Cricket is back - 2012's first squad named

Chris Adams has appropriately named a 12 man squad to kick off the 2012 pre-season schedule with a two day game against Essex at Chelmsford. Shorn of a few regulars including Mark Ramprakash and Gareth Batty who are due to jet off soon to Abu Dhabi for the MCC game, and Gary Wilson who is away with Ireland, there's plenty of room for some youngsters to make an impression ahead of the first Championship game. Jacques Rudolph remains with South Africa until the the third test in Wellington ends around the 27th.

The following 12 players have been named:

Rory Hamilton-Brown
Tom Lancefield
Arun Harinath
Matthew Spriegel
Tom Maynard
Jason Roy
Rory Burns
Jon Lewis
Stuart Meaker
Tim Linley
Jade Dernbach
George Edwards

I would guess Chris Adams has eight names already pencilled onto the teamsheet to face Sussex on the 5th of April. The top five of Hamilton-Brown, Rudolph, Ramprakash, de Bruyn and Maynard are almost certain to start, and barring a spectacular pre-season Rory Burns will probably make way for Gary Wilson when he returns (Steven Davies is away with England). Jade Dernbach is very likely to make the cut, so too Tim Linley who should be given a fair crack of the whip at the top level having had such an outstanding 2011.

That leaves three spare spots, with Gareth Batty, Stuart Meaker, Chris Jordan, Jon Lewis and Jason Roy all in with a very loud shout. Again, this is of course barring a stellar performance from one or all of Harinath, Spriegel, Lancefield or Edwards - but to leapfrog any of the previous five the performance will really have to be special to make it into the Championship first XI.

So Chris Adams has a tough job on his hands. With Batty and Jordan absent for now, Meaker, Lewis and Roy are in the box seats to challenge in this first pre-season game. Much may depend on the conditions at the Oval for the Sussex game, but I would be very surprised if Adams went into that game without a spinner, which makes Gareth Batty a very strong favourite to bag one of the three spots on offer despite not being present for all of pre-season.

So now we're down to two spare spots. Adams ended last season with Jason Roy at number six and Chris Jordan at number eight, but I think they'll probably be fighting over one spot. Roy or Jordan is a very tough call and Jordan's form in the Caribbean where he's taken 10 wickets in his last two games for Barbados may give him the edge. For what it's worth I'd go with Roy and have de Bruyn bowl some fill-in overs. He might not have nailed down beyond all doubt his place in the Championship first XI last season, but his talent is beyond question. What better way for him to improve his innings-building skills than against Division One attacks?

The final spot then could come down to a straight choice between Lewis and Meaker, the young tyro and the gnarled old pro (sorry Jon). Meaker is the man in possession having ended last season strongly with fifteen wickets in the last three matches, but he has had a spot of back trouble recently and Adams may be wary of throwing him straight in. If Meaker makes it through a few testing pre-season bowling spells I think Adams will go with him, and sign of an injury and Lewis will be straight in.

A few side-shows then to the pre-season games. The battle for first team spots and a great opportunity for a few of our younger players to stake a claim for first team cricket. I'm just happy to have domestic cricket back in my life, I've missed you old buddy!

Rudolph arrives to bolster the batting

Surrey have announced the signing of South African Jacques Rudolph, as an overseas player until IPL-bound Murali Kartik arrives in late May. All in all, this is a very good signing for this stage of the season.

There are seven Championship games, and ten games in all before the end of May so Rudolph will be available for a lot of cricket. At a time of the season where opening the batting is often very tricky, with the ball swinging and seaming around more than it might in August and September, a solid, experienced pro at the top of the order is hugely important.

There is of course the prospect of Steven Davies being absent for the very early part of the season on England duty in Sri Lanka so a stand-in opener, likely to be Hamilton-Brown, will still be required, but batting with Rudolph can do him the world of good. A man with 213 first class games, 45 first class hundreds and five test hundreds, including a double to his name, knows how to bat for long periods of time. Hopefully that will rub off on the captain.

And when Davies returns, presumably to partner Rudolph at the top, Hamilton-Brown can return to the middle order where he prefers to bat, and Davies can continue his fine work from last season where he averaged 54 from 11 innings as opener.

There is no doubting the talent in our batting lineup, but we definitely felt an experienced batsman light, especially early in the season in 2011. Rudolph has the ability to get us off to good starts in games. The experience of Ramprakash and de Bruyn in there too, mixed with the youthful exuberance of the skipper, Maynard and Roy makes for an exciting combination.

I would expect Gary Wilson to deputise for Davies as keeper initially and it'll be interesting to see if he can re-capture the form of his late 2010 purple patch. Batty will probably continue at number eight and three from Lewis, Linley, Meaker, Jordan and Dernbach (with Tremlett absent through injury early season) will vie for the bowlers' slots.

The step-up in class to division one will become all too apparent the moment we open our season against Sussex, but Adams is building on last season with a good mixture of solid and flair players. Bring on April!

Surrey in dominant position after day one

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

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!

Time for Chris Schofield to move up the order?

From the middle of last season, lets say the Essex game at Guildford in the middle of July, Chris Schofield has missed only one game (the game with Derbyshire last week), and has actually proved a pretty good source of runs.

Bear in mind that he's been batting down the order at 7 or 8, so with the tail the majority of the time, and not always with Surrey in the best of positions - his average since that game (including the knock of 46 against Sussex) has been 38.3. Only Afzaal, Ramps and Mark Butcher averaged more last season.

Schofield batting for England (yes, England).

Since he only managed 22 wickets at the poor average of 61, its fair to say he's more of a batsman these days than a bowler. Given the woes experienced by the Surrey top order, Afzaal in particular, would it be out of the question to move Schoey up the order? The batting stocks at Surrey aren't exactly overflowing with talent knocking on the door, I can think of worse ideas.

He has proved he can score big runs with that 144 against Essex, and the way in which he forced his way back into the side shows he has got the right sort of attitude. He dragged the tail along to a single batting point against Sussex, and he seems well liked among the players.

Maybe its something to experiment with in the limited overs stuff initially, but I wouldn't be surprised or disappointed to see him move up the order in any form of cricket.

They murdered us, they flippin' murdered us

To quote the irrepressible David Lloyd, Derbyshire flippin' murdered Surrey over the past four days. In the battle of the Star Batsmen Carrying His Side's Hopes, Chris Rogers comprehensively outscored Mark Ramprakash 340-102. Not to say that Ramps wasn't brilliant, he was, but Rogers was brilliant-er.

Of the two bowling attacks, only a fool would look at the scorecard and suggest that Surrey had done a half decent job. The collective average of Surrey's bowlers? 43. Derbyshire's run rate across their two innings? 3.7, compared with Surrey's 2.8. We were comprehensively outplayed here, and Rogers fully deserved to come away on the winning side after a virtuoso performance with the bat.

Five of Surrey's top seven were clean bowled. I saw a hint of uneven bounce in the pitch yesterday, and that may have played a part, but it doesn't look good. You have to credit the Derbyshire attack, they bowled sensible lines and lengths, the spinners stopped the flow of runs (largely) and the wickets duly followed.

Surrey's bowlers on the other hand were woeful. Meaker and Dernbach in particular failed to keep the run rate down to any degree. The only bowlers to keep the run rate below three in their overs were Afzaal and Spriegel, and they only bowled 24 overs between them out of a total of just under 200 overs (taking four wickets in the process - only one fewer than Meaker, Linley and Dernbach combined).

This might seem like an odd proposal, but I would be tempted to go with a four man attack for the Sussex game, and it simply has to include Rao Ifthikar and Chris Tremlett. The reason for this? Well our top six isn't good enough to be picking up 400+ regularly. Aside from Ramps, and to a lesser extent Davies, no one looks like they're about to hang around, and let's face it even if Brown comes back in, he's not exactly Dravid-esque in his crease occupation. So an extra batsman is required. There might even be a case for Walters after Spriegel and Harinath's less than convincing performance. And I'd wager that Rao and Tremlett offer more of a wicket taking threat than Linley, Meaker and Dernbach combined - at least on the strength of this performance they do. I'm sure Dernbach will come back stronger, probably in the limited overs stuff.

I would suggest a top six of Brown, Harinath, Ramps, Afzaal, Hamilton-Brown and Spriegel. Davies slots in at seven which is where I've always liked to have the WK-bat, Batty is a very capable number 8, likewise Nel at number 9, Tremlett is no Chris Martin (not the Coldplay one) with the bat and then Rao.

There's a temptation to go right into the doldrums here and write off another season, and believe me I'm struggling to fight that temptation. Several of our players need to stand up and be counted at Hove - Ramps and Davies cannot be expected to carry this side all season.

Wait...is it still 2009?

Another day at the Oval, another upsetting performance from Surrey. Ok, it wasn't dreadful - Ramps' 109th first class hundred was impressive and Batty played well for his 65, but really Chris Rogers showed us all what a pitch this is.

Rogers has now collected 299 runs to himself on a pitch where all Surrey's 11 men could only muster 352. Take nothing away from Rogers, he's a class act, but Surrey have been found wanting throughout in this game.

To be fair, Surrey did a decent job in making it to 352, Nel's lively 37 proving important, but when the sides emerged after the innings break - Derbyshire already 99 runs ahead, plenty of runs were there for the taking. Nel and Dernbach were confusingly only given three overs each before the woeful Meaker was given a go. I understand he bowled ok yesterday morning, but in his spell today there were at least two four-balls an over, it was nowhere near the standard we ought to expect of our players.

Rogers merrily tucked in, as well he might, and Derbyshire now sit 260 runs ahead and the prospect of Rogers biffing a few quickly after getting his hundred tomorrow morning could mean a tricky few sessions for Surrey's batsmen.

In other news, Rao Ifthikar Anjum has now apparently arrived, visa issues cleared up, and he'll be available for the game at Hove next week. If I was Stuart Meaker or Tim Linley I'd be looking at making alternative arrangements next weekend. Rao ought to slip in to the attack and if available, Tremlett should too. Eight bowlers have bowled for Surrey in this game, with very little success - here's hoping that next time out fewer have a bit more success.

Setting the tone? I hope not....

So Derbyshire finish the day on 306-5, with the imperious Chris Rogers still there on 178 not out from 282 balls. Couple of wickets for Batty, couple for Afzaal and one for Linley.

I am reluctant to be too negative, and I'm sure this pitch is a cracker for batting, but Derbyshire aren't the best side in the division and its a bit worrying that despite a clearout from last season, we're still managing to field the same seam attack from the end of last year. A seam attack which never seemed capable or likely to take 20 wickets in a game.

Where is Tremlett? His fitness might be being 'managed' but he played no pre-season and I've heard no report of an injury, so what's the reason for his absence? And Rao, our overseas replacement for Chawla - I thought he'd been signed for three championship games and he's missing this one, where is he?! Some explanation is needed from Surrey here.

I would expect the likes of Afzaal, Davies and of course Ramps to make hay on this pitch, Derbyshire look like setting a big total so we'll need them to. With our tail starting at seven, the burden weighs heavily on our top order. Here's hoping Surrey come out with a bit of fight tomorrow morning and bowl us back into the match.

Oh and also, I'm hearing word that at least two catches were dropped - this is inexcusable (unless of course they were impossible chances), Adams said that a lot of work had been done on fielding over the winter. Last two seasons drops have cost us far too dear, and we can't afford to have that happen again.

UPDATE: According to the Cricinfo report, Rogers was dropped on 46, Borrington dropped on 7, drops have already cost us a grand total of 146 runs and the season is one day old. Bad omen!

Surrey squad for Derbyshire game tomorrow

Chris Adams has named the squad for the first County Championship game starting at 11am tomorrow (at long last!), few names missing very disappointingly, no Rao yet, no Tremlett and no Michael Brown:

Rory Hamilton-Brown (c)
Arun Harinath
Matthew Spriegel
Mark Ramprakash
Usman Afzaal
Steven Davies (wk)
Gareth Batty
Stuart Meaker
Jade Dernbach
Andre Nel
Tim Linley
Chris Schofield

I maintain that I don't think Linley offers enough of a wicket taking threat. He keeps it nice and tight, but just doesn't take wickets, and wickets is what we need people! I fear that squad could be a batsman light, thought I suppose if Schofield and Spriegel continue their form of the last part of last season we might be ok.

To hear that Tremlett's workload is 'being managed' is a bit worrying at such an early stage, I'd have thought a good start to the season to give some momentum would be the priority. Clearly Adams doesn't think he's up to a four day game just yet, I'd like to know a bit more on that situation.

The Derbyshire squad looks pretty evenly matched with our lads too:

Chris Rogers
Wayne Madsen
Paul Borrington
Garry Park
Greg Smith
Dan Redfern
Robin Peterson
Chesney Hughes
Graham Wagg
Lee Goddard
Tim Groenewald
Steffan Jones
Mark Footitt

Not world beaters, but some real quality in there. Rogers is a class act, pure and simple. Peterson has international pedigree and Graham Wagg is a threat. Depends on the pitch, but this one could be headed for a draw. Though with a few days sunshine forecast ahead we should get all the overs in, so you never know!

Surrey sign Andrew Symonds!!!

As I called for here and here, Surrey have heeded my wise words and signed a genuine matchwinner for the T20 Cup in Andrew Symonds. Fair play to Mackay and Adams, they've obviously been working on this, and what a result.

If Chawla is available and the BCCI don't throw that particular toy out of the pram, a T20 side with him, Symonds, Nel, Ramps, Afzaal and Rory H-B in it could give us a bit more to cheer about than we've had in the past. Excellent news!