Can we qualify?

Tomorrow night sees the visit of Middlesex to the Oval, in the fixture at Lord's we totally battered them, but I don't see that being repeated.  Middlesex have the pugnacious David Warner at the top of the order who can destroy county attacks even on an average day, but more of that tomorrow.

We currently lie in fifth place having lost two out of the last three T20 fixtures, one away defeat and one home defeat, sandwiching the win over Somerset.  Sussex are more or less nailed on to qualify, and Essex and Somerset, each with a game in hand over us and Hampshire.  Middlesex, who also have a game in hand over us, and Glamorgan lie two points behind and also have worse net run rates than us.  So, what are our chances?

We have four games left, the home game with the 'Sex tomorrow night, then three away games at Glamorgan, Sussex and Gloucester.  That isn't an easy run in.  Two of the teams right around us, then the division pace setters, and then finish with the bottom of the table Gloucestershire.  We've beaten Middlesex before, we should've beaten Glamorgan on Sunday and we're a different side to the one that got trounced by Gloucestershire early on.  Hampshire play Middlesex twice and then either side of that they go away to Somerset and face Sussex at home, pretty similar to our set of games.

Glamorgan might feel they're in the box seats, especially if they can get a result against us on Friday.  After that they face Kent twice who have been in poor form and they also have Somerset at home to play.  Apart from the games I've already mentioned Middlesex have Gloucester at home and Essex away, they've got a good chance with the game in hand, but they will probably feel a win against us tomorrow is essential.

We can beat Middlesex, Glamorgan and Gloucester, I don't fancy our chances against Sussex, but three out of four might just do it.  We can't afford to have Hampshire beat Middlesex twice, but we can't really afford to have Middlesex beat Hampshire twice either, so we'll have to settle for a win apiece there.  That means we'd have to hope Hampshire lose against at least one of Sussex and Somerset to be sure of qualifying, our net run rate is substantially inferior to Hampshire's so we'd probably miss out if we were level on points.

Of course that all relies on Middlesex and Glamorgan results going our way too!  Because we're not in fourth as it stands, the situation is out of our hands to a degree, any hope of qualification will rest with other results one way or another.  All RHB and his troops can do is go out there and be at their fighting, classy best - something they have shown on six occasions already in this competition, just need three more big performances boys (not asking much is it?!), come on the 'Rey!

Bad calls Rory

Your first two overs go for 28, coming in to the last over the opposition require 10 runs to complete a victory which at one stage looked pretty unlikely, so would you bring yourself on to bowl that over?

That's just what Rory Hamilton-Brown did today, whether it was a case of over-confidence or just a big old miscalculation, I don't know, but it was the wrong call.  On a pitch where spin had played a significant part, Glamorgan's spinners kept Surrey on a leash and Matthew Spriegel had already taken two wickets, it might not have seemed such a bad call, but Hamilton-Brown's bowling today was poor.  The first ball of the final over he speared down the leg side to concede two wides, and the next ball went for six, leaving Glamorgan a very simple task.

The batsmen got us off to a rollicking start, Lancefield and Ramprakash making the most of the powerplays and going along at better than 10 an over.  However Lancefield's dismissal signalled a quieter period for Surrey and Roy and Symonds (again, at least a place too high in the order, when will they learn?) both departed cheaply.  Hamilton-Brown contributed 18 and credit to Stewart Walters who despite collecting a couple of fortunate boundaries did well to batter 31 off 19 balls to lift the total to a competitive looking 168.

The Glamorgan innings began well for Surrey, Spriegel and Tremlett were tight but it soon became clear that Surrey were a bowler light (Tremlett was unlucky to pick up a wicket in his first over too as Hamilton-Brown shelled a sharp chance at slip).  Meaker might have that fantastic ball in his locker somewhere, but today he was too erratic and the captain had no confidence in him.  Symonds was given three overs and rarely threatened, offering up a couple of boundary balls an over which were gratefully accepted, Schofield too was expensive despite picking up the key wicket of Cosgrove.

Tom Maynard batted superbly, we've been on the end of some cracking innings this season, his was certainly one of the best, but we lost a game today we really should've won.

That puts us on the back foot, and Glamorgan now have an outside chance of picking up a quarter final spot.  Despite there being four games still remaining for us, our negative net run rate may ultimately count heavily against us in the final reckoning for a quarter final place.  Disappointing show today Surrey, and Schofield looks to have picked up an injury too, not an ideal Sunday afternoon!

Dragon slayers?

We've had to wait till 5 weeks into the Twenty20 contest this year to get a Glamorgan match, and this is the first time the two sides have ever met in the T20 contest, so which way will it go?

The last game I saw Glamorgan in was the televised Hampshire game in which Jimmy Adams scored a brilliant hundred (no shame in having Jimmy Adams score a hundred against you!) and they looked desperately poor, both with the ball - Croft aside - and in the field, but we shouldn't under estimate them.

They've been unlucky to lose Tait, he was superb for them in their early games but he's now moved on to destroying England (for the record, I think the bowlers lost us that game yesterday, not the batsmen) and their bowling stocks aren't terribly strong.  Their squad is J Allenby, MJ Cosgrove, JWM Dalrymple (captain), TL Maynard, BJ Wright, GP Rees, DO Brown, MA Wallace (wicket-keeper), DA Cosker, RDB Croft, CP Ashling, HT Waters and WT Owen and on paper you'd say there are bowlers in there who could be targeted.  Cosgrove, Maynard and Allenby are all talented batsmen who could get at us though.

Hopefully we'll have Symonds back in the side, his lower order power is essential even if it wasn't necessary on Friday.  There's no announcement of the squad on the official website but I would expect Younus to be the man to drop out since Davies is not available and Lancefield is a better option opening up.  Spriegel has probably earned himself another go, his bowling was excellent on Friday and I would assume Batty and Nel will not be risked.

I hate to say it again, but this is an important game, we're equal on points with Essex, Somerset and Hampshire but behind on run rate and the former two have a game in hand.  Middlesex, two points behind, also have a game in hand and are also ahead on run rate (damn that Gloucestershire game!).  Its so close in this division and we'll have just four games left after this one, two at home, two away, clearly we need to bank the two points today and ideally in emphatic fashion!

One of those games

Yep, it turned out to be one of those games, and it went in our favour.  Hamilton-Brown won the toss and elected to bat.  Given the very cloudy conditions overhead he might've been tempted to bowl, but because it was a used pitch he thought getting runs on the board was the best bet.

And so it proved.  The makeshift opening partnership of Ramprakash and Lancefield got the side off to a good start.  Although Lancefield, on debut, probably only completed one genuinely confident stroke, he can be forgiven a few nerves and at least he went hard at the ball.  He got himself out for a rapid 16 but Surrey managed to hit 50 before the powerplay was out.

Ramprakash played steadily while Jason Roy, in at number three looked to hit out from ball one, and more or less did so.  He's clearly in spectacular form and is without doubt a precocious talent.  By the time he was out today for 74 off 50 balls including three terrific sixes, Surrey had mustered a solid 171.  I thought at the time we might be 10 or so runs short, but that proved to be complete rubbish.

Hamilton-Brown elected to go with the spin of Spriegel for the first over, which was economical and after Compton fell in Tremlett's first it was encouraging to see the captain toss the ball back to Spriegel for a second.  He was richly rewarded as the allrounder picked up two key wickets.  Somerset captain Trescothick and the dangerous de Bruyn were accounted for.  Tremlett then collected the wicket of Hildreth thanks to a stunning catch from Hamilton-Brown, and Somerset were on the ropes.

Pollard briefly threatened but he was done in by a beauty of a yorker from Stuart Meaker who's first over was pretty dreadful, but the first ball of his second was both vital and pin-point accurate.  Thereafter Somerset never looked like recovering and the decision to play just two front line bowlers really paid off for the skipper.

There was plenty of character in the win tonight, incredible energy in the field, flashes of brilliance with both bat and ball and in the end a result that was thoroughly deserved.  I can't praise Hamilton-Brown enough tonight, we were without  Nel, Davies and Batty, and for some reason Symonds was dropped as well but the players who came in, Lancefield, Meaker and to a lesser extend Wilson really stepped up to the plate.  This was an exceptional result which really keeps us in the hunt for a quarter final spot.  Well played boys.

No excuses, but....

According to Somerset skipper Marcus Trescothick, it is "barmy" to play a Twenty20 match the day after a four day game. I couldn't agree more Marcus and it may well count against Surrey in their game with Tres's side tonight.

Trescothick insists that Somerset will be "fresher and sharper" after their break, and when you look at the injury list after the Derbyshire game, you'd make him bang right. Batty, Nel, Wilson and Linley all picked up injuries and surely won't feature tonight. Dernbach is already ruled out and Meaker may or may not be back to full fitness. Add to that Jordan and Brown (any others?!) and we've got ourselves a right pickle.

Unsurprisingly the Surrey squad hasn't been named yet, Adams will want to leave it as long as possible to assess the fitness of all his players. However I think it very likely that we'll see the likes of Jewell, Lancefield and maybe even Dunn given a look in tonight. We badly need the England Lions to release Steve Davies for this game, I hope they're sympathetic!

This is not to say that those players don't have the necessary quality to beat Somerset, it could be the case that the youngsters come in and really turn it on, but it'll be tough against a good side.

The Somerset squad is as follows: Trescothick, Compton, Hildreth, de Bruyn, Pollard, Buttler, Suppiah, Phillips, Kartik, Thomas, Turner and Waller. Trescothick hasn't quite scaled the heights we know he can in the T20 this year, but Compton looked in decent touch when I saw him against Essex, and Hildreth, de Bruyn and Pollard need no introduction. In Thomas and Kartik they also have two of the best T20 bowlers around and Pollard has been a revelation with the ball for them as well with 14 wickets already (all three bowlers are in the top 20 best economy rates in the competition so far, Thomas is the leading wicket taker in the country and Pollard is fourth in that table).

If we do lose heavily tonight it will be easy to fall back on the excuse that the schedule cost us, and I actually have a great deal of sympathy with that. However I still hope we can put in a fighting performance with maybe some flashes of brilliance from the youngsters, I'll be satisfied with that.

Update:  The Surrey squad has been announced and is as follows:  Rory Hamilton-Brown, Andrew Symonds, Younus Khan, Mark Ramprakash, Stewart Walters, Chris Schofield, Gareth Batty, Andre Nel, Jason Roy, Tom Lancefield, Tom Jewell, Chris Tremlett, Matthew Spriegel, Stuart Meaker.  I'd be surprised to see Nel and Batty on the field, but you never know!  I'd be interested to see Lancefield, he's been in cracking form for the Second XI, can he follow in Roy's footsteps?

Update 2: The eagle eyed amongst you will have noticed the lack of a wicket keeper in the above squad!  Gary Wilson has now been added which means the miserable sinners at the England Lions have not released Davies.  Expect therefore Lancefield may well come in to open, and Wilson will bat down the order, doesn't look a very strong side to me, but we shall see.

Around the Grounds: Plays of the Day

Division One:

Well I said yesterday that Troughton and Ambrose would have some batting to do to save Warwickshire and....they didn't.  Troughton was the only man not to fall victim to Steve Harmison as he raced through Warwickshire's batting lineup, taking 6 wickets for only 8 runs, ending with 7-29, his best figures for Durham.  Warwickshire fell a massive 219 runs short.

Rain spoiled the Yorkshire-Lancashire match which ended in a draw, although with Lancs 7 down at the end they were doing their best to make it exciting anyway. Only Steven Croft offered any resistance with 85 as Rashid picked up another three wickets to go with his first innings five-for.  Earlier in the day he'd hit a quick fire 42* as Yorkshire looked to set a target.  Young Simon Kerrigan, Lancashire's slow left armer took four Yorkshire wickets and Adam Lyth fell cheaply, leaving himself 18 runs short of 1,000 for the season and 7 runs behind Ramprakash.

Division Two: 

Surrey won.  That's all that matters.

Two wins, and we're not bottom!

After a rather lacklustre day yesterday where we both failed to seize the initiative with bat and ball, today, and this afternoon in particular Surrey came back steadily and managed to snatch the win by 42 runs as the final 10 overs approached.

With Linley out of the attack completely and Andre Nel suffering late yesterday with a hamstring problem, in a particularly ironic twist Chris Tremlett was left as our last frontline bowler standing - he finished the day with 4-94, not outstanding figures by any stretch, but enough to win the game.

But not before Wayne Madsen completed an excellent match with a hundred to match his one from the first innings, though he'll be disappointed to have been dismissed when he was, with him at the crease a Derbyshire victory looked likely.  He and Gary Park put on a stubborn partnership of 150 but thereafter no Derbyshire batsman was really able to get set.

25 and 33 overs from Nel and Tremlett respectively is an impressive effort, particularly if Nel was carrying an injury and although Batty's return of 1-99 on a fourth day pitch is disappointing, there are things to be pleased about from this game.

It wasn't the best batting or bowling performance we'll see but we still won, and we're now third from bottom in the table, we'll be getting nosebleeds soon.  I fear the consequences of the injury to Linley might lead Adams and RHB away from a four man attack in the future, but in reality what we were missing in the last day and a half was a front line spinner.

The main positive from today is the the side knuckled down, and in general I think they are becoming a more 'together' unit, the win today will only have helped that.  With so many players out injured (Linley, Dernbach, Meaker, Jordan, Brown) we've done a cracking job to pull off the win, even if it was against fellow proppers-up of the table (remember what Derbyshire did to us earlier in the season?!).

Given the impact this game has had on the squad though I do worry about our prospects for tomorrow night's game with Somerset, yet another reason (as if another was required) against crow-barring a Championship fixture in between Twenty20 matches.  Anyway, lets focus on the positives, we won, which means we've won as many games this season as we did in the two previous seasons combined.  The team is surely now on an upward curve, and long may that continue!