before Davies was out for 40. Hamilton-Brown and Roy continued to race along at nearly 10 an over until the former was caught behind, Chris Schofield came in at number four again but could only manage a three ball duck today.

At 96-3 it could've been panic stations but a steady 66 run partnership between Roy and Maynard recovered things. Then Maynard and de Bruyn then fell within four overs of one another, de Bruyn recording his fourth single-figures score in a row, and Spriegel was required to see Roy to his hundred, which he duly did.

Where previously Roy has perished hitting out perhaps a little early in his innings, today he showed great resolve and intelligence in reining himself in. His first limited overs hundred will not be his last by a long shot, we should count ourselves very lucky to have such a special batsman on board.

Matthew Spriegel played a crucial knock of 40 not out from 40 balls and shepherded the side to 282 which didn't look completely out of reach, but looked very useful.

It turned out to be way more than we needed with Arafat bowling economically and picking up the crucial wicket of Shiv Chanderpaul. Spriegel complemented his effort with the bat by bowling really well, 3-39 was his reward and in snaring Carter, Porterfield and Troughton LBW he took the guts out of the Warwickshire innings. Jade Dernbach returned identical figures to Spriegel, bowling well towards the end of the innings before Piolet started throwing the bat.

So a semi-final, possibly a home semi-final beckons and it's the first real success in competition terms for Chris Adams and Hamilton-Brown - they can be very proud of that achievement. The semis, with Sussex, Somerset, Durham and Nottinghamshire possibly involved will be a different prospect entirely but with the players we have in our squad, on our day we can beat anyone. Well played gentlemen.

Schofield and Roy: A magic gamble

2011-08-15T22:33:00.000+01:00

Surrey took an enormous step towards the CB40 semi-finals tonight with an impressive run chase against Northamptonshire, rattling off the 297 runs required with an over and a ball to spare.

It seemed likely that our quest to win two of the final four games would become a much more pressured two from three after Northants, led primarily by young Alex Wakely's 94 from 77 balls on a fantastic batting track, piled on the runs. He was backed up by an even more rapid 55 from captain Andrew Hall with helpful cameos from two or three others.

None of the Surrey bowlers were able to tie down the Northants batsmen, Gareth Batty's 1-50 from his eight overs was the most economical return. Jade Dernbach did a good job to restrict the opposition in their powerplay in grabbing 3-53 but Yasir Arafat was again wayward, he bowled eight overs for 61 runs and didn't take even a single wicket.

Hamilton-Brown and Davies produced their second consecutive lightning limited overs start, putting on 75 runs at nearly 10 runs per over. But where in the past two wickets have fallen quickly precipitating a period of relatively slow scoring, and more wickets, tonight Adams and the skipper took a gamble which paid off handsomely.

After Davies fell with the score on 111, it was not Maynard but Schofield who joined Jason Roy at the crease. By the time they were parted 72 runs had been added at almost 8 an over, the required rate was down to six. The promotion of Schofield up the order, while not a long term solution, is ingenious. Batting down the order he is either required to hit every ball to the boundary or try and eke out his runs, at four he can just play his natural, attacking game. When Roy fell for a fine 65 off 42 balls we still had Maynard and de Bruyn to come.

Schofield carried on his merry way and with Maynard took Surrey to within 22 runs of their target. The four quick wickets of Maynard, Schofield, de Bruyn and Spriegel thereafter served notice of the dangers of the selection, but Arafat and Ansari were able to see us over the line.

One win from the final three games will almost certainly see us into the semi-final top of the group, and given we're the only side in the country unbeaten in the CB40 you have to say that's highly likely. Tonight was a seriously impressive performance, at the close of the Northants innings I didn't give us much of a chance, but we came through with a bit of room to spare. Well played.

Back to the grind, CB40 progression beckons

2011-08-14T20:18:00.000+01:00

Moving swiftly on from the disappointment of the game against Kent last week the attention turns again to the CB40, the one competition in which we still have a hope of progression. In fact were we to emerge victorious from the two games this week against Northants and Warwickshire we would be guaranteed a place in the semi-finals.

Chris Adams has named a 13 man squad, as predicted at the time Ramprakash appears to have been named in the last squad purely (and prudently) to take his ban in the CB40 rather than the Championship. The 13 names and expected side is as follows:

Hamilton-Brown
Davies
Roy
Maynard
De Bruyn
Spriegel
Ansari
Arafat
Batty
Linley
Dernbach

Bench: Wilson, Schofield

Essentially the same side as played against Northants at the Oval 11 days ago, but with Dernbach coming in probably at the expense of Schofield. Spriegel's sprightly 38 from 33 balls in the last game will likely edge him ahead of Schofield in the selection stakes, and his bowling was no more or less expensive either. Wilson is yet again named in the squad, as he seems to have been for every game this season but I just can't see him getting a game.

The previous game finally saw a successful Davies-Hamilton-Brown partnership and long may that continue. If they are backed up by a strong score from Jason Roy then we will be setting or chasing a big total. I hope Linley is given more opportunity to bowl more than a one over spell in light of his form, Arafat was poor in the last game so a good 8 over spell from him and Dernbach would be most welcome.

Northants and Warwickshire both represent a danger but we have beaten them both recently - though not convincingly by any means, we just edged both games by 12 runs and three wickets respectively. We are familiar with the dangermen on both sides, Brooks, Vaas, Wakely and O'Brien for Northants, Porterfield, Clarke and Chopra for Warwickshire. They are two tough sides and if we can win these two games we more than deserve to go through top of our group.

Adams and his charges will be desperate to sew up progression to the semi-finals before the final two group games against Leicestershire and a particularly tricky looking tie at home to Durham. Particularly after the experience of getting so close to qualification in the Twenty20s. As I've said before, we've scraped together wins in this tournament so far without playing our best cricket, so now would be a good time to really hit our straps. We deserve to be in the position we are, but you have to wonder if morale might be on the wane given recent experiences in the Championship. Adams and Hamilton-Brown will have to put four day concerns on the back-burner for the week and focus on winning these games.

Blown away in three days

2011-08-13T11:02:00.000+01:00

It's difficult to know what to say after a game like that. You will see from my previous blog that we once were in a good position in this match, we'd knocked over Kent for what seemed like a below par 266 and already had 50 in the bank for the loss of no wicket. Thereafter, the numbers are staggering.

Having played out 12 overs on day one for 50 runs and no wicket, Surrey only batted a further 60 overs in the entire match, losing 20 wickets for 181 runs. Abject does not even begin to describe it. I accept that conditions weren't ideal but such was the brevity of both our innings, Kent cannot have had markedly dissimilar conditions to deal with and they came out on top by a margin of 266 runs - not a small victory by any standards.

So, I thought, if I was finding it hard to know what to say, maybe Chris Adams will do better, ladies and gentlemen I give you exhibit A:

Right then, what do we have: "there were some positives to take from the game." Check. "they're disappointed, I'm disappointed." Check. "we must move on, we can't dwell on defeats." Check. "we need to come back with a better plan next time." Check.

Anything about how disappointing performances like these must be for the members? About how frustrating it must be for the supporters to watch the team be crushed by a side we should at least be competing with, and probably beating? No, not a bit of it - am I just being naive? Some of the performances this year, this game and both innings against Middlesex at Lord's spring most immediately to mind have exposed a team with no shortage of ability but who at times seem to have lack of fight, apparently a lack of willing to knuckle down and play the situation. In Kent's first innings their batsman played out more balls than ours did in both innings. Just for good measure, the same applies to Kent's second innings as well. In fact, Rob Key on his own played out 33 more deliveries than our entire side managed in the second innings.

The match report on Cricinfo is a (almost exclusively) humiliating litany of milestones and records:

Darren Stevens took a career best 7-21 in the first innings
Stevens backed that up with 4-49 in the second innings to finish with his first ever 10 wicket haul.
James Tredwell recorded season's-best figures of 5-35 in the second innings.
In carrying his bat for the first time in four years Rob Key scored his 20th century for Kent at the St. Lawrence ground.
Surrey capitulated inside two hours on the third day for 104, our lowest Championship total in a decade.
To his enormous credit, Tim Linley bagged his 50th wicket of the season, a lone bright spot and incredibly the first Surrey batsman to achieve that feat in five seasons.

Of course we all recognise that this is a team in transition, a team full of youngsters bursting with promise but short on experience. But the most frustrating thing about defeats like this is that it's not because we're not good enough, we are good enough and at times this season we have shown that but in the Championship nowhere near often enough. How many times will we fall back on the same old excuse of not having experience and pledging to "go away and come back with a better plan next time"? You have to now concede that promotion hopes look to be behind us for yet another year. If Derbyshire knock off the remaining 80 runs they need to beat Gloucestershire we will drop to fifth and we're only 15 points from dropping behind Glamorgan to 7th place. This cannot be allowed to happen.

Four games remain and as Adams says in the above video, we need to win at least three and probably four to maintain any promotion hopes - that would be an unprecedented (but not unwelcome!) run of form. More realistically we need to give the table a veneer of respectability from Surrey's perspective, and give the members something to be proud of in four day cricket.

First day spoils to Surrey

2011-08-10T20:28:00.000+01:00

If the job was to take the initiative on day one, Surrey can consider it job done. It wasn't done in dominant fashion, and at close of play we were still over 200 runs behind, but Surrey are the team in the ascendancy.

Kent won the toss and chose to bat and ultimately Rob Key would've wanted to put more on the board than the 266 his side mustered. They got off to the best start possible, he and Denly put on 80 before even 20 overs had passed. That was before Zander de Bruyn, unusually bowling as first change, made the breakthrough with the wicket of the opposing captain. Key's opening partner was also back in the pavilion with the score on 104.

As the day progressed neither side took the game by the scruff of the neck but Surrey chipped away with regular wickets and that opening partnership remained the biggest of their innings, the next best being the ninth wicket partnership of 36. As in the win over Gloucestershire the team looked to be bowling as a unit, there was not one outstanding performer and the wickets were shared around all the bowlers.

Yasir Arafat looked to be having another middling outing before he came into his own later in the day, his three scalps in 11 overs prevented Kent's tail from gaining a foothold (although he did bowl four more no-balls to take his total for 2011 to 41). 62 runs from the final two wickets is a little above par, but it's less damaging than some other tail end partnerships we've been on the receiving end of this year. Tim Linley was slightly expensive at the start of the day but pulled it back well to end with 2-46, de Bruyn chipped in with another wicket and Jade Dernbach will probably be slightly disappointed to have picked up just one.

With a Kent total that was by no means commanding on the board it was crucial that Surrey saw off the final 12 overs of the day without loss, and they did so in fine style with Davies and Hamilton-Brown registering the fifty partnership in the 11th over of the innings. For all his failure to register three figures in his 14 innings since the Essex game in May, Hamilton-Brown has nonetheless averaged 43 in a position in which he is not comfortable in Championship cricket. He needs just 32 more runs to better his 2010 tally of 808 runs with four games still to come after this one, he'll want a lot more than 32 though and ending his hundred-drought will be at the front of his mind.

Both Davies and Hamilton-Brown will have to start all over again in the morning and it's important that they build a base from which we can push toward 450 and a 200 run lead. Our batting lineup looks an awful lot sturdier when the openers put on 100 runs or more (as do most batting lineups...), that must be their first target.

There is substantial pressure on the players in this game so it's heartening to see them on the front foot so early in the game. As always they will want to guard against complacency - the ball is still only 12 overs old - but our bowlers and openers have got their foot firmly in the door.

Surrey need to take their chance

2011-08-09T18:51:00.000+01:00

Chris Adams has named a 12 man squad for the Championship game with Kent starting at Canterbury tomorrow, Chris Jordan maintains his place after being recalled for the CB40 game last week.

As I said in my last blog, this game has to be seen as a great opportunity to grab maximum points, being against a side who have won just two of their 11 Championship fixtures this season and who were knocked out of the Twenty20 Cup at the weekend. The squad and likely XI is as follows:

Hamilton-Brown
Davies
Ramprakash
De Bruyn
Maynard
Roy
Ansari
Batty
Arafat
Linley
Dernbach

12th man: Jordan

So, the same team as for the two wicket win at Gloucestershire. If the pitch has a touch of green there is a strong possibility that Chris Jordan may play instead of Zafar Ansari and he'll need to grab the chance with both hands if it comes his way. Again there is no one in the top six who looks horribly out of form, throughout the season everyone has looked in good touch but only de Bruyn has scored heavily and consistently. Davies hasn't scored the weight of runs we've come to expect but he always looks capable, Roy too is due a score.

The attack, short of Stuart Meaker who is still on Lions duty, could do with Jade Dernbach finding his best form. He's proved an excellent containing option much of the time this season particularly with the new ball but he has just 20 wickets under his belt, at almost 40 apiece. Contrast that with Tim Linley who has 44 at 21 - needless to say much will rest on his shoulders this week, again. I've given up trying to predict which Yasir Arafat will show, but we could really use the deadly version. Canterbury doesn't seem to have heavily favoured spinners or seamers particularly this season so I would expect Ansari and Batty to play, with de Bruyn to fill in where necessary. One thing notable about this season is that Dernbach, Arafat and Batty have had the odd good match here and there, while Linley has been consistently excellent he's not had consistently excellent back up. That's what we need in this game.

The man who tops Kent's batting and bowling averages, and Surrey tormentor-in-chief of late, Azhar Mahmood has not been named in their squad - he's only played four Championship games all season. But that doesn't make them a weak side, Robbie Joseph was poor at the Oval, returning 1-77 off 10 overs but he remains a threat, as do Wahab Riaz and Simon Cook. Rob Key likes to bat against us and in his last 4 Championship innings he averages 72 - including that special hundred at the Oval. Van Jaarsveld, Denly, Northeast and Stevens are also more than capable, although they have only returned three hundreds between them in 2011 (van Jaarsveld is yet to register a ton this season, don't count against him doing so against us!).

I think Hamilton-Brown will look at this game as an opportunity to attack. At the Oval we scored our runs at 4.6 runs per over and then blew away their top order, allowing their tail to cobble together 160 runs, while criminal, was the only thing prevented a more simple win than was eventually achieved. The captain would be ill advised to take Kent lightly of course, but if we want to maintain a chance of promotion, he will have to take some calculated risks - that doesn't mean throwing the bat at everything and sticking in seven slips for every ball - it just means sensible but positive cricket. Over to you chaps...

The business end of the season - where are we?

2011-08-06T12:34:00.000+01:00

There's six weeks till the end of the 2011 season - quite how it's gone so quickly is beyond me - but with nine fixtures remaining and a few days off before the next game I thought I'd look at where we are and where we can get to.

Of the nine fixtures only two are at the Oval, we have four away fixtures in the County Championship at Kent, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Essex before ending the season with our fifth and final remaining game at home to Derbyshire. In the CB40 we have three away games at Northants, Warwickshire and Leicestershire before ending the group games at home to Durham on the August bank holiday.

So, the Championship first. Five games to go, we're in fifth place, 29 points behind the leaders Northants, 24 behind Middlesex who have a game in hand, four points behind Gloucestershire and just a point behind Essex (over whom we have a game in hand). Glamorgan and Derbyshire are lurking in close-ish proximity twelve and thirteen points behind. It's tight at the top.

Is promotion a realistic target? Yes, just about but it'll be tricky. Northamptonshire have to play Middlesex twice before the end of the season and our North London rivals are in decent form where Northants are not, so there's still a chance we can catch them. We need to be looking at winning a minimum of two of the remaining five fixtures and losing even one might prove a killer blow. Two wins and three draws with plenty of bonus points along the way should see us to 200+ points, which will at least have us in contention. We have to look to the games against Kent and Leicestershire, our next two fixtures, as the best opportunities given their position in the table and that we've beaten them both once this season already. The danger is, as ever, that in pushing to win games we will likely leave ourselves vulnerable, Hamilton-Brown will find himself between a rock and a hard place on more than one occasion in the remaining weeks of the season.

Pragyan Ojha's call to join the India squad is a blow, particularly for our Championship chances and the Chief Executive has confirmed that no replacement will be sought. As the season draws to a close with games played on wearing pitches, a spinner who extracts sharp turn would increase our chances of killing off sides in the fourth innings - something which for a long time we have failed to do consistently. I had hoped Yasir Arafat was returning to his old self but his bowling against Northants in the CB40 made me doubt that. Again. Tim Linley can expect to bowl a lot of overs and we desperately need him to maintain his excellent recent form. The batting this year has relied largely on Zander de Bruyn with good support from Tom Maynard. Hamilton-Brown and Roy, both largely batting out of their comfort zones to their great credit, have contributed in fits and starts and Mark Ramprakash looks to be hitting form at the right time. Steven Davies will be disappointed with his form this year, while he has by no means been in terrible form, he is still yet to make a really telling contribution.

Our progression, or otherwise, up the table in the Championship will be the real yardstick by which this season is judged, and rightly so, but limited overs cricket was always likely to be our best suit this year given the age and talents of our squad. It is therefore disappointing that we don't have to concern ourselves with the latter stages of the Twenty20, but heartening that we very much do need to be thinking of the latter stages of the CB40 now.

At the very start of the season Chris Adams set out the CB40 as the hardest competition to progress in, oddly I thought given our excellent form last season right up until...well about this time last year. We now face the very real prospect of a home semi-final in the 40 over competition and who knows, maybe a Lord's final after that. I have been on record as saying I don't think our selection in this competition has been right, too many all rounders and not enough batsmen but time and again the team has found a way to win matches. I still think against the very best limited overs opposition, the Somersets and Sussexes of this world, that policy will come a cropper.

Adams has persisted with a top five of Hamilton-Brown, Davies, Roy, de Bruyn and Maynard and the allrounders starting at six - usually three of Spriegel, Schofield, Batty and Ansari filling the slots from six to eight, followed by three seamers most often in the shape of Arafat, Dernbach and Linley. This has often resulted in the obligatory blazing start, followed by a couple of quick wickets whereupon the numbers three, four and five batsmen realise they are the only hope of a big total, necessitating a bit of a slow-down. Wickets fall anyway and the middle order doesn't quite have the power to regularly force the pace (notwithstanding some admirable efforts from Messrs Schofield, Spriegel and Ansari at times). You only have to look at a team like Somerset, who typically might have a Hildreth or a Buttler at number six, to see what kind of a boost that extra batting can provide.

If we do progress (and two wins from the final four games - no mean feat - should see us through) I would like to see Adams forego an allrounder to fit in the extra batsman, ideally Mark Ramprakash if deemed fit enough. It's not as if that would leave us short of bowling options either, Zander de Bruyn has 137 List A wickets in his career and yet has bowled only 17 overs in 7 games, and Hamilton-Brown himself is no mug with the ball - as as the game against Northants showed. Six proper batsmen, with three of the aforementioned allrounders - all of them have contributed one way or another at various times - and Arafat offering something of an insurance policy in the lower middle order, is in my opinion a safer bet against the best opposition.

I appreciate that given the result in this form of the game, Chris Adams will feel quite comfortable in ignoring any such advice. However I do think the 'six batsmen-two all rounder' approach allows for greater flexibility than the 'five batsmen-three all rounder' one.

That then, for what it's worth, is my view of the world of Surrey County Cricket Club as at the 6th of August 2011. For all the negativity around the team in the aftermath of some horrible results this year, it remains the case that we could still theoretically end the year as CB40 champions and promoted to Division One. That we are in that position with only six weeks of the season to go, is something worthy of mention. Equally we could end 2011 as empty handed as we ended 2008, 2009 and 2010, which would be a massive disappointment given the significant investment in personnel over the last two years in particular. Let's hope it's not the latter and get behind the team for the rest of the season.

Seven out of eight ain't bad

2011-08-04T07:45:00.001+01:00

Surrey took a big step towards the CB40 semi-final with a close-run win over Northants at the Oval yesterday evening.

Adams elected to go into the match with four spinners, five if you include Rory Hamilton-Brown and just two seamers in the shape of Linley and Arafat. With such a glut of allrounders it was important that we won the toss and put a score on the board, which we duly did but they will feel the eventual total of 273 could have been closer to 300.

For the first time this season the opening partnership of Davies and Hamilton-Brown passed 50 in the CB40, and rapidly too as they put on 60 runs in the first seven overs. Two wickets fell in quick succession as the captain departed for 43 and Roy soon after for just four.

Tom Maynard and Davies then compiled a good 99 run partnership at a rate of over seven, but once they were out the innings stuttered a little, only 67 runs were scored in the final 12 overs. Only Matt Spriegel of the bottom six batsman was able to clear the ropes.

Northants' pursuit of 274 got off to the best of starts as Mal Loye and David Willey put on 138 in 20 overs but there again their innings stuttered as only Alex Wakely below the top two was able to pass 30. Hamilton-Brown and Gareth Batty, who took 5-75 from 15 overs between them, were the bowlers who did the damage. Arafat bowled very poorly in returning 2-53 and Tim Linley was bizarrely restricted to two one over spells. In the end Northants came up 12 runs short.

We now sit on 15 points with four games to go. Two wins from the final four fixtures will probably be enough to see us to the semi finals which is a significant achievement. Yesterday was yet another case of us winning without playing our best cricket - perhaps they're saving that for the final!

Ramprakash and Jordan back for Northants game

2011-08-02T20:14:00.000+01:00

Chris Adams has named a 14 man squad, shorn of Stuart Meaker and Jade Dernbach - both of whom are on England Lions duty, but boosted by the return to limited overs cricket of Mark Ramprakash.

Allrounder Chris Jordan, who according to rumours is attracting interest from other counties, is also recalled to the squad having played just one 40 over match this season in which he bowled 6 overs for 53 runs and failed to take a wicket.

The squad and possible team is as follows:

Davies
Roy
Ramprakash
De Bruyn
Hamilton-Brown
Maynard
Ansari
Jordan
Batty
Arafat
Linley

Bench: Spriegel, Schofield, Wilson

The opening pair is a real issue for Adams; Hamilton-Brown and Davies are capable of fearsome hitting but the partnership just hasn't worked this season. I think Roy should be promoted up the order, you can't help but feel he's got a big score in him just waiting to come out at the moment and Hamilton-Brown in the middle order means we lose none of the power. Ramprakash in the side instantly gives us a better balance as he can play the anchor role if needs be, and there's plenty of firepower in a lower order of Ansari, Jordan, Batty and Arafat.

On the bowling front, much will rest on the in form shoulders of Tim Linley and I hope Arafat continues his recent and impressive return to form. Batty and Ansari, with backup from de Bruyn and Hamilton-Brown should be able to contain during the middle overs but the role of Chris Jordan, should he play, will be interesting to see. He won't open the bowling but he is a naturally attacking bowler, like Meaker he can't really do the 'containing' role in one day cricket but he is capable of taking wickets if he's in any kind of form. He's been in the wickets in club cricket and the Second XI, but we all know how big a jump it is up to this level. Leaving out Spriegel is a touch harsh but Ansari and Batty have miles in their legs at the moment, Schofield is playing for the Second XI today and tomorrow so I can't see him playing and Adams is unlikely to throw Wilson in at this stage.

Northants are in some shocking form at the moment. Having made a phenomenal start to the season the Twenty20 games came at just the wrong moment and they don't seem to have recovered. Since mid-July they've lost to Hampshire, Leicestershire and Scotland in the CB40 along with draws against Glamorgan and Derbyshire in the Championship. That could just mean they're due a result of course, and with Hall, O'Brien, Sales, Vaas and Brooks in their ranks they're more than capable of getting one tomorrow.

Earlier in the season I'd have said Northants might be favourites for this one, but with their recent form and the return of Ramprakash to the side I think we should be looking at victory, and a big step towards the semi-finals of the CB40.

Obstructing the win...nearly

2011-07-30T18:13:00.000+01:00

Surrey made the heaviest of heavy weather of winning against Gloucestershire today, but win they did - by two wickets approaching the end of the final day with Tim Linley hitting the nervy winning runs.

Surrey made an excellent start to the day, Arafat, Linley, Dernbach and Batty each among the wickets in cleaning up the final six Gloucestershire batsmen for 70 runs, giving us a simple-looking target of 184 in a minimum of 65 overs - a required run rate of less than three.

As ever our openers got off to a rapid start, Hamilton-Brown and Davies put on 50 in 10 overs before Davies was out for 19, his opening partner followed three overs later for for 39. The pair of them will be frustrated at giving themselves a start but not seeing the innings through, between them they have passed 40 just once in the last 16 innings. It seemed that throughout the day the ball was nibbling around, but in a match where 1,200-odd runs were scored, the pitch cannot have been too much of an issue.

Ramprakash came to the crease and it was quickly apparent that he was likely to be the key to a Surrey win as de Bruyn and Maynard failed to add many runs to the total. Jason Roy worked hard with Ramps to whittle the target below the 50 run mark before the big controversy of the day. Ramprakash was squeezing home chasing a tight run and in doing so raised his bat in the air. The Gloucestershire players appealed for obstruction of the field and the umpires concurred, Ramprakash stayed to argue his case but had to go - I suspect there may have been some choice words said in the dressing room! Zafar Ansari followed him back two balls later and the innings was wobbling at 138-6.

Jason Roy continued on his merry way edging Surrey towards the total until, with 23 runs required, Gareth Batty was dismissed and Roy went just six runs later. It was left to Arafat and Linley to knock the winning runs, which Linley duly did though not without significant alarm.

It's easy to underestimate the significance of that win. Yes they made it difficult for themselves but they got over the line in the end. This side doesn't appear to do routine Championship wins all that often! We have now won as many Championship games in 11 matches this season as we did in 16 last year, we may have played some pretty average cricket along the way, but the points table says four wins. Promotion is still a long way off, Middlesex are in a good positions in their game and Northants have a handy lead at the top, but the win today kept the door open just a fraction with five games to play.

A Dent in Surrey's victory hopes

2011-07-29T21:42:00.000+01:00

Aside from Surrey's capture of Gloucestershire's Jon Lewis for the 2012 season the other news of today was the ongoing game between the two sides in Cheltenham, and today Gloucestershire fought their way back into the game.

Arafat, Linley and Dernbach conspired to add 31 to the overnight total of 392 to give us a first innings lead of 137 and when Hamish Marshall departed in the eighth over of Gloucestershire's reply with just 12 runs on the board things were looking up for a Surrey victory. A combination of Chrises Dent and Taylor, plus an unbeaten 50 from Alex Gidman ensured that the game was approaching safety for the home side.

The the draw appears to be favourite, which is unfortunate given the strong positions of Northamptonshire and Middlesex in their respective games, promotion hopes are edging further and further into the distance. Of course there's always the chance of something special tomorrow morning, and Tim Linley and Yasir Arafat with the new ball might just provide that crucial breakthrough spell.

The Gloucestershire lead stands at 112, so they are effectively 112-4 with a full day's play left. A couple of early wickets and hopefully we'll be able to kill the game off, but with the two mean at the crease and Will Gidman still to come, it's not going to be easy.

Never knowingly underbowled - Surrey sign Jon Lewis

2011-07-29T17:17:00.000+01:00

Surrey have created their very own Jon Lewis Partnership having today announced the signing, on a two year deal of the veteran Gloucestershire seam bowler.

In a bizarre piece of press release timing, the deal was announced about three hours after he'd ended our first innings with the wicket of Tim Linley to finish the pick of Gloucestershire's bowlers with 4-95. If I was a Gloucestershire fan I'd be pretty disappointed with that, not only is it announcing a former captain of the club is departing in the middle of a Championship match, it's in the middle of a Championship match involving the club he's departing for.

Anyway, that's by the by, is Lewis a decent signing for the club? Yes, I think he probably is. For all the talk of the availability (at the time) of exciting young seam bowlers like Jack Brooks in recent weeks I was left thinking that we've got our own crop of exciting young seam bowlers. Meaker, Dunn and Edwards to name three, Lewis can act as a mentor to those players while also bringing stability and consistency to the bowling attack.

There's no getting round the fact that he's going to be the wrong side of 36 by the time he joins the club though, and for a fast bowler that really is coming to the end of a career. Look at Dominic Cork though, he's proved the catalyst for some significant success down at Hampshire over the last couple of seasons and he's not getting any younger. Lewis's returns of late - he's taken 154 Championship wickets in the last three seasons at a very decent average - show that he's still got wickets in him. His age means it's a gamble and it might be seen as an unambitious piece of business by Adams but I believe he can play an important role for us.

It's entirely possible that at various points next season we'll lose Meaker, Dernbach and Tremlett, possibly all at similar times, to England duty so a permanent presence in the bowling attack will be no bad thing. If we can sign an overseas spinner for the full season to bowl alongside him then we'll be all the better for it.

Number 114 puts Surrey in the driving seat

2011-07-28T20:09:00.000+01:00

Surrey will go into day three with a handy lead of 106 and thoughts of a vital win not far from their minds. The pure class of Mark Ramprakash is largely responsible for that position - in scoring his 114th first class hundred he drew level with Sir Viv Richards and is now just three behind Sir Don Bradman in the list of century makers. Not bad company to be keeping.

A string of nearly scores - only one above 30 in his last eight visits to the crease, had me wondering if he'd come back from his injury a touch early and that might have compromised his season, how wrong I was. Today he was the lynchpin of the Surrey innings along with Zander de Bruyn (who passed 1,000 first class runs this season during his innings). While the two veterans, with a combined age of 78, made over half of Surrey's innings, none of the youngsters passed 33.

That said, I think Jason Roy's knock of 33 off 24 balls, while ending in frustrating fashion (clean bowled after taking 11 runs off the spinner), was important in injecting a bit of impetus into the innings. He will develop his game and before long those rapid 30s will become slightly-less-rapid 70s and 100s - he's become such a key part of our side it's easy to forget he only just turned 21.

Another innings of note was Yasir Arafat's unbeaten 54 off just 77 balls, he came to the crease with Ramprakash running out of partners approaching his hundred, by the time the partnership was broken Ramps had moved well past 100 and the lead was past 100 as well. We did to Gloucestershire exactly what other teams have done to us so many times this season.

Arafat and Linley will look to accumulate as many as possible tomorrow morning and whether we like it or not Dernbach will come out throwing the bat at everything - and why not? The lead is already substantial and anything close to 150 will be very difficult for Gloucestershire to come back from.

A few quick runs ought to give the bowlers plenty of momentum as well - this game is there for the taking and it could really spur a run of form going in to the back end of the season. Captain and coach must make sure there is no complacency, Gloucstershire aren't out of the game, yet, but we are firmly in the driving seat.

Advantage Surrey at Cheltenham

2011-07-27T21:15:00.000+01:00

Surrey ended day one against Gloucestershire as the team in the ascendancy after they turned round a day which threatened to be going the way of previous matches which we've lost.

At 117-5 we once again had a team on the rack, they recovered to 239-6 before first Arafat and then Linley finished off the lower order in a fashion we've been crying out for this season, Gloucestershire were all out for 286. You still have to think that's a bit more than they ought to have reached, but the psychological advantage of bowling a side out for under 300 on day one is important.

That Yasir Arafat has finally found some form, following up his five-for at the weekend with another today, is hugely significant in light of Meaker and Dernbach departing for Lions duty any time soon. Tim Linley returned another four-for, to make it 36 Championship wickets in his last six games, he's in an outstandingly rich vein of form.

There were a couple of surprises in the selection, both Arafat and Ansari were named in the XI while poor Arun Harinath was discarded after just two innings and Meaker rested. Based purely on who bowled today and who took the wickets, you'd have to say selecting two spinners seems an odd call. That said, Ansari was apparently off the field for some of the day, accounting for his lack of bowling, and there's always the chance the pitch could deteriorate.

It seems Steven Davies has been restored to the role of opener, Jason Roy being preferred in the middle order. Earlier this season Davies expressed a desire to play in the middle order, so in the absence of Harinath I thought perhaps Maynard, who scored 43 and 26 as an opener against Essex, might have been given the nod. In light of his innings last week, it's not surprising Adams wants to leave him where he is though.

So with the bowlers having done a good job today, for maybe 40-50 runs too many but a good job nonetheless, the batsman must now step up. From the three overs they faced tonight Davies and Hamilton-Brown emerged unscathed, tomorrow morning they need to pile on the runs, aiming for a first innings lead of at least 150.

As you were for Gloucestershire trip

2011-07-26T20:14:00.000+01:00

Chris Adams has named the same thirteen man squad as played Middlesex last week to travel to the Cheltenham festival and take on Gloucestershire.

This might seem odd given the nature of the defeat at Guildford which was, despite the margin only being six wickets in the end, quite a heavy one. I think reflects the fact that Adams does not think anyone from the Seconds at the moment is a better option, and it's hard to disagree with him on that.

The squad and my expected XI is as follows:

Hamilton-Brown
Harinath
Ramprakash
De Bruyn
Davies
Maynard
Roy
Batty
Meaker
Linley
Dernbach

12th men: Ansari, Arafat

The makeup of the lower middle order is a tricky one to call. Batty had an average game against Middlesex with bat and ball but you'd back him to come up with the goods more often than not. If it's a seamer's track Arafat might get the nod after his five-for in the CB40 and if it looks like it might take turn Ansari could well play in place of a batsman - likely to be Arun Harinath. Meaker, Linley and Dernbach seem certain to play.

In the Championship, none of the batsmen has seemed woefully out of form but certainly Hamilton-Brown, Davies, Roy and Ramprakash could do with a big score. Between the four of them they have three fifties and no hundreds in the last three Championship games - that gives an idea of how much we've relied on the batting of Maynard and de Bruyn of late. Harinath was out in single figures twice against Middlesex but he was in at the last minute and it's harsh to judge him on that one performance.

Gloucestershire have surprised me this season, they lie third in the table only two points behind Middlesex (albeit having played a game more) and they beat us fairly comfortably at the Oval. They bowled us out twice cheaply with the impressive Ian Saxelby taking ten wickets in the match. They also seem to have unearthed a genuine first class allrounder in Will Gidman who has taken 27 wickets and scored almost 700 runs. And of course you never count out Jon Lewis.

Adams is right to say that if we win our next two matches we're in the mix for promotion, but if we don't win this week we can surely rule it out for 2011. The defeat to Middlesex was a crushing blow but the dashing hundred from Maynard and some wickets towards the end of the game at least meant there was just a hint of momentum for our players - they need to take that into the game tomorrow. No let offs, no cheap wickets, we have to win.

Stuart Meaker selected in England Lions squad

2011-07-25T20:42:00.000+01:00

We all knew this day would come. Those of us who saw Stuart Meaker detonating the stumps of Leicestershire's tail back at the start of May with his 90mph yorkers must have feared that England would come calling soon enough.

And so it came to pass, Meaker has today been named in the Lions squad to play the four day game and three one day games against Sri Lanka A in August. Jade Dernbach has also been named in the four day squad.

Back in 2009, when Spin published an article proclaiming Meaker as "the fastest bowler in England" I remember being sceptical, having never seen him bowl live. However when I did first see him bowl, it was clear that he was a good bit quicker than everyone else at the club.

For 18 months or so after that Meaker was in and out of the side, for a quick bowler at such a young age that was quite right, and he had his fair share of injuries. But the last 12 months have really seen Meaker kick on quite spectacularly. Since the game last year with Gloucestershire he has taken 53 wickets in 14 matches, at an average around the 25 mark. He genuinely is 90mph+ and his control has developed out of sight in recent months. He has earned his chance with the Lions and I hope he grasps it with both hands

Where does that leave our seam attack though? Depleted, in a word. No Dernbach, Meaker or Tremlett for probably two and quite possibly four games through August is a huge blow. Linley is in fine form, Arafat is hopefully on an upward curve and Dunn has proved himself capable, but we're only an injury away from serious trouble in the quick bowling department.

De Bruyn, Arafat script key win over Warwickshire

2011-07-24T20:21:00.000+01:00

Two impressive performances, one expected, one not expected, carried Surrey to a narrow(ish) win over Warwickshire in the CB40 at Guildford today. Northamptonshire's defeat to Leicestershire and apparent loss of form in recent weeks is also good news. We now sit atop the table, two points clear of Durham with a game in hand.

The expected high-class performance came from Zander de Bruyn who now has over 1,400 runs in all forms of cricket for Surrey this season. His unbeaten 84 from 92 balls was perfectly paced. He was helped an injection of 22 runs from just 16 balls by Zafar Ansari to bring the rate right down and Chris Schofield helped the side home with 13 from 11.

The unexpected performance came from Yasir Arafat. Adams gambled on selecting him and he repaid the faith handsomely, 5-45 was the result including both openers and both Warwickshire top scorers. Although Arafat will get the plaudits, Tim Linley's eight over spell for just 27 runs and the wicket of William Porterfield confirmed that he's in superb form.

Hamilton-Brown opened the bowling himself and actually bowled his full quota of eight overs meaning Ansari and Schofield bowled just four overs apiece, and Spriegel none at all. Given the performances in recent weeks of Azhar Mahmood and Tim Murtagh, you could've been forgiven for thinking Rikki Clarke's aggressive 76 from just 61 balls would spell disaster for Surrey after some tight bowling on a slow pitch had restricted Warwickshire for large parts of their innings.

The Davies-Hamilton-Brown partnership was in fact rekindled, albeit very briefly, Hamilton-Brown was out for a two ball duck off the last ball of Jeetan Patel's first over. Jason Roy was also gone soon after with just 15 on the board, I wonder whether he and the captain have yet to really shake the Twenty20s out of their systems. Thereafter Davies and de Bruyn, Maynard and de Bruyn and the tail and de Bruyn did a fine job of turning over the strike and picking off bad balls here and there to keep the rate up.

Again you get the feeling we won here without really hitting top gear, which augurs well for some pretty tough tests still to come in the CB40. We will still need more substantial scores from our young tyros if we are to think about winning this tournament, but there is clearly fuel left in the tank. Well played today.

Key CB40 test against Warwickshire

2011-07-24T10:17:00.000+01:00

Surrey continue the Guildford festival at the Woodbridge Road ground today with a crucial 40 over match against Warwickshire. Morale is likely to be pretty low given the events of recent weeks so a big win will work wonders.

As with most festival grounds, Guildford is pretty small and the wickets are usually good - last year over 500 runs were scored as Sussex comfortably chased down Surrey's total of 252. The squad and possible XI is as follows:

Davies
Roy
Hamilton-Brown
Maynard
De Bruyn
Spriegel
Ansari
Batty
Meaker
Linley
Dernbach

Bench: Arafat, Schofield

It's difficult to know the route Adams will want to go down given the last CB40 we played was a couple of months ago, but that it will be allrounder-heavy is a given - the squad above has eight genuine limited overs bowling options. As ever, the top five pick themselves because there's only five batsmen in the squad. Spriegel has been recalled having not made the squad for the Durham game last week so I suspect he may play. It's difficult to say which two of Batty, Ansari, Schofield or Arafat will play, but Batty and Ansari are the men in possession so that seems most likely. If Arafat continues to sit on the bench you can't help but feel we've badly wasted our overseas signing (if you don't already think that).

Warwickshire are three points behind us in the table having played a game more, and somehow contrived to lose to Scotland in a rain-affected match a week ago. But they should still present a stiffer challenge than we've faced in the CB40 so far. Varun Chopra and William Porterfield have been in decent form at the top of the order and they have the likes of Carter, Troughton, Maddy and Rikki Clarke down the order. Not to mention Chris Woakes, who would comfortably make it into Surrey's top six. He can also bowl a bit you know, and Jeetan Patel has proved a canny overseas signing again.

It seems likely that Roy and Davies will rekindle their Twenty20 opening partnership given the Hamilton-Brown-Davies partnership hasn't yielded a single 50 partnership in six games this season. Batting first twice this season we've made 257 and 311, relying on a couple of rapid 50s from the top five. With our enormous tail, that's what we have to hope for today.

After the result against Middlesex this week promotion in the Championship seems a long way off and we're out of the Twenty20 - the CB40 remains the only competition we're genuinely competing in. If we can overcome a very handy Warwickshire side it will go a long way to giving the side some belief back.

Battered and bruised

2011-07-23T17:18:00.000+01:00

Surrey slid inexorably to their third Championship defeat today, and their second this season to Middlesex. In truth it was a match we looked a long way from winning ever since we allowed their tenth wicket pair to accumulate 70 runs on day two.

Had we finished them off properly the second innings heroics of Maynard, who was eighth man out today with 141, and de Bruyn would've given us a substantial total to bowl at. As it was that sparkling hundred merely papered over the cracks of what was another poor performance.

First Maynard then Batty threatened to accelerate the total Middlesex had to chase today beyond 200, but where a couple of batsmen could have just played sensibly to help accumulate the total, there were more rash shots which left the opposition chasing just 189 with most of a day's overs to play with.

Middlesex began their chase extremely watchfully, only 11 runs came from the first eight overs but Sam Robson made excellent use of the hard graft he put in at the start of his innings to anchor his side home. He finished six short of a hundred and did his side proud - at 22 years old he has admirable 'sticky' qualities that our young batsmen just don't seem to have.

Rory Hamilton-Brown inexplicably left it until the 30th over to introduce Stuart Meaker during Middlesex's chase and ended up bowling more deliveries himself than his young pace bowler. Of course Meaker will sometimes go for runs but he can also produce magic spells, the captain's lack of willingness to back the young bowlers is worrying (Matt Dunn was similarly under-bowled second innings against Gloucestershire). Jade Dernbach went wicketless to return match figures of 2-130 while Linley and de Bruyn plugged away gamely, picking up two wickets each.

Only six Championship matches remain, five of which are away from home including trips to Chelmsford and Northampton. You have to say to even be in with a chance of promotion we'll need seven or eight wins in total, which means winning four or five of our remaining fixtures - that just doesn't seem terribly likely. Not impossible of course, but who'd bet on that on the evidence of this game?

Adams has, as ever, a huge job on his hands to get the team up for the remainder of the season, Championship-wise that begins on Wednesday next week against Gloucestershire. Aside from Maynard's knock there is little to take from this game as a positive.

Back from the dead

2011-07-23T10:48:00.000+01:00

To say it was a day of contrasting fortunes for Surrey yesterday is something of an understatement (although a couple of players did just have a shocker), for the most part our second innings, following on, represented a spectacular fightback.

Sixteen Surrey wickets fell in a single day, and our first innings was as abject a collapse as we've seen for some time. Middlesex gave us a lesson in ruthlessly finishing off an innings, while we had them 51-4 and let them recover well, they had us 64-4 and blew us away for 117 runs all told - 20 of which were extras. There were four ducks and seven scores of 10 or less, it was a shocking performance and Middlesex were threatening to roll us over inside effectively two days.

Following on, things looked even worse as Arun Harinath was out for six, five more than he managed first innings but Adams will have reason to doubt whether he can play that role at the top of the innings. Rory Hamilton-Brown blazed away and with Ramprakash he put on 70 for the second wicket.

But then Ramps, Hamilton-Brown and Davies fell within 30 runs of each other to leave us reeling at 114-4, still well short of making Middlesex bat again. Enter Tom Maynard and Zander de Bruyn to steady the ship...well not quite.

Tom Maynard - 105 not out

Maynard and de Bruyn proceeded to add 170 runs in 21 overs at almost 8 runs per over, easily the biggest partnership of the entire match. By the time de Bruyn was out for 82 the partnership had taken us past Middlesex's total and 93 runs into the lead. Jason Roy, batting in the middle order to which he is more suited, was unable to hang around to support Maynard so it was left to Tim Linley to block up an end until close, which he did.

This morning we still have Batty and Meaker to come, both of whom should be able to stick with the set batsman to build on the 115 run lead we have. Our first innings was a horror show and if we lose the match that combined with some poor bowling towards the end of Middlesex's innings will be why. However credit should go to Maynard, de Bruyn and Hamilton-Brown, while their innings were not the traditional ones you might expect from a side following on, they have given the scorecard a degree of respectability, and our bowlers will hopefully have something on the order of 150+ to bowl at - and they'll have to bowl a lot better than they did first dig. We're still in this, but this side still has so much to do, today and in the coming weeks.

Another let off

2011-07-21T20:20:00.000+01:00

At the halfway point of the match, such is the degree of rain interference that only one 86 over innings has been completed, and Surrey won't be overly impressed with their performance today.

Although the recovery wasn't quite as stark as Middlesex's at Lord's, it was still a substantial achievement. From 88-4 we should have been looking at dismissing the opposition for 250 at the very most, but first Dalyrmple and Rogers to post a century partnership before Zander de Bruyn stepped in to dismiss the Australian on 59.

Then the sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth wicket partnership cobbled together 85 runs but most criminal of all Dalrymple was allowed to accelerate to his hundred in partnership with number 11 batsman Corey Collymore. Together they put on 71 runs in just 10 overs. I think it was a bad move to keep Batty and de Bruyn bowling for as long as they did, it may have only been four or five overs, but to my mind the man to remove tail end batsmen on the evidence of this season is Stuart Meaker. In the end it was Linley who ended the innings with his 35th wicket of the season.

Jamie Dalrymple does seem to like batting against us, in 2004 he scored 244 at the Oval, still his highest first class score to date. Whilst today wasn't our finest few hours Tim Linley again proved himself our most reliable performer with the ball while Batty and de Bruyn were able deputies.

The forecast for tomorrow and Saturday is a distinct improvement on the last couple of days, so a result is not completely out of the question though it will require some attacking batting and an enterprising declaration or two. The focus will be on bagging as many batting bonus points as possible though as the draw remains hot favourite.

A third of a day, but a good third for Surrey

2011-07-20T20:02:00.000+01:00

The expected rain showers restricted Surrey to bowling just 35 overs today, but in those 35 overs they had significant success in reducing Middlesex to 88-4 after sending them in to bat.

Funnily enough, 88-4 is the precise score we reduced Middlesex to at Lord's in April before John Simpson and Neil Dexter came to their rescue, I can only hope Chris Rogers and Jamie Dalrymple don't perform a similar reconstruction job.

Surrey fans know only too well how dangerous a player Chris Rogers can be given his performance at the Oval for Derbyshire last year, so no one will rest easy until he's gone. It was a shared effort as well, each of the four bowlers who turned their arm over - Dernbach, Meaker, Linley and Batty took a wicket and all were economical in doing so, the Middlesex run rate was just 2.5.

There was a surprise at the start of the day as Arun Harinath was named to play his first Championship game of the season despite not being named in the initial 12 man squad. Given the bowler-friendly conditions, Adams' decision to play the extra batsman is a good one and Harinath's good form for the Second XI means the selection is well deserved.

So should there be substantial play tomorrow Surrey are in a very good position to press home the advantage, and must not be guilty of letting a door they've forced ajar slam shut courtesy of one CJL Rogers.

Rain the likely winner for Guildford

2011-07-19T21:13:00.000+01:00

It's July, there's vital cricket to be played, so obviously the forecast for the next four days is dire. If by some minor miracle there is the chance to force a result, this is a crucial game for Surrey against Middlesex who lie second in the table.

The last time a result was managed at Guildford was a crushing 10 wicket win for Durham back in 2008, in both 2009 and 2010 the weather played a significant part in two draws. The squad and the XI expected is as follows:

Hamilton-Brown
Roy
Ramprakash
De Bruyn
Davies
Maynard
Ansari
Batty
Meaker
Linley
Dernbach

12th man: Arafat

Given Linley's superb seven wicket performance against Kent he has to play, Meaker has shown good form in the longer format too and Dernbach is a certainty. Arafat's form in the Twenty20s was patchy at best and his omission from the Kent four day game 10 days or so ago does not bode well for him. You can't help but wonder when the Arafat of old is going to appear, but it won't be long before we all rule out the chance of that happening. That Ansari's selection barely merits a mention speaks volumes of his meteoric rise, but should a very green wicket appear at Guildford, Arafat could yet be shoehorned into the side.

The middle of the Division Two table is so tight, with six teams within seven points of one another, that a win would take us right into the mix for the promotion spots. Not that a win is by any means likely, Middlesex have had a Championship season in stark contrast to their disastrous Twenty20 campaign - they've won half of their games so far. Steven Finn being left out of the England squad is bad news for us because he will slot straight into the Middlesex XI. He'll be joined by Collymore and Murtagh to make a very dangerous seam attack. Their batting has been less impressive of late, but we know only too well that Chris Rogers can anchor any side to a big total.

Instinctively I think we are a better balanced Championship side, Ansari is perhaps a place too high in the order at seven but Batty is a handy insurance policy at number eight. The top six will hopefully have had time to get the rash Twenty20 shots out of their system and our seam attack is in good shape at the moment. We're certainly not giving away much to Middlesex on paper, if anything at all.

The players would do well to forget the events of Thursday-Sunday and draw on the confidence the win last week against Kent will have given them. If a result isn't possible because of the weather we should be looking to pick up whatever bonus points we can, attacking cricket will be the order of the day.

Stiff CB40 challenge at Durham

2011-07-16T18:51:00.000+01:00

With a 100% record in the CB40 this season Surrey ought to have some reserves of confidence to call on, but recovering from the psychological blow of the two consecutive defeats sending us out of the Twenty20 will be a challenge.

The game tomorrow against Durham, weather permitting, represents the biggest challenge in the CB40 so far this season. Two wins apiece against Hampshire and Scotland, plus one against Leicestershire is nothing to be sniffed at, but between them those three teams have just two wins thus far in 2011. Northants, Durham and Warwickshire, all of whom we still have to play twice, have much better records.

Adams is persisting with his selection policy which (at the risk of sounding like a broken record) I maintain is a batsman light, but in any case the squad and expected team is as follows:

Hamilton-Brown
Davies
Roy
De Bruyn
Maynard
Schofield
Ansari
Batty
Arafat
Linley
Dernbach

Bench: Meaker, Wilson

Given that there are only really five batsmen in the squad who have displayed any kind of form of late, the top order picks itself. If Adams was unwilling to pick Wilson for either of the final Twenty20s it seems unlikely that he'll throw him in on Sunday. The Second XI hiatus has come at the wrong time for getting reserve batsmen into form.

With a Championship match coming hot on the heels of this game, and after he took some punishment on Thursday and Friday, it might be a good idea to give Meaker a rest though that would give yet another (undeserved) reprieve for Yasir Arafat. The one thing in his favour is that his CB40 performances have easily been his best for us this year. Tim Linley certainly deserves a game given his recent form. I'm particularly surprised that Matt Spriegel has not even been named in the squad given his good form in the CB40s this year.

Durham are a very good side, Onions, Borthwick, Plunkett and of course Paul Collingwood present a challenge to the batsmen, and in Benkenstein, Muchall, Coetzer and Mustard are capable of destructive feats. We're fortunate that Ben Stokes is still unavailable through injury.

The pressure is on Adams now to deliver some kind of progress after the failure of the Twenty20s, and this competition is the one in which we are best placed. If we bat first and get a good start, we're definitely contenders, but I don't fancy us chasing anything substantial. A win against a good Durham side tomorrow will restore some of the side's belief and gives a good platform to go into the second half of group matches.

Felled at the final hurdle again

2011-07-15T22:35:00.000+01:00

This time last week it all looked so rosy, we'd just trounced Hampshire and needed just two points from our final two games to qualify for the quarter-finals. We didn't do it and the Twenty20 kit goes back in the locker for another year.

The game tonight was remarkably, nay depressingly, similar to last night. Hamilton-Brown lost two crucial tosses in 24 hours and in truth we were well beaten in both games.

Sussex were in deep trouble after two overs, the score was 13-2 and their momentum had stalled. The next four overs saw a clinical display from Murray Goodwin in particular and the pressure was well and truly released. Goodwin went on to score an unbeaten hundred from only 59 balls, he was particularly harsh on Meaker, de Bruyn and Schofield who between them bowled four overs for 57 runs. In truth we have bowled and fielded poorly in two crucial games, the pressure got to us, by and large.

The opposition again looked set for a score north of 200 tonight but Nannes and Dernbach brought us back from the brink, conceding just 11 from the final two overs to keep Sussex just below the 180 mark.

Chasing two fewer runs than against Kent last night, Jason Roy got us off to another blazing start but once he'd gone to his fifty, his fourth such score in the T20s this year, he swung Rayner into the deep, we never really looked like recovering after that.

De Bruyn was sent up the order to bat at three, a combination of wanting a wise old head to bat with Roy and keeping some Hamilton-Brown firepower for the lower order. Neither aspect of the plan worked out. De Bruyn wasn't able to contain Roy's exuberance and by the time Hamilton-Brown came in (below Schofield, another batting gamble) he had too much to do too quickly.

The scorecard says much about the plight our selection policy leaves us in, scores of 50, 31 and 46 from three of the top four, but nothing thereafter. So much pressure is heaped on Roy's shoulders because there is no power in the lower middle order, he has coped admirably but he can't be expected to deliver every single game.

We rely too heavily on batting first, and on one big score from one of the top five (or more regularly, two big-ish scores). With the batting power in our top five Twenty20 should be our game, but the tactics didn't allow enough flexibility and it's cost us at the crucial moments.

The squad can now focus their efforts on the CB40, in which we lie top of our group, and the Championship, where we are in the mix for promotion. They must look to get something out of one (or ideally both) of those competitions.

Win the toss, win the game...?

2011-07-14T23:24:00.001+01:00

Well we lost, and it leaves us needing to win against a strong Sussex side at Hove tomorrow, plenty of pressure on now. From the moment Hamilton-Brown called wrongly at the toss I feared for our chances.

Kent's strength lies in the depth of their batting, and on a good pitch being given the chance to set a total they immediately looked comfortable batting first. Despite Key being the first of four run-outs in just the third over, they kept the run rate and the pressure up, only Dirk Nannes and the returning Jade Dernbach were able to offer the captain much control. Full credit to Darren Stevens and Azhar Mahmood, both of them batted (and bowled as it turned out) superbly.

The final Kent total of 181 actually represented a good comeback from Surrey, at one point we were in danger of conceding well over 200. A few good overs from Nannes and Dernbach at the death made it much more competitive. We conceded probably 10-15 runs in the field that we need not have, Arafat was particularly poor in that department.

Hamilton-Brown and Roy gave us a good platform in taking us to 87-1 but they were both dismissed within an over or so, and herein lies the problem with the selection with which Adams persists.

When the opposition has us three down, with only the allrounders to come thereafter, they know they can put the squeeze on and there's no outlet for us. I know there is no fool-proof solution to this, but if Maynard and de Bruyn could play with a bit more freedom - the freedom afforded by another pure batsman in the side, we would not have had such a problem tonight I feel. That none of our bottom six players passed 20 says an awful lot.

I can see the argument behind having six bowling options, but our side has eight bowling options, I just think we can afford to play the extra batsman, and in a must-win game it's surely worth gambling on the fitness of Mark Ramprakash and adding him to the squad?

The situation is what it is, we have one game left to play, we have to win it, simple. We are a good side under pressure, and we've already shown we can beat Sussex this season. But make no mistake, Sussex have to win to guarantee qualification as well and they are no mugs. The composition of the side is unlikely to change significantly, only Wilson or Schofield can really come in given the squad named and given Arafat's performance tonight and the nature of the pitch at Hove, Schofield could well play tomorrow night. It's all to play for, come on the 'Rey!

Dernbach in, Tremlett out for decisive games

2011-07-13T17:46:00.000+01:00

After today's nerve-jangling victory over Kent in the Championship, tomorrow the focus switches back to the Twenty20 with the same opposition at the Oval, and the final group game at Hove on Friday.

The good news is Jade Dernbach returns from his double-wicket final game heroics to clinch England's series with Sri Lanka. The bad news is Chris Tremlett, the hero of last Friday's Hampshire game, will not be allowed to play by the ECB. The squad and expected XI is as follows:

Davies
Roy
Hamilton-Brown
Maynard
De Bruyn
Ansari
Batty
Arafat
Meaker
Dernbach
Nannes

Bench: Wilson, Schofield

It's as you were then, aside from the logical swap of Dernbach for Tremlett. Although Batty only bowled a solitary over on Friday there's little reason to bring in Schofield in his stead (or Wilson for that matter, since Adams clearly likes to keep his bowling options open). And why would you change the formula which saw us comfortably overcome the form team of the South Group?

You still feel that there's a really big score just around the corner for Roy or Hamilton-Brown, they've both looked in decent form but only have high scores of 52 and 51 respectively.

Kent are in decent T20 form having won four of their last six games, including a relatively comfortable win over us at Beckenham (I haven't quite fathomed de Bruyn's innings in that game yet). Darren Stevens and Azhar Mahmood have been in good form for them with the bat but their opening pair have been poor. Mahmood has likewise been a threat with the ball, as ever, though it's his countryman Wahab Riaz who is the real danger.

On the back of four consecutive T20 wins we have to go into this match as strong favourites, which is always dangerous. Having had a good look at Key over the last day or so though, Hamilton-Brown will know better than to under estimate his counterpart and his troops.

If we win tomorrow we qualify for the quarter finals for the first time, if memory serves me right, since 2006. At the moment we really do look a good unit in limited overs cricket, I've criticised Adams' selections in the past (and I still think he picks to many bowlers!) but I cannot argue with the results being delivered. One more win and things are really looking up!

A win is a win, but not convincing

2011-07-13T17:42:00.000+01:00

First, the positives: we won, Zander de Bruyn scored a masterful hundred, Zafar Ansari served further notice of his outstanding talent and cool head, and Tim Linley took seven wickets in the match.

This was an important game, nine Championship matches are now on the board and we've notched three wins, just one fewer win that we managed in 16 games last season. Promotion is still very much on the cards and if you look back over the last couple of months, our form has generally been good.

But there's the not so good news as well. We had Kent firmly on the rack at 87-6 in their first innings, when you reduce a side to that sort of position you should be looking at getting them 130-150 all out, not the 250 Kent eventually made. Finishing teams off has long been an issue for us. Then there's our second innings batting, only one player passed 30 and no one passed 50. Rob Key gave a masterclass in how to build an innings and very nearly forced victory for his team. In the end it was a 30 run 10th wicket partnership between Linley and Tremlett which saved us, that shouldn't have to be the case!

As Chris Adams quite rightly said after the game we let Kent sneak back in, and that is, in his words, criminal. But Adams also pointed out that we "found a way to win the game", by hook or by crook, we got over the line and the winning habit is something that a young team will thrive on.

You have to think that to be sure of promotion we need at least three wins from those last seven games, four ideally, and that is no mean feat (especially given the 'summer' we're having). There will be plenty of positivity around the team now though, and by forcing the win today we've given ourselves a good platform.

Big Bob the Key to a Surrey win tomorrow

2011-07-12T19:03:00.000+01:00

Kent captain Rob Key played almost a lone hand in chasing the 322 run target Surrey eventually set this morning, and he'll return to the Oval tomorrow morning the only man standing between us and a third Championship win of 2011...or a third defeat.

The next best score in the Kent innings is Martin van Jaarsveld's 35, and the pair of them threatened to forge a matchwinning partnership before Tim Linley came to the rescue and cut him off as it was looking dangerous. Linley was the only man who seemed to offer a constant threat throughout the day and ended with 4-42. Batty also chipped in with 3-66 in between some rather expensive spells.

It's also partially down to Linley that Surrey managed to claw themselves to 322, he and Chris Tremlett put on the third highest partnership of Surrey's second innings, 36 vital runs for the tenth wicket.

Of course it should never have been down to batsmen 10 and 11 to make it competitive, the top order have some questions to answer regarding their application in that second innings. Had just one of them gone on to 60 or 70 the game would've been beyond Kent, but they didn't and Key ensured they've been made to sweat on it.

It will be hard on Rob Key to end up on the losing side tomorrow, if indeed he does, the kind of mental strength he's shown at the top of the Kent order today is hugely impressive. Kent still require 52 runs, Surrey just two wickets - we are still just about favourites but we cannot afford any of the wastefulness we've shown at times earlier in this game.

A disappointing end, but still a nose ahead

2011-07-11T20:45:00.000+01:00

A clutch of wickets towards the close of play took the shine off a decent day for Surrey, though they ended with a healthy lead of 275 and with two players at the crease still capable of adding another 40 runs or so.

Kent begun the day with captain Key and Sam Northeast at the crease and they progressed to 52 without loss before Stuart Meaker chipped in with his second wicket. Van Jaarsveld followed just an over later, Key and Stevens were also back in the dressing room soon after leaving Kent 87-6.

Surrey should've moved in for the kill at that moment with an eye on making Kent follow on, but not for the first time this season we let the opposition back into the game, with Geraint Jones and Alex Blake putting on 130 for the seventh wicket. However once Jones was dismissed by Batty for 61 the last three wickets fell for just 25 runs, a first innings lead of 137.

It then fell to Jason Roy and Rory Hamilton-Brown to begin building that into a lead of 400+ with plenty of time left in the game, but both fell, in Chris Adams' words in the members forum after the close of play to "pretty poor shots." Ramprakash and de Bruyn mounted a mini recovery but the latter couldn't repeat his first innings heroics and Ramprakash was also out soon after to leave Surrey 78-4. Maynard and Davies put on an aggressive 38 in eight overs but they too fell in quick succession, Davies to a terrible shot off Joe Denly, especially bearing in mind that the close of play was just 6 overs away. Denly then bagged his fifth wicket of the match getting Gareth Batty LBW for a duck, this game has seen the Kent opener shrink his bowling average from 54 to 45.

Zafar Ansari played a couple of nice strokes before close and Stuart Meaker stuck with him, Surrey were 138-7 at the end of play, a lead of 275. After the game Meaker claimed that a lead of over 300 was the first target, and there did appear to be some variable bounce so if Surrey can exploit that 300 should be plenty.

We have, without question, the firepower to skittle Kent tomorrow - the way we dealt with their top order today is evidence enough of that. We must be careful not to let them off the hook though if we get into a similar position, 300 is a good lead but low enough that one big partnership will get Kent most of the way. The bowlers must be right on the money from the word go, don't waste the new ball and keep the pressure up through the day.

De Bruyn the star man on day one

2011-07-10T19:20:00.000+01:00

Zander de Bruyn's second Championship hundred of the season and two wickets late in the day for Meaker and Linley made it a pretty even day, and Surrey may feel they are in the ascendancy.

De Bruyn received only fleeting support from the rest of the top order, it was a timely return to form with the bat for Gareth Batty which enabled a score just shy of 400. They didn't hang about either, our runs were scored at 4.7 an over.

In a slightly surprising selection Adams elected to give Zafar Ansari his Championship debut ahead of Yasir Arafat, he will be disappointed to have been dismissed by Joe Denly's part time leg spin for just four, but his time will come. Denly and van Jaarsveld sharing five wickets between them might also hint at something in the pitch for the slow bowlers.

That half the wickets went to part time bowlers is disappointing (though just because they're part timers doesn't mean they bowled badly), the dangermen Robbie Joseph and Wahab Riaz took just two between them. Given the rate we scored at, it's obviously a decent pitch, you have to feel we should've got maximum batting points at least. So it was down to the bowlers to give us the upper hand and with 11 overs to play, Denly and the nightwatchman Joseph were sent back by Linley and Meaker - they now have 50 wickets between them this season.

There is still plenty of batting to come from Kent though, Key is still in, Northeast, Stevens and Jones can all score plenty and van Jaarsveld loves batting against us at the Oval. The forecast for tomorrow is for sunny intervals so the bowlers should look to exploit the cloud cover and get us a decent first innings lead.

What was I ever worried about?

2011-07-08T22:53:00.000+01:00

Coming up against a side with the bowling quality of Hampshire, having bowled pretty averagely ourselves yesterday, I feared for our chances tonight. I need not have done.

Here's what I saw tonight: I saw a group of 11 players who wanted to win for each other. I saw Tom Maynard play an intelligent and powerful innings. I saw an exceptional bowling performance from Chris Tremlett, and I saw Zafar Ansari, all of 19 years old, hold his nerve to dismiss Shahid Afridi who was threatening to go berserk. In the end, I saw us beat the outstanding team in the group comfortably.

Hamilton-Brown won the toss and elected to bat, as expected with some fairly short straight boundaries. However the man most likely to exploit those short boundaries, Jason Roy, departed in the second over to a pretty poor shot, scooping the ball into Imran Tahir's hands at short fine leg. Steve Davies was then caught behind just as he looked like he was making himself comfortable, but there was no panic.

Hamilton-Brown hit Imran Tahir for six and was then caught trying for another - a mistake which Tom Maynard conspicuously did not make. After each of Maynard's two sixes he played a calm, simple shot for a single, he's a smart cookie. We accumulated runs at a good rate, but Hampshire were bowling well. As the innings threatened to peter out, Zafar Ansari cracked his first ball beautifully down the ground and finished the innings with a lofted four off Shahid Afridi.

A target of 152 against a deep-batting Hampshire side looked shaky, but Surrey started in the best possible fashion. Arafat had Adams caught behind with no runs on the board and Vince, McKenzie and Ervine all followed him back to the dressing room with the score still yet to pass 10. Dawson and Afridi threatened with a partnership of 51 in six overs before Ansari, in another nerveless display, got rid of the dangerman.

Thereafter it was a ruthless performance and in truth Hampshire did well to get within 40 runs. Chris Adams, speaking after the match said it was the "best performance" in his time as cricket manager, and I probably wouldn't argue too hard with that. I like this team when we're the underdogs, they seem to back themselves. Two games remain, a win against Kent next Thursday will more or less see us qualified. Well played tonight gentlemen, keep it up!

One down, three to go

2011-07-07T21:28:00.000+01:00

It wasn't as comfortable as it might've looked at various points through the evening, but Surrey leave Lord's this evening with two points in the bag and a third successive win.

It's often said that in the Twenty20s in particular it's all about hitting your straps at the right time, and maybe we're doing just that. It wasn't a great performance by any stretch, Roy and Davies played very well to give us a great platform but it petered out ever so slightly towards the end of our innings.

The decision to open the bowling with de Bruyn was inspired as he picked up the wicket of Stirling, but the decision not to give him another over in the entire Middlesex innings was equally surprising. Nannes and Tremlett also got in on the act early doors to have Middlesex 24-3 and a million miles from the 173 they ended up with.

A stubborn 74 run partnership between Dexter and Dalrymple threatened to take the game away before Schofield had the former stumped. A combination of John Simpson and Sam Robson, and some pretty average bowling conspired to have Middlesex needing 11 from the final three balls but Meaker closed out the innings intelligently. All the while, in between bowling plenty of full tosses and some rank no-balls, Dirk Nannes picked up 5-40 to give him 15 wickets in the Twenty20s.

Essex's defeat to Hampshire means we go above them and until Sussex's game tonight ends we're in the qualification spots. We still have a game in hand on Somerset in second but equally we've got three tricky games coming up. I'm not going to study all the various computations of what could happen with all the five teams competing for the final three quarter final spots here, but two wins from the final three games might just be enough, but to be safe, let's go and win all three eh chaps?

Bowler-heavy squad for crucial London derby

2011-07-07T07:34:00.000+01:00

Of the 14 men named for the short jaunt to North London, by my count, 11 would make passable bowling options as Chris Adams continues his all-rounder heavy selection policy.

This is partially due to a lack of available batting options through the squad, Ramprakash is apparently still not up to Twenty20 fitness-wise, Wilson shows no sign of recapturing his best form (and is away with Ireland anyway), there's been little word on Michael Brown for some time and Adams doesn't seem willing to gamble on a Lancefield or Burns from the Seconds.

So, the 14 man squad and my expected XI is as follows:

Steven Davies
Jason Roy
Rory Hamilton-Brown
Tom Maynard
Zander De Bruyn
Zafar Ansari
Chris Schofield
Yasir Arafat
Stuart Meaker
Dirk Nannes
Chris Tremlett

Bench: Spriegel, Batty, Linley

So possibly just the one change from the game at Whitgift, but it's not a simple one this. There are only five out-and-out bats in the side so they pick themselves - and it was crucial to see Davies and Hamilton-Brown get good runs. I still expect the Roy-Davies opening partnership to continue though even if it hasn't quite fired yet. Ansari has impressed with bat and ball so he deserves a continued place in the side - so that's the top six sorted.

I've not traditionally been a fan of Schofield in the Twenty20 side but he did bowl very well on a tiny ground on Monday, and Batty didn't bowl at all. It's perhaps harsh to drop either of them for the returning Arafat but Adams seems to have faith. Meaker really has to play after his excellent comeback performance from a poor first over at Whitgift, and although Nannes and Tremlett were a touch expensive against Sussex you can't ignore their pedigree.

Middlesex have been poor in the Twenty20s this season, they sit rock bottom having won only two of their 12 matches and were recently annihilated by Gloucestershire. However this is a game they'll be desperate to win to dent our hopes of progression, and there is some threatening talent lurking in their 14 man squad. There is no Dawid Malan and Gareth Berg is still out, but Finn, Murtagh and Mclaren is a good attack on paper and in the batting Stirling, Rogers and as the game at the Oval showed, Newman can still do damage.

After tonight's game we have three tough games against table-topping Hampshire, Kent and Sussex again, so given Middlesex's poor record in the T20 this year we really need to look at this as a must-win (is there anything else?). Two consecutive wins against Glamorgan and in the game on Monday should give plenty of confidence and key batsmen have hit some form. If the dodgy weather holds, this should be an excellent game.

Surrey scrap to beat Sussex

2011-07-04T20:46:00.000+01:00

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.

Taking a small break

2011-06-19T09:43:00.000+01:00

Due to a poorly timed (but nonetheless very welcome) holiday, I'll be taking a short two week break from the blog. Good luck to Surrey in the four day Gloucestershire game starting today, and the plethora of Twenty20s still to play through to the end of the month, particularly the Middlesex game. Hopefully I'll come back to a bunch of victories!

Ansari and Dunn in contention for Gloucestershire game

2011-06-17T23:03:00.001+01:00

Surrey could field a side containing seven players aged 25 or under in the Championship game against Gloucestershire starting at the Oval on Sunday, with both Matt Dunn and Zafar Ansari named in the 12 man squad.

It's something of a new look squad with no room for any of Schofield, Jordan or Wilson and still no sign of the injured Brown. More worryingly there is no news on the progress of Stuart Meaker who has now been out of cricket for a month.

The squad and expected XI is as follows:

Rory Hamilton-Brown
Jason Roy
Mark Ramprakash
Zander de Bruyn
Steven Davies
Tom Maynard
Gareth Batty
Yasir Arafat
Tim Linley
Jade Dernbach
Matthew Dunn

12th man: Zafar Ansari

Much will probably depend on the pitch in influencing Adams' decision to go with Ansari or not. As heroic as his T20 debut was I think it unlikely that he will replace Batty so it will probably come down to a choice between him and Dunn. The pitches have been leaning towards favouring the seamers lately so I suspect Dunn will get the nod.

There is a lingering concern that Batty and Arafat at seven and eight constitutes too long a tail, especially as since making a good start to the season Batty has registered only one score above 20 in his last seven innings. However Arafat's form with the bat has been heading in the right direction, here's hoping he can continue his up-turn in form with the ball as well.

There are few form-related problems with the top six batsmen, all have made runs of some description of late and the onus will be on them to post a good base. Dernbach, Linley, Dunn and Arafat represents quite a nicely balanced seam attack and Batty can, as ever, hold up an end even if he has only taken five wickets in his last four matches.

The opposition are not the strongest, but they're just three points behind us and there are players not to be taken lightly. Jon Lewis and Ian Saxelby have 49 wickets between them in the seven games so far and in the batting Will Gidman and Chris Taylor have a weight of runs behind them this season. Hamish Marshall and Kane Williamson too are players who can do damage.

On paper we are probably the stronger side, certainly our batting is stronger and if the bowling attack bowls to their ability we have the edge on that measure as well. On the back of the comeback win against Derbyshire away from home, this game is a great opportunity to get to the halfway point in the season with 100 points or more.

Unchanged squad, but washout looms

2011-06-16T20:58:00.000+01:00

Surrey are making the trek to Taunton, probably as I write but a cursory glance at the weather forecast for tomorrow suggests it might all be in vain.

Should they get a game in however, the same 14 man squad named for Monday's game with Essex has been selected, the squad and expected team is as follows:

Hamilton-Brown
Davies
Roy
De Bruyn
Maynard
Wilson
Batty
Ansari
Arafat
Dernbach
Nannes

Bench: Linley, Schofield, Spriegel

After Monday's impressive bowling and fielding performance, Adams may well go in with the same XI and I wouldn't be against that. However despite the performance there are still question marks. Wilson made a first ball duck and Spriegel came and went for just eight runs and then bowled a solitary over for 13 runs. Adams may feel that he can get more overs and as many runs from Gareth Batty. That said, Spriegel is excellent in the field - the area where we were streets ahead of Essex, so it's a tough call. That Ansari is more or less a shoo-in is a measure of his composure on debut.

Wilson has looked in very poor form for some time, almost since the start of the season in fact, but there is no other specialist batsman in the squad. It's possible Adams may think Schofield can offer more with the bat but I think that unlikely. An in-form Wilson will score runs in T20 and maybe they're just betting on something clicking with him.

Somerset come into this game on the back of two consecutive washouts at Taunton, but in between those they've recorded scores of 235, 90 and 225...so if that pattern continues they're due another failure. I can but hope. There's not much I can say about a batting lineup of Trescothick, Kieswetter, Trego, Hildreth and Buttler, plus the power-hitting of van der Merwe, that hasn't already been written or said. Mind you, I said that about the Essex lot too, and look what happened there.

Although there is likely to be no Alfonso Thomas, in Hussain, Kirby and Murali Kartik they still have a more-than-capable Twenty20 attack.

As the reigning T20 Cup runners-up Somerset are rightly seen as one of the best in the country and if the weather behaves it'll be a massive challenge for us. There is still significant pressure on the top 5 with the tail unlikely to add too many. The last three opening partnerships read 0, 2 and 1, both Hamilton-Brown and Davies will be after a big score. The performance against Essex showed that we are capable of beating very good sides. If they can maintain that kind of level of performance we'll run them very close.

Zafar Ansari: Your County Needs You

2011-06-13T23:05:00.000+01:00

Chris Adams' brave selection of 19 year old Zafar Ansari paid off in impressive style tonight as the youngster put in an impressive, man-of-the-match-winning performance against a very strong Essex side tonight. The sooner he graduates from Cambridge University, the better.

Rory Hamilton-Brown did the right thing after winning the toss, he chose to bat first. The surface looked a very good one, but not long after the innings started it began to look decidedly less good. It is now three innings out of four that the Hamilton-Brown/Davies partnership has failed to last even beyond the first over - it would appear we don't even have a limited overs opening partnership any longer.

Davies was the first to go tonight, and Hamilton-Brown followed soon after to a very ugly shot, the ball seemed to stop in the surface. Roy and Maynard put on a good 40 partnership before Roy too was undone by the surface. Maynard then combined with de Bruyn for a partnership which threatened to muster a big total, de Bruyn was playing the ball late and Maynard was playing sensibly.

However the loss of three wickets inside an over seemed to derail the innings completely, before Zafar Ansari almost single-handedly dragged the total to 154. The target on that surface was by no means easy, but for a batting lineup such as Essex's it was very gettable.

Yasir Arafat began the bowling in the worst possible way, five wides down the leg side, but next ball he had Shah caught at third man. Thereafter it was an efficient if not exceptional bowling display. What was exceptional was the fielding, the area in which we vastly out-performed Essex tonight. We caught well and three run-outs is no accident, even if the opposition did themselves no favours at all.

Nannes, Dernbach, Arafat and de Bruyn all did a good job with the ball but it was Ansari's cool demeanour which stole the hour. Having finished the batting with a fine six, he bowled four overs for just 24 runs. He was a touch on the short side, but no one really got hold of his bowling.

Tonight was a Surrey win without any of the big guns really hitting their straps, which is encouraging. It felt at the end of our innings like we were perhaps 20 runs short, but when a side with the batting of Essex can only post 111 all out, I can't really complain. There is still room for Ramprakash to come in for the horribly out-of-form Wilson, but that compromises the fielding unit somewhat, so all that is missing is really one of our top three going on to get a big score.

We showed a small percentage of the enormous potential of this side tonight, let's make this the starting point for something much bigger and much better.

Zafar Ansari added to squad for Essex game

2011-06-12T17:00:00.000+01:00

The message to Surrey's (largely) mis-firing batsmen from Chris Adams is clear: you get the runs - because he doesn't appear to favour picking the extra batsman, left-arm spinning allrounder Zafar Ansari - all of 19 years old - could be set to make his T20 debut on Monday night.

The rest of the squad remains the same as Kevin Pietersen makes his expected return to the England fold, the squad and expected XI (though it's very difficult to read Adams' thinking on this one) is as follows:

Hamilton-Brown
Davies
Roy
De Bruyn
Maynard
Wilson
Spriegel
Batty
Dernbach
Linley
Nannes

Bench: Arafat, Ansari, Schofield

The top five, as ever, pick themselves. Three questions remain beyond that. Firstly, which of Schofield, Spriegel and Ansari should play? Adams seems to place a lot of faith in Schofield but for me he just has not delivered enough to warrant selection. Putting Ansari in would represent a massive gamble and for that reason I think Spriegel might get another go. I would personally be tempted to go with Ansari because his left arm spin offers a useful foil to Batty's off spin.

The second question is whether Adams will be bold enough to drop Arafat - on form he simply has to, he just hasn't looked enough of a threat and although he was less expensive yesterday he needs to be taking wickets. The third question is whether Adams will go for a batsman to replace KP, or go with a third spinning allrounder. This may be dictated to some extent by whether he plays Arafat. If he doesn't I think a batsman is absolutely necessary as in Dernbach, Linley and Nannes we genuinely have three number 11s.

The bottom line remains though that our top five ought to be setting/chasing higher totals than they are. On that note I would also like to see Hamilton-Brown bat first if he wins the toss, I think we're a better side setting a total, notwithstanding the demolition of Gloucestershire 10 days ago.

As for Essex...well, what can you say? A batting lineup which includes Shah, Bopara, ten Doeschate, Napier and Scott Styris is enough to make Rory's blood run cold. Their bowling isn't half bad either, all of ten Doeschate, Napier, Styris and Bopara can turn their arms over to good effect but just for good measure they've got Masters, Tim Southee and Chris Wright, all genuine threats in their own right. This is probably as tough as it gets, but they are beatable as Sussex showed last week.

The team will have been confident of bagging four points from the Glamorgan and Gloucestershire games this weekend, but they have just one. It's been a damp squib in more ways than one. Going out tomorrow night and overhauling an excellent Essex side will do wonders and if the top five play at anything close to their ability, and Dernbach, Linley and Nannes continue their sterling work, it is possible.

The Surrey rollercoaster rumbles on

2011-06-11T23:55:00.001+01:00

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!

Rain ruins my evening, and Surrey's

2011-06-10T22:28:00.000+01:00

Kevin Pietersen's Twenty20 debut ended in a no result, a point apiece for Surrey and Glamorgan. KP did find time to take a fine catch on the boundary rope at long on, but he didn't get a bat.

That the match ended the way it did, just after 9pm as the rain which briefly abated began to fall hard again, was a crying shame. Glamorgan set 167, a good target but not out of Surrey's reach, it would've been a great chase.

The Glamorgan innings was a funny mix. Glamorgan dispatched the first 10 overs for 88 runs and lost only Alviro Petersen, to the excellent Dirk Nannes for 13. Mark Cosgrove played some great shots but there were too many poor balls from Dernbach and Arafat, and Cosgrove and Jim Allenby dealt very well with the spinners - their four overs went for 37 combined.

However the introduction of Zander de Bruyn into the attack pulled things back for Surrey. He accounted for Cosgrove and two overs later he bowled Ben Wright. He was just wobbling it off the seam but it worked very well. Dernbach also bowled a good over for good measure, taking two wickets during a spell in which Glamorgan lost 4-34 in six overs.

Allenby and David Brown threatened to heave the total close to the 180 mark but the last eight or nine balls from Dernbach and Nannes were excellent.

The rain began to fall in the interval, there was briefly hope of getting some sort of game, even just a five over thrash, but it was not to be. There are some positives to be drawn from today, Nannes' bowling was superb, Dernbach came back well and de Bruyn did a good job as fourth seamer. Arafat had another game to forget, rarely threatening and his four overs disappeared for 41 runs, his return this season is 17 wickets from 12 games in all competitions at 49 apiece, where is the Arafat of old? His place in the game tomorrow surely has to go to Tim Linley.

Down to Gloucestershire tomorrow who look to have improved somewhat from their first couple of games, weather permitting it should be more of a test than the game at the Oval.

And now back to the cricket

2011-06-09T18:55:00.000+01:00

The brief non-cricketing interlude caused by the proposed introduction of 'walk on girls' will now hopefully pass, the club having decided to shelve the idea indefinitely. Alright the u-turn could've been communicated better and it was a monumentally silly idea in the first place, but credit to the club for changing their position. An old Spanish proverb goes "a wise man changes his mind, a fool never will", the club's members objected to the idea and 48 hours later they canned it, end of story. No one at the club will have intended any offence to be caused (though it doubtless caused plenty), let's draw a line under it.

So, the cricket. The big piece of news to report is that Kevin Pietersen looks set to play his first competitive Twenty20 match for the club having been temporarily released from England duty - alas the same cannot be said of Chris Tremlett who is retained by the ECB for the time being. The full squad for the two games against Glamorgan and the return Gloucestershire fixture coming over the next couple of days, and the expected XI is:

Hamilton-Brown
Davies
Roy
Pietersen
De Bruyn
Maynard
Spriegel
Batty
Arafat
Dernbach
Nannes

Bench: Schofield, Linley, Wilson

I'm a bit surprised that Matt Dunn and Tom Jewell were not named, particularly the former, perhaps they don't want Dunn to incur any Cosgrove-shaped scars at such an early stage in his career. Given that Pietersen has to play and none of the other batsmen are likely to be dropped I live in hope that I will get my wish that we will play six full time batters.

There remain two final selection question marks, Spriegel or Schofield and Linley or Arafat. Although he was dropped for the last game I get the feeling that Arafat wasn't quite fully fit against Gloucestershire, he certainly didn't look to be at full pace, so although Linley has bowled really well I think Arafat's week of rest allied to his biffing ability might just give him the nod. If Arafat can find some as-yet elusive form, an attack of him, Dernbach and the thankfully-fit Dirk Nannes ought to be very dangerous.

The Spriegel-Schofield question is tricky, Schofield's batting has been in better nick, but I prefer Spriegel the bowler. With de Bruyn in the side we can afford to pick the superior batsman, but given Hamilton-Brown has barely bowled the South African so far I think he might elect to go with Spriegel in the hope that he can bowl four good overs and bag a few runs for good measure, but it's a close-run thing.

Glamorgan have a won-one-lost-one record so far from their two games although last night they came as close as anyone has this year to beating Hampshire in very nearly defending 120 at the Rose Bowl. In Cosgrove and Petersen they have a mighty fine Twenty20 opening pair and their batting doesn't end there with Allenby, Wagg and Wright down the order. With James Harris absent from their 14 man squad their bowling strength lies in the talent and experience of Croft and Cosker who have given away just 5.4 runs per over from their 15 overs this season, taking 6 wickets in the process.

Last year we failed to defend 168 at the Oval against the Welsh side, one that may have had Tom Maynard in it but on the flip side there was no Alviro Petersen for them in 2010, so Surrey won't be taking anything for granted. There's millions of runs in our top order as the game against Gloucestershire showed, and the addition of the extra bat should allow more of a margin than we had against Hampshire. If we can deal with the Glamorgan spinners we should be right on course.

Surrey: Leading English Cricket in Sexism

2011-06-07T22:03:00.000+01:00

Surrey made an announcement on the official website that has somehow escaped my attention for all of 24 hours, apparently Phil 'The Power' Taylor and one of his darts-playing colleagues will be playing some sort of exhibition match involving fans and a cash prize.

But that's not what I'm writing about here. No, what I'm writing about is the announcement, included in the very same article, that Surrey's players will be accompanied as they walk to the wicket by 'walk on girls'. Yes, you read that right.

As Rory Hamilton-Brown and Steven Davies walk to the wicket on Monday night, and for that matter every other batsman, they will be joined by a woman, for no discernible reason - other than to 'add a touch of glamour' as the official site so delicately puts it. Is it just for the banter? Just to keep their mind occupied during that walk of, oh I don't know, a minute at the most?

I'm not even annoyed at the pointlessness of it all, that is a given, what I'm annoyed about is how old fashioned and utterly out of date this idea is. Unless the idea is some sort of extension of the mascots, i.e. young cricketers or cricket fans get an opportunity to meet their heroes (in which case why isn't it 'walk on girls and boys'?) then it is a deeply sexist and backwards step.

What do the Surrey Ladies team make of this? Barely two years after England's women's team won the World Cup and the World Twenty20, what do the young girls in the age group sides think of it all? Is their role at the club to be reduced to merely escorting their male counterparts to the wicket? At a time when cricket needs to be broadening its appeal, this has the potential to do precisely the opposite.

There is still time for the club to do the right thing and nip this idea in the bud. I'm sure the skipper and Davies can manage without company, and if any of the other lads feel lonely on the walk to the wicket, well there'll be 11 blokes from Essex out there to talk to. I would urge the club in the strongest terms not to do this, we can all pretend this never happened.

You can't win 'em all

2011-06-03T22:02:00.000+01:00

The run of six consecutive limited overs wins had to end at some point, and so it was at the Rose Bowl tonight, Surrey were comfortably beaten by a very good Hampshire side.

Surrey lost the toss and Cork sent Hamilton-Brown and Davies out to bat. Looking to carry on the good work from last night, Davies was clean bowled by Cork himself for a golden duck, the worst possible start. Hamilton-Brown and Roy then made good headway until the former was bowled by Danny Briggs, the latter was run out soon after, neither had passed 20. Tom Maynard managed just three runs from five deliveries as the pressure on the top order told.

Wickets fell at all-too regular intervals and predictably the innings stalled. If it sounds like I'm repeating myself, it's probably because I am, if the top order fireworks don't happen we don't have a reliable Plan B, the lower middle order is too bits-and-pieces, and Imran Tahir was too good. De Bruyn and Schofield did a decent job of hauling the total into respectable territory but 140 was never likely to be enough.

Lumb and Adams, one of the stronger opening pairs on the county circuit, raced out of the blocks at 10 runs an over. By the time Linley bowled Adams the target had been whittled down to under 100. Worryingly Dirk Nannes didn't bowl after his initial two over spell, and was replaced on the field by Gary Wilson. The last thing we need is an injury to another of our seamers.

Vince and McKenzie calmly reduced the total, never having to take big risks. Hampshire are a well balanced T20 side, exemplified by their comprehensive win over Somerset, another very strong side, on Wednesday. If we are to compete with the very best T20 sides, and I think we have the raw materials to do so, I really think an extra batsman is required, we cannot continue to gamble on just five out-and-out bats, we will get found out too often - not every time, but too often to be considered genuine challengers.

It's not the end of the world, it's one defeat and there's still 14 games to play in the group stages. I just hope Adams doesn't see this simply as a blip, the formula isn't quite right (but neither is it wildly wrong), it needs a tweak or two.

Twenty20 off to a great start

2011-06-02T22:39:00.001+01:00

Any lingering fears that this year's Twenty20 competition would get off to the non-start that last year's did were dispelled rapidly this evening as Surrey romped to an 8 wicket win against Gloucestershire.

Surrey got off to a great start with Alex Gidman caught behind off debutant Dirk Nannes, and two overs later he had Craig Taylor caught off a top edge. Surrey took regular wickets thanks to impressive bowling from Nannes, Tim Linley and Gareth Batty in particular. Yasir Arafat and Chris Schofield were expensive, the former in particular was poor and bowled too much on the legs. Matt Spriegel didn't bowl terribly but I don't think his bowling was best employed, I remain convinced that Spriegel's bowling works better earlier in an innings.

That Schofield and Spriegel both only bowled half their overs, and de Bruyn was not called upon at all only served to emphasise that there was room for the extra batsman in my opinion, apologies for belabouring the point.

Not that he was needed in the end as Gloucestershire's total of 155 was made to look woefully inadequate. Hamilton-Brown and Davies resurrected their powerful partnership which was so successful last year but has been absent in the CB40 games this year, they put on 100 in 10 overs. Davies was his usual excellent self square of the wicket and while Hamilton-Brown trailed him initially he started to open up towards the 10 over mark.

Jason Roy looked in good touch, especially for a man who was eventually out for only 10 off 13 balls and Tom Maynard was barely needed. Davies ended 92 not out from just 55 balls, he dealt particularly well with Muralitharan and Surrey coasted home with 19 balls remaining.

It means Surrey have still only been beaten once in 2011 and today I really got the feeling this was when the batting began to approach top gear. I may not think the selection was 100% right, but I cannot fault the performance, well played.

First Twenty20 squad named

2011-06-01T19:03:00.000+01:00

Chris Adams has named a fourteen man squad for the first two Twenty20 matches against Gloucestershire tomorrow and Hampshire on Friday. If fourteen seems a little on the large side, I suspect that is because Matt Dunn was a late inclusion after his spectacular Championship debut. There is no Mark Ramprakash who it now seems is focusing if not solely then largely on Championship cricket. The squad and the XI that I expect Adams to field is as follows:

Hamilton-Brown
Davies
Roy
De Bruyn
Maynard
Spriegel
Schofield
Batty
Arafat
Linley
Nannes

Bench: Jewell, Wilson, Dunn

It is more or less the same formula Adams has employed for some time in the CB40 games and I have made my feelings about the surfeit of bowling options it provides clear. I cannot argue with the top five above, but the lack of out and out batsmen in the lower middle order worries me. As I said yesterday Spriegel has earned his place but I think number six is a place too high in the order. Schofield has been in good form with the bat, including a fifty yesterday against a very strong Hampshire 2nd XI, but his bowling has been off-colour this season. Batty has hit a rough patch of form after an excellent start to the season. If it was down to me I would be tempted to go with one of the three, probably Spriegel, treat de Bruyn as a genuine allrounder too and significantly strengthen the batting by bringing in Burns or Lancefield. The lack of in-form batsmen in the squad may be forcing Adams' hand here somewhat.

Arafat and Nannes will almost certainly play given their pedigree in this form of the game, hopefully both will hit the ground running. The last bowling slot will probably come down to Linley or Dunn, Linley being a bit more of a known quantity will probably give him the nod.

There will be significant pressure on the top five who will have to face no less a bowler than Muttiah Muralitharan. They are a talented bunch but they must also bat with a degree of responsibility. Gloucestershire are not a one man band either, Kane Williamson, the young Kiwi is a very promising batsman, the Gidmans have been in good form and who knows what Kevin O'Brien might do.

As for Hampshire on Friday, it looks like Shahid Afridi will be unavailable after the PCB revoked his clearance. While this is a boon for us as he is such a quality performer, it's hugely disappointing from a cricketing point of view. They nonetheless have Danny Briggs and Imran Tahir to do the spinning, that pair along with Cork, Mascarenhas and Jones make Hampshire one of the stronger bowling sides. Their batting is powerful too; Vince, Adams, Lumb and Mackenzie are all quality performers.

A repeat of last year's disaster is out of the question tomorrow. We are a much better side than we were 12 months ago and we should be able to beat Gloucestershire, Hampshire will be a much tougher prospect, Afridi or no Afridi. Our limited overs form has been impressive so far in 2011 and these two games present an ideal chance to continue that.

The boy Dunn good

2011-06-01T18:28:00.000+01:00

A hugely impressive all round performance from Surrey over the last two days saw them cruise to their second Championship win of the season. That it was achieved at a canter, with Maynard cracking a six to win with 7 wickets in hand, is testament to some impressive batting and bowling.

Principle among those impressing today was Matt Dunn. The 19 year old quick bowler should have been in the side from the word go in my view but since replacing Dernbach he has been hugely impressive. On Championship debut he returned figures of 5-56 including the wicket of Wes Durston which triggered the collapse of six wickets for 59 runs. Tim Linley also bowled superbly, in truth he probably earned some of Dunn's wickets for him by going at just 1.6 runs an over, although Linley himself finished with 4-26 to complete a his first 10 wicket haul. Derbyshire were blown away for 99.

The aggressive batting that made a result even possible yesterday then made another appearance as Surrey re-emerged with the target just 142 runs. Roy and Hamilton-Brown's opening stand of 62 in six overs belied the nature of a pitch on which Derbyshire struggled. Although they were both out within an over of each other, de Bruyn and Ramprakash saw the side almost home before Maynard stepped up to finish the job.

Derbyshire are one of the weakest sides in Division Two, certainly one that we should be beating, so the result itself should not come as a surprise, but the manner in which we came back from a very lacklustre first innings bowling performance did, and a pleasant surprise it was too. I've been complaining of late that when we force an opening we have failed to take advantage of it, well today they did just that, and huge credit to the whole side.

This is just the beginning though, we need to win probably five or our remaining nine games to be in with a promotion chance, that is no mean feat. The win today is a great way to start the push.

Twenty20 Preview

2011-05-31T19:16:00.000+01:00

Shockingly the Friends Life (not Friends Provident any more) Twenty20 Cup is almost upon us. Things get under way on Thursday against Gloucestershire, here's hoping we do a bit better in that fixture than we did in the corresponding one last year.

So what then should we expect this year? In terms of sheer power our top six is a match for pretty much any in county cricket. Hamilton-Brown, Davies, Roy, de Bruyn, Maynard and Ramprakash are six batsmen capable of batting any side out of a game, equally it's possible that we'll end up (as we did last year) 17-5, but it's worth the gamble if you ask me. I really can say no more than that about our batting, they are a collection of the most talented players currently playing the game.

I think where we do struggle a little is when it comes to the all rounders. Batty is very much a bowling all rounder (and has hit a rocky patch form-wise) and Spriegel, while I have no concerns over his form, can take a few deliveries to get into his stride. He has more than earned his place though and his knock against Scotland this year and against Worcestershire in the CB40 last year show him to have plenty of big-hitting ability once into his stride. His bowling will also be crucial. There is a question as to whether both Batty and Spriegel should play in the same side, as with de Bruyn and Hamilton-Brown in the team there is enough bowling to make up the shortfall in overs that leaving one out would create. I suspect Adams will select both, with Schofield in the mix as well, given that no batsman waiting in the wings is really kicking the door down for this format.

As for the bowlers, the loss of Tremlett and Dernbach to England is a blow of untold proportions. For all his prowess in the Championship people tend to forget quite how magnificent Trem was in the T20s last year, 24 wickets at 17 and an economy rate of 6.8. Dernbach would've been vying with him for top spot were it not for that injury at Lord's. We must make do however, and in Arafat and Dirk Nannes we have two of the most experienced (and successful) T20 bowlers ever. Should Stuart Meaker be fit to return he too will be a handful, perhaps even Matt Dunn too.

So in short we have a team capable of making the latter stages and yes, even winning this competition. Other sides have better bowling (Hampshire's frankly ridiculous battery of spinners springs to mind, and Somerset have an embarrassment of riches), perhaps some have better batting (Somerset again), but there is so much talent in this side that they should quite rightly be aiming very high.

Key players: Zander de Bruyn. His ability to stabilise an innings, or to biff a few to make a decent total into a great total, is something we were sorely lacking last season. His overs will also be crucial, expect full four over spells more often than not. Dirk Nannes. 90mph left armer with a lovely beard. Need I say more?

Game comes alive with a day to play

2011-05-31T18:48:00.000+01:00

After the disappointment of losing a full day to the rain yesterday, a full quota was bowled today, and with another full day in prospect tomorrow the game is genuinely in the balance.

That is thanks to some excellent bowling late in the day from Tim Linley (who had earlier taken a career best 6-81) and Matt Dunn (who was called in to replace Dernbach who is joining up with the England test side - well done Jade!). Both bowlers took two wickets apiece in the final 12 overs of play including first innings centurion Chesney Hughes. Where the games against Glamorgan and Essex needed something extraordinary to happen on the final day there is a real chance of a result tomorrow, Redfern and Durston have a real fight on their hands tomorrow morning to keep Derbyshire in the mix.

Surrey were bowled out for what seemed a slightly disappointing 358 at the time, but there is clearly still something in the pitch. Hamilton-Brown, Davies, de Bruyn and Maynard all made fifties in very good time but none passed 80. The final five wickets collapsed in a heap for just 25 runs, including Chris Jordan for a six ball duck, he really has had a wretched game and his participation in the Twenty20s will now probably rely in injuries to others. Still, getting to within 42 of Derbyshire's 400-9 declared (and doing so in only 70 overs) meant we were still well in the game.

With Derbyshire 35-4 at the close of play, just 77 runs ahead Surrey are looking good. However with the two batsmen at the crease, Smith and Sutton still to come Derbyshire could quite conceivably add 150 to their score, chasing 220 in 50 or so overs on a helpful pitch will not be easy. The bowlers (and it will almost certainly require more than just Linley and Dunn) need to be right on the money tomorrow morning, Jewell and de Bruyn will have work to do and Batty might be called upon to tie up an end. Credit must go to the team who batted and bowled aggressively today to put themselves in with a shout. We've created an opening this evening, they must make sure they exploit it.

Another disappointing day

2011-05-29T18:58:00.000+01:00

Under gloomy skies on a pitch with reportedly plenty in it for the bowlers, Hamilton-Brown was probably justified in sending Derbyshire in to bat this morning. And at 16-2 he must've been a very happy man, Linley's opening burst sending back both openers. But thereafter it was Derbyshire's day. I am struggling to think of times when we really pressed home an advantage this season.

Three times we've sent teams in to bat this year and three times they've closed the day well in excess of 300 and never with more than 7 wickets down, that is pretty poor going. Linley should be singled out for praise today, another four-for against Derbyshire (4-71 to be precise) and Batty at least offered a modicum of control. Dernbach didn't have his best day although he did pass the edge of Chesney Hughes' bat early in the day.

That man Hughes, who is staggeringly only 20 years old, went on to score an impressive 124 to provide the backbone to Derbyshire's innings. Wes Durston and Dan Redfern provided ample support.

I am sure Hughes' knock was a very good one but we have only ourselves to blame for being under the cosh again. Principal among the offenders today was Chris Jordan, who to my mind is not ready for Championship cricket this year. He returned 0-72 off 10 overs. That's unacceptably expensive in a one day match never mind four day cricket. He has now taken 4 wickets at 64 in 2011, giving away 4.3 runs an over in the process. It's clear that the captain doesn't trust him as today he bowled just those 10 overs out of 96. I am in no doubt that Matthew Dunn would have been a more potent weapon today and was disappointed not to see him named. Tom Jewell did ok in only his second match with 1-68 off 16 overs and for much of the day his economy rate was far better than the 4.2 he ended with.

If the rain holds off tomorrow Derbyshire are well set to push for their final batting point and Tim Linley deserves to get his five-for, but then Surrey could be in trouble. Turner, Palladino, Jones and Clare are unlikely to be as profligate as our bowlers. In any case this looks likely to be another game which slips by without a win for Surrey unless things improve dramatically. Not good enough today.

Schofield dropped for Derbyshire game

2011-05-28T19:51:00.000+01:00

After an underwhelming performance against Glamorgan at the Oval Surrey make the trip up to Derbyshire desperately in need of a win before the mini break that includes the Twenty20. With only one win from our first six matches we are going to have to embark on a pretty extraordinary run of results for a realistic chance of promotion.

Chris Schofield is dropped from the squad after disappointing against Glamorgan, and Matthew Dunn and Rory Burns come into the squad. It will be interesting to see what set up Adams goes for, but here's what I think he might do:

Rory Hamilton-Brown
Jason Roy
Mark Ramprakash
Zander de Bruyn
Steven Davies
Tom Maynard
Gareth Batty
Tom Jewell
Jade Dernbach
Matthew Dunn
Tim Linley

12th men: Rory Burns, Chris Jordan

Chris Jordan did little against Glamorgan to suggest he should play, so I hope Tom Jewell is given a go, although I think there is also an argument for playing the extra batsman instead of the allrounder, especially given the amount of overs de Bruyn has bowled lately. I think its unlikely Adams will go that route as if he was to play the extra bat, it would surely have been Harinath, I suspect Burns is in the squad as a precautionary measure given Davies' sprained ankle against Glamorgan.

An attack including two such inexperienced bowlers as Dunn and Jewell is a huge gamble, but with Arafat and Meaker still out we don't have many other options. Dunn hasn't bowled his best for the 2nds this season but this could be his moment. Linley seemed to get better through the game at the Oval and he'll want to carry on the good work he started at Derbyshire last season - 4-13 before a foot injury cruelly cut him down in his prime.

Derbyshire are without Tim Groenewald who has 24 wickets this season, but they still have Palladino, Clare, Smith and Turner more than capable of taking wickets. They've lost Usman Khawaja but have gained Martin Guptill who I've always been very impressed by for New Zealand. Wayne Madsen tops their batting averages but Chesney Hughes is the more dangerous. Wes Durston is no mug either.

This won't be an easy game and again it's probably a story of two sides stronger in the batting that the bowling, certainly in our case, less so for Derbyshire. However our batting unit is the stronger of the two so if Dernbach can hit his straps, Dunn steps up to the occasion and Linley carries on improving, we should be looking at beating them, weather permitting.

(Some) Pride Restored

2011-05-27T19:36:00.000+01:00

After being outplayed for three quarters of the game today was something of an exercise in redressing the balance, even if in the end it was another disappointing draw, the fourth such result in our six matches so far.

There was some good news today, Jason Roy scored his maiden Championship hundred and did so at more than a run a ball, bringing up his hundred with what must be his favourite shot, a straight six into the pavilion. He and Hamilton-Brown also constructed Surrey's second century opening partnership in consecutive matches.

I'm not sure if the captains agreed before the day's play that the target would be 400, but if they did then chances of a result were all but knackered there and then. The teams went into lunch with Glamorgan 320 ahead and a very brave skipper might have sent Surrey back out right after lunch, but Petersen elected to bat on. I personally think 350 in what would've been roughly 55 overs would've been ideal, but they pressed on before eventually declaring, leaving Surrey needing a desperately unlikely 395 runs in 50 overs. Roy and Hamilton-Brown motored along at the required 8 an over for close to 20 overs, playing with the freedom that comes with an almost unattainable total. Given the rapid start it was a bit disappointing to see them give up the chase as soon as one wicket fell, it was perhaps worth pushing Maynard or Davies up the order to have one last dart. That may be nit picking because it would have been even at that stage an incredibly unlikely win.

We are never going to be fighting for promotion by drawing two thirds of our matches, yes its better than losing every game but we've got to be creating opportunities to win games. Over the past few years we've been able to look at the pitches as the culprit but I don't think we can blame the pitch this time. It wasn't a raging green top, zipping about all over the place, but there was a bit of life in it, hence Glamorgan's rookie seam attack dismantling our batting for less than 300 runs in the first innings. We failed to win this game, and in reality we were never in a position to win it, because we didn't play close to our best cricket and that is a concern.

The next game against Derbyshire comes hot on the heels of this one, beginning on Sunday. They're no pushovers but we should be looking at beating them, especially if Meaker is fit again. Many a positive word has been spoken by Adams and Hamilton-Brown this season about taking opportunities when presented, and pressing home the advantage, but that hasn't been backed up on the pitch sufficiently. That needs to change, and quickly, if we are to make any progress.

New Jack Hobbs biography reviewed - and two to give away!

2011-05-26T19:49:00.002+01:00

To my eternal shame I am no Surrey County Cricket Club history buff, anything before about 1990 is something of a mystery to me, partly because of my age and partly because of my laziness. Which is not to say I know nothing of the history of the club, I do know a bit but not as much as I should. One man in particular looms larger than any other in that history, that man is Jack Hobbs.

He is unquestionably Surrey's greatest ever batsman and arguably England's greatest ever batsman. In fact Leo McKinstry's new biography of him proclaims Jack Hobbs as England's greatest ever cricketer.

I will for a moment set aside my feelings as regards Mr. McKinstry's politics which are, shall we say, not in line with my own, and review what is an excellent biography.

The story of Hobbs' career is extraordinary. He started playing first class cricket in the early 1900s, firmly in the shadow, as was the rest of English cricket, of W.G. Grace, a man whose record of 126 First Class hundreds he would eventually eclipse, and then obliterate. The book explains Hobbs' humble beginnings and how they influenced his entire career. There are interesting asides such as the story of how he offered his services to Essex who rejected him sight unseen, the rest is history.

The passage which is set against the background of the First World War gives a fascinating insight into the Britain of the time, and into cricket at the time which was full of conflicted players. Hobbs himself worked in a munitions factory and served in the RAF at home but he never saw action overseas.

It charts Hobbs' career post-war when he really began to churn out the runs aged 36 (he was a late First Class starter, not debuting for Surrey until age 22). Including the 1925 season during which he scored a scarcely believable 3,000 runs and 16 hundreds, and his quest to reach 200 first class hundreds which he never quite managed (not bad to be left in the nervous 190s on that count). Of course it also charts his success with England and in particular his partnership with Herbert Sutcliffe. It tells the story of a great cricketer who was so shy he even worried whether he should accept the knighthood the Queen awarded him in 1953.

The book is clearly meticulously researched, I have difficulty dredging up records from the early 2000s never mind 1905. Occasionally it proved a tough read because of the sheer weight of statistical information, but it would be hard to truly appreciate Hobbs' greatness without them. If you're a fan of Surrey it's a must-read, but even for the casual cricket fan it is more than worth a look.

I have also very kindly been given two copies to give away by the publishers, but I'm not just dishing them out for nothing. If you fancy a chance of winning one email me the answer to this (pretty easy) question:

How many hundreds did Hobbs score for England?

Email your answer to SurreyCricketBlog@gmail.com, and I'll randomly select a winner in due course (let's say the deadline is midnight June 3rd)! For those that don't win, the book is available from all good book sellers. Well it's on Amazon anyway.

Saved by the weather

2011-05-26T19:01:00.000+01:00

There's not much to report from today with only about 25 overs playable in the day because of some distinctly inclement weather, but it does seem that barring some very enterprising play tomorrow, we have at least saved the draw.

It's hard on Glamorgan who have comprehensively outplayed us over two days and 25 overs. This morning Gareth Batty and Schofield should've set about attaining the follow on target before anything else, but Batty disappeared early doors and the rest of the batsmen were gone within an hour of the start of play.

In the process we did manage to creep past the follow on, by all of 15 runs, and Glamorgan were sent out to bat again. Only 12.4 overs were managed but they safely negotiated them and ended 46 without loss, 181 runs ahead and if the day hadn't been curtailed we'd have been in deep trouble.

We've not been good enough this game, not in the batting nor the bowling, it is as simple as that. If there isn't a major upset now we will draw this game, but a solitary win (albeit an impressive one) from our first six games is a pretty poor return, especially as today was the first time we've lost a significant amount of overs to the weather. With all bowlers fit and firing we would surely have fared better, but Adams should resist falling back on this as an excuse - up against an equally depleted Glamorgan side we've been second best by a distance. There is still plenty of work to be done to make us promotion challengers.

We were either very bad today, or yesterday, or both...

2011-05-25T19:55:00.002+01:00

A day that started supremely well for Surrey, with Glamorgan's last six batsman falling for just 73 runs, and that included an 8th wicket partnership of 51, ended pretty badly with Davies and Maynard getting out in the final 10 overs of the day.

It was a fine comeback from Surrey's bowlers, Linley had one of his mornings, dismissing Owen, Wallace and Croft inside five overs for 12 runs. Dernbach added Alex Jones to his list of victims and a much improved Chris Jordan took two more. Enormous credit to them after a poor day yesterday.

So while Glamorgan's first innings total was still a daunting 419, it was nowhere near as daunting as it might've been. Surrey's reply started poorly though, both Roy and Hamilton-Brown were gone before the score had reached 20, Adams will be scratching his head as regards the openers yet again. Arun Harinath's stock is rising by the day.

Mark Ramprakash carried on his merry way but de Bruyn was gone with the score barely at 50. Ramps and Davies put on 90 in 23 overs before the former was bowled by the pick of Glamorgan's bowlers, Chris Ashling, for 67. Davies and Maynard staged something of a mini comeback with a 60 partnership before they were both dismissed during a very decent spell of Will Owen bowling late in the day. Davies is still to make three figures in 2011, scores of 77 and 94 will do little to cheer him up.

The follow on target is still 30 runs away and the prospect of a positive result for Surrey has now all but disappeared, again. Yes we have a makeshift bowling attack but so do Glamorgan, we've just been outplayed for the best part of two days and that's hugely disappointing. Without seeing two full days play it's difficult to be sure if we bowled really poorly yesterday, allowing their batsmen to pile on the runs, or batted pretty poorly today, allowing their bowlers to tie our batsmen up. Either way we're in a poor position. Schofield and Batty have a big job on their hands to even make the draw possible tomorrow, I don't know if 9, 10 and 11 are going to provide many runs. Another day of Championship cricket slips by where we've failed to assert ourselves completely on the opposition.

Runs galore, and it's nothing to do with the size of the ground

2011-05-24T20:10:00.000+01:00

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.

Depleted seam attacks the order of the day

2011-05-23T19:07:00.000+01:00

After five almost thankless days for Surrey's bowlers being tonked around the postage-stamp ground at Whitgift they return to the Oval tomorrow bearing the scars of their Croydonian sojourn.

Both Stuart Meaker and Yasir Arafat injured hamstrings over the weekend and neither will be fit to face Glamorgan. The 12 man squad and expected XI is as follows:

Rory Hamilton-Brown
Tom Maynard
Mark Ramprakash
Zander de Bruyn
Steven Davies
Jason Roy
Chris Schofield
Gareth Batty
Tom Jewell
Jade Dernbach
Tim Linley

12th man: Chris Jordan

As for the CB40 game yesterday I suspect Jewell, Jordan and Schofield will duke it out for the final two slots and as with yesterday I'd like to see the spot go to Jewell. I realise it is hard on Jordan to read too much into his figures from yesterday but he didn't look spot-on against Middlesex in April either. Jewell has been in good form for the 2nd XI this year and deserves a shot at first team cricket. The return of Dernbach is critical and much of the work will fall to him as while Jewell and Linley will do a job, they are unlikely to run through Glamorgan.

The batting picks itself really, with Jason Roy coming back in place of Kevin Pietersen. The top six are in pretty good nick, only Steven Davies is in need of a big score and the Oval is the ideal place to make that score. It will be interesting to see where Roy slots back in, he would almost certainly be more comfortable in the middle order and Maynard did a decent job of opening at Whitgift, it's six of one half a dozen of the other on that one for me.

But Surrey aren't the only ones with problems in the seam bowling department. Glamorgan come to the Oval without James Harris, Adam Shantry, Huw Waters or Jim Allenby. Dean Cosker could have to bowl a lot of overs but he's a mighty fine bowler to have doing so, one of the more under-rated spinners in county cricket in my view. On the batting front it will be largely the same side we faced in Cardiff but with the crucial addition of Ben Wright who has scored over 400 first class runs this season.

With two sides whose strength lies overwhelmingly in the batting this could turn into another draw but we can't really afford that, games are starting to mount up and we only have one Championship win under out belt. The top order needs to get big runs and Jade Dernbach needs to carry over his form from the Lions game, leading the attack from the front.

By hook or by crook, it's five out of five

2011-05-22T20:07:00.001+01:00

I figured today's CB40 against Hampshire would be a high scoring affair even if the last meeting between the two teams produced just 283 runs for 16 wickets. At Whitgift though the sky is the limit and today saw 586 runs for 17 wickets. Over the five days of the Whitgift festival a mammoth 2,029 runs have been scored.

And the good news is we have maintained our 100% record, recording a comfortable (in the end) win by 36 runs. Once again the opening partnership failed, although today's partnership of 34 was the highest of the season - a major disappointment after last season's fireworks. Roy and Hamilton-Brown got together to put on 62 in under 8 overs and give the innings real impetus but again two quick wickets fell to check the progress slightly.

Maynard and de Bruyn did a superb job if re-building though, they put on 118 in 16 overs. And when the innings looked like it might be stalling with 3 quick wickets for 27 runs Schofield and Arafat rescued it towards the end. Chasing a total of 311 is well out of reach on most grounds but not so at Whitgift.

Hampshire got off to a fine start, reaching 80 inside 10 overs and Yasir Arafat went off injured in the middle of his third over (both he and Meaker must be concerns for Tuesday's game against Glamorgan, down to the bare bones in the seam bowling department now). Benny Howell played a quite superb innings but no one batted around him, though he was out in the 39th over for 122 none of his team mates passed 30. Chris Schofield in particular was excellent today in returning 2-31 and de Bruyn ably assisted him in bagging 3-47. Linley was too expensive but collected two scalps, Jordan was even more expensive and collected none. Batty bowled just 3 overs for 17 runs, I can't help feeling if he'd bowled some of Jordan's overs the win would've been even more comfortable.

It was by no means a faultless performance but it was a good one. Our first proper 40 over batting performance with two rapid fifties in the top five and contributions from two others, plus decent cameos from the lower order. The bowling was ok, and its unfair to be too hard on the bowlers at Whitgift. Five wins from five is a superb effort, but the business end of this group stage begins in 8 weeks when we play all of Durham, Warwickshire and Northants twice, those games will be a real test for this side.

Update: Batty apparently had an elbow problem, could cause further problems for Tuesday.

Dirk Nannes for Surrey?

2011-05-22T12:50:00.000+01:00

Only a matter of days after Shaun Tait cancelled his Surrey deal for the Twenty20, the club have announced they are in advanced talks for what amounts, largely, to a like-for-like replacement, Dirk Nannes.

I must admit I thought the club would struggle to get in a real quality player at such short notice but all credit to Adams and Co., if the deal is confirmed Nannes is a quality signing with a proven pedigree. He might not be the 98mph monster Shaun Tait is (in between injuries), but he is a 90mph bowler, and a left armer to boot.

He is the wrong side of 35 but he didn't make his first class debut until he was 29 and has to this day only played 23 of them so he is, relatively speaking, fresh as a daisy. Which is not to say he doesn't have experience, he's played 102 Twenty20s in a combination of the Twenty20 Cup, the Australian Big Bash and the IPL, not to mention 17 Twenty20 internationals.

He didn't appear at the World Cup earlier in the year, and he's only made two appearances in this year's IPL for Royal Challengers Bangalore, so he might be a bit rusty, hopefully he'll shake that off quickly. He played 6 times in the Big Bash this year, collecting 7 wickets at 20, giving away less than 7 runs an over. They aren't spectacular figures, but I am sure he'll do the business.

With Meaker injured and Tremlett away on England duty its understandable that Adams was seeking a like-for-like replacement for the T20s. An attack comprising Arafat, Dernbach and Nannes has the potential to be very useful. Hopefully the club can tie up the deal in the next few days.

The day promised much, but delivered a draw

2011-05-21T18:54:00.000+01:00

I can hardly be surprised that a match where both sides scored over 500 in their first innings ended in a draw, and in the end it was a million miles from being anything but. However at various points through the day it seemed like we might be able to force the issue. It was not to be.

Just as we were scuppered in Cardiff by Meaker's cruelly timed injury, here too his injury appears to have counted heavily against us. It was a manful effort from Gareth Batty in particular who toiled away for 33 overs on a pitch for the batsman, and returned 3-75. He now has 17 wickets at 32 and 250 runs at 50 for the season. That Yasir Arafat and Chris Tremlett returned a third of the number of wickets (and twice as many no balls) our part timers did says much about how we were missing an enforcer. And to anyone who says no balls are just part and parcel of fast bowlers trying to bowl fast and we shouldn't dwell on them too much - Chris Wright would've been back in the hutch and Essex nine down with the target at just 280 if Tremlett hadn't over-stepped the mark.

In truth though it is unfair to blame any one player in particular for a failure to win this match. Pitches like the one at Whitgift do us no favours at all. I'm sure the 30 overs of pace bowling on a rock hard pitch young Stuart Meaker's body had to go through on days one and two contributed to his injury. We know face the prospect of the next couple of games without any of Dernbach, Tremlett and Meaker himself. This is a real concern.

We are hard to beat these days, no question. They could have crumbled in the face of 548 runs, but a sparkling hundred from the skipper and contributions from down the order ensured we did not. A message though to the groundsman at Guildford, the next outground we go to, please put some life in the wicket.

Surrey set for same CB40 formula

2011-05-21T16:41:00.000+01:00

Surrey have named the 13 players from whom they will select an XI to play Hampshire at Whitgift tomorrow. If the last four days are anything to go by it could be a very high scoring game.

The 13 players named, and the team I expect, are as follows:

Rory Hamilton-Brown
Steven Davies
Jason Roy
Zander De Bruyn
Tom Maynard
Matthew Spriegel
Chris Schofield
Tom Jewell
Gareth Batty
Yasir Arafat
Tim Linley

12th men: Gary Wilson, Chris Jordan

From my point of view I'm disappointed not to see the extra batsman included, either Ramprakash or Kevin Pietersen, or even perhaps Arun Harinath. I know the formula has worked in the last few games, but I can't help thinking we're going to be found out eventually with too long a tail. I am also slightly concerned about the cutting-edge, or lack of it, offered by that attack. With no Meaker, Tremlett or Dernbach to call on I think we could struggle. There will likely be a fight between Schofield, Jewell and Jordan for the final two slots, its much of a muchness really but I'd like to see Jewell given a go.

We may have knocked over Hampshire for 141 in the game at the Rose Bowl, and their average CB40 innings may be just 194 in 2011, but they can't keep failing with the bat. Back in April they racked up 274 against a Warwickshire attack including Woakes, Rankin and an in-form Rikki Clarke. They will be without Jimmy Adams which does weaken their order but the likes of Dawson, Ervine, Vince and the returning Mascarenhas have got plenty of runs in them if it clicks. Their bowling is very strong too, Cork, Briggs, Jones and Chris Wood isn't bad either.

On such a small ground, with a wicket likely to suit the batsman, I think we might struggle with that side. However we've shown no little character in pulling off some wins that we didn't look like making this season, and Hamilton-Brown is due a big innings - if he gets going at Whitgift it could be carnage, fingers crossed it is!

Enterprising declaration time?

2011-05-21T00:37:00.000+01:00

I personally don't find 500-plays-500 to be a particularly mouthwatering prospect. Of course Napier's and Hamilton-Brown's knocks were impressive but give me a fair fight between bat and ball any day.

When our sixth wicket fell, still something on the order of 100 runs short of the follow-on target I began to worry, but to the rescue, again, came Gareth Batty. His 79 in concert with de Bruyn and Arafat hauled Surrey up to withing 42 of Essex's total. A third draw in three years at Whitgift beckons unless we suffer a second innings collapse. With wins at an absolute premium can we afford to be playing games on such batsman-friendly wickets?

Essex closed the day on 112-2, 154 runs ahead and with Graham Napier still to come. He could be the key to a result tomorrow, if Walker and Cook make a decent start they may elect to push Napier up the order and see if they can accelerate towards a lead of something on the order of 350 and give Surrey 50-60 overs to get it in. Now that would make for entertaining cricket.

I've not seen the pitch but given that Batty and Pietersen bowled 20 of 37 second innings overs today, one assumes the pitch is taking some turn, Meaker bowled just a single over. Arafat was expensive (and bowled the obligatory no-ball), Tremlett less so and he picked up the Pettini (but he bowled two no-balls). Tomorrow should at least be cricket on a more even keel, though the pitch still seems to be favouring the batsman.

Shaun Tait pulls out of Surrey T20 duty

2011-05-19T21:01:00.001+01:00

Surrey's Friends Life Twenty20 campaign gets started in exactly two weeks, Gloucestershire come to the Oval first up, as they did last year (and that didn't go so well). We'll have to make do without our big-name signing Shaun Tait who has pulled the plug at almost the very last minute because of concerns he has over being able to make it through the sixteen game programme.

To be honest I never imagined that a player as fragile as Tait would ever play every single game of our campaign, but I thought given that he'd signed up and we're now virtually on top of the start of the tournament, he'd at least be making an appearance. His decision not to come leaves us high and dry and is yet another blow to Adams' attempts to sign high quality overseas players. Fair enough if he thought he couldn't make it through 16 games, but why didn't he give the club a bit more notice?

I know some people doubted that Tait was a good signing but with his searing pace he'd have been too good for most county batsmen I think. Yes he'd have gone round the park sometimes, but I thought he was a good signing. Not so apparently.

So Adams now has to make a decision to make, does he scramble around for a replacement of possibly dubious quality or does he make do with the young but undoubtedly talented squad we have now? I think the latter is probably better. The last thing we want is another Grant Elliott, or Rao Ifthikar, or Younus Khan. Unless a high quality individual is available, a Ross Taylor, Dan Vettori or Albie Morkel say, then Adams should just stick to what we've got.