Azhar Mahmood - a welcome return?

Apologies for being a little bit slow off the mark on this one. I'm sure it escaped no one's attention that during the Somerset game the signing of Azhar Mahmood for this year's Twenty20 Cup was announced. Or should I say re-signing of Azhar Mahmood, since he played for us between 2002 and 2007.

My initial reaction to Azhar's signing was positive. He seems to tick all the boxes - he's a big hitting lower-middle order batsman, something that we've been missing for an awfully long time. He's a seam bowling allrounder who has a solid record of bowling in powerplays and at the death. He's also massively experienced - 171 matches puts him eighth on the all time list.

Furthermore, he's England-qualified, so he can take the field with Smith and Ponting. Azhar is undoubtedly one of those "x-factor" players capable of turning a single match in the space of an over or two with bat or ball, and I wouldn't be in the slightest bit surprised to see him do that for us. Finally, its prudent to have a bit of bowling cover should one or all of Meaker, Dernbach or Tremlett be called away on England duty.

So what's not to like about the return of a player who played such a big part in Surrey's early success in this format? I would just sound a note of caution on a few counts.

Firstly, he's 38. Now with age comes the aforementioned experience and experience is not something we'll be wanting for this season. It is feasible, if not perhaps all that likely, that all of Azhar (38), Ponting (39), Batty (35), Keedy (38), Solanki (36) and de Bruyn (37) could be considered for the T20 side. Certainly Mahmood, Ponting and Batty are all very likely to play a significant part in the campaign. The age profile of the Surrey squad is starting to look very odd indeed. Is so many creaking bodies such a good idea for the shortest format?

But so what, I hear you cry. We've fielded very young sides in the past and its got us nowhere near winning the thing, so this year's approach may well serve us better.

For argument's sake let's set aside the issue of age. This is, after all, the age of equality (or something like that). What about Azhar's recent T20 numbers? I thought I was going to find some very respectable figures but if we look at the current IPL, the South African T20 and last year's T20 Cup its not all that rosy. Including the game he's playing today, Azhar has snared eight IPL wickets in six games at a respectable run rate of 7. But his batting returns are poor, just 23 runs in five innings thus far. In last year's T20 Cup he took 10 wickets at 21 in eight games but again with the bat the numbers do not live up to the reputation - 110 runs at 13, and a strike rate below 100. His performance in South Africa was marginally better, 91 runs at 15 and a strike rate of 116, but still not what we've come to expect from him. Certainly some way below the average of 31 he managed for Surrey in his last stint at the club.

However even if you set aside his advancing years and his somewhat declining statistics there's the nagging feeling that he'll be taking the place of a younger man in the side. I'll always hold Azhar in very high regard for what he delivered for the club but given the players already on our books isn't it time we looked to the future again? What of Tom Jewell, given a contract extension at the end of 2012 but overlooked for the 37 year old Zander de Bruyn in the first Championship game, and now almost certainly squeezed out of the T20 side this year with Azhar's arrival. Dirk Nannes, all of 36 years old, played several games ahead of Stuart Meaker last season. I'd hate to see the same thing happen this time round.

Azhar may help us in progressing to the latter stages of this year's T20 but if we are genuinely looking to build a side to "dominate" English cricket in the future, are we going about it in the best way?

Creditable draw for Surrey on disappointing final day

Neither captain seemed overly keen to manufacture a result on the final day of Surrey's opening Championship fixture and they shook hands on the draw late in the day.

When four wickets went down before lunch there was hope that the home side could force an unlikely win. However a frustrating partnership between Petersen (who else?) and Buttler wrested back some of the initiative for Somerset. I thought that Smith's decision to open the bowling with de Bruyn after lunch was an odd one, given that a wicket at that point would've surely given the opposition some serious jitters.

As it was, Petersen and Buttler continued to accumulate. Batty eventually broke Petersen's resolve with a wicket almost out of nowhere. But it wasn't until Keedy was withdrawn from the attack in favour of Meaker that things really started to happen again. Having earlier taken the wickets of Compton and Trescothick he then added Trego, Thomas and Overton in quick succession in the afternoon session to complete his five-for. It was a drastic improvement on his day one bowling but nonetheless I've still seen Meaker bowl far better than he did today. Worryingly he didn't return to the field after the tea break so he must be a doubt for next week's game.

When Petersen fell there were still more than 40 overs left in the game and Somerset were 211 runs ahead. There was more than enough time to at least have a sighter at a result, but perhaps neither captain wanted to risk kicking off the season with a defeat. Or maybe Trescothick wanted Buttler to get his season off and running with a hundred. Either way it was disappointing to see the game fizzle out the way it did.

Given the position his side were in on Thursday evening Smith may be the happier of the two skippers today, but there are still issues to be ironed out. The feeble batting at the start of our first innings which necessitated a bit of a go-slow thereafter will be a concern.

The selection of two spinners didn't turn out to be the right one, but I'm not sure I'd place the blame squarely at Chris Adams' door for that. The pitch was pretty solid for batting even as the match drew to a close so two, three, four or more spinners probably wouldn't have made much difference. Indeed across the 300+ overs in the match only 5 wickets fell to spin at 64 runs apiece, while seamers took 23 at 27. Adams was doubtless expecting a dry surface that would bring the spinners into their own on days three and four. That didn't materialise and in any case we didn't win the toss so would not have been best placed to take advantage.

In addition, Gary Keedy had a pretty poor debut when you consider his pedigree, his bowling today was particularly disappointing and if I was Adams I'd be tempted to go with three seamers (one of whom should be Tremlett), Batty and Tom Jewell for the next game. Zander de Bruyn should make way, as well as Keedy and I'd give serious consideration to preferring Roy over Solanki. Apart from Roy's form with the bat we looked a little lethargic in the field and he'd certainly help in that department.

In light of Keedy's form I also think we should play more to our strengths and prepare a wicket for the seamers. To the outsider it might seem odd that a club who has the services of Meaker, Dernbach, Linley, Tremlett, Lewis, Dunn and Edwards to call on prefer to try and prepare a spinner's wicket in April. Our next game is against Sussex and good side though they are, we should be confident of out-gunning their seam bowling unit. Plus in Monty Panesar they have a very dangerous spinner.

So many changes would suggest panic but that's not the case, there are positives to be drawn from this game. We didn't lose after being in a precarious position, and against good quality opposition (though we will face stronger bowling units for sure). Rory Burns has picked up where he left off in 2012, Steven Davies looks to be back to his best and Jade Dernbach made a superb start to his Championship campaign against one of the strongest batting lineups in the country.

Oh and those Doric columns on the pavilion are looking very impressive. Roll on round two.

Dogged Surrey fight back well on day three

My assertion yesterday that Surrey's faltering batsmen would need to rely on the rain to survive in this match was not only overly pessimistic, but proven quite wrong by an impressive batting effort today. The day ended with Surrey having declared on 366, 18 runs behind in order to have a couple of overs at the opposition under the evening cloud cover.

The day began with the home team in a precarious position and with one eye on the follow on target. But once the wicket keeping pair of Rory Burns and Steven Davies had settled down in the face of some disciplined bowling the panic ebbed away. The pace was not electrifying from either player but while both are capable of aggressive strokeplay, that was not what the situation demanded. Both players played the situation expertly and gradually built a sizeable partnership.

The pair took the team to lunch safely still only two wickets down. Somerset continued to search for a wicket after lunch but it wasn't till the 92nd over that Burns and Davies were parted - and even then it was gifted somewhat as Burns strangled one down the leg side for a superb 115. He really is starting to look like a very special player. The partnership had reached 159 - the biggest of the match and Surrey were out of serious peril. There was work still to be done and although Gary Wilson didn't make the most of his chance at number seven today, Gareth Batty ensured that Surrey proceeded carefully towards first innings parity. He was eventually out for 36 off 86 balls to the bowling of Overton and the job was all but done. Steven Davies confirmed his return to form today with a expertly compiled 147 - he was last man out. I sense this year he'll be of enormous value to Surrey.

With time running out in the game and some very solid sunshine expected tomorrow, Smith elected to give the Somerset openers a test under the lights this evening. However neither Dernbach or Meaker were able to make a breakthrough in the 12 balls they had. Somerset will resume tomorrow on 6-0.

On a slow, flat pitch which has shown little sign of breaking up its hard to see anything other than a draw in this game, but stranger things have happened. A full 96 overs will be possible tomorrow and if the seamers get amongst the wickets early there could be life in the game yet. Its frustrating that on a pitch we deemed suitable to play two spinners, only two wickets have fallen to spin bowling in nearly 250 overs. We'll need to work on pitch preparation if that's our chosen modus operandi.

Today was a very stoical and characterful performance from Surrey. Where they could have wilted in the face of probing bowling they stood firm. It will stand them in good stead for a tough season to come.

Somerset put the squeeze on disappointing Surrey

Graeme Smith's tenure as captain of Surrey was in danger of getting off to an ignominious start as Surrey closed a rain-interrupted day two on 98 for 4, 286 runs behind.

In fact Surrey may have to look to the heavens for salvation from now on in this game, the forecast for tomorrow at least holds some hope for them in that respect. All is of course not yet lost but a match that looked hard to win yesterday now looks nigh on impossible. Saving the match is probably Surrey's only hope.

They began today needing two quick wickets and while they didn't come quick enough (it took an hour and the addition of 40 runs to Somerset's total) it was better than some of our recent efforts to finish of tail-ends. Dernbach continued his excellent work from yesterday and made Thomas his fifth victim with a patented slower ball. Meaker, who was yanked from the attack early on by Smith then returned to collect the final wicket.

Somerset's total, while not massive was still imposing and Surrey needed a solid 15 overs to take them to lunch unscathed. They didn't deliver. Smith's debut lasted just three deliveries as he edged a good Peter Trego delivery to Hildreth at slip and on the stroke of lunch Arun Harinath was out to Alfonso Thomas in the same fashion. 30 for 2 would not have made for an especially pleasant lunch time for the home team.

After lunch Rory Burns, who had stood firm in the pre-lunch melee, was joined by Vikram Solanki and they steadily built a 50 partnership. However on 30 Solanki was bowled by Jamie Overton and his replacement, Zander de Bruyn, didn't last long. Four balls in fact, for just one run. He got himself out to a shot that Cricinfo's George Dobell described as "so bad I thought he was Jade Dernbach". Encouraging. Perhaps selecting a man who hadn't faced a delivery since early February wasn't such a good idea after all.

Four wickets down with only 87 runs on the board Burns and Davies needed to see Surrey to the close without further damage. Mercifully they did and Surrey will resume on 98-4 tomorrow morning. With rain forecast from midday onwards tomorrow, their job may be made a little easier for them.

It's worth noting that Burns, just 22 years old, is now averaging north of 50 from his last 13 innings. Not half bad for an opening batsman in Division One. If all of the top order batsmen showed the application he did today we'd be in a far better position. Unless the rain does come, his fellow wicket keepers Davies and Gary Wilson will need to help him out if Surrey are to have any hope in this fixture.

Dernbach rescues Surrey from chastening day

Two performances stand out on day one of Surrey's County Championship campaign. Jade Dernbach, who returned figures of 4-42 on a generally unresponsive pitch and Alviro Petersen. Again.

Chris Adams opted for a four man attack with two spinners and no room for Chris Tremlett. It seems that the coach was, not unreasonably, unwilling to risk the England seamer as one of only two front line seamers. Dernbach was preferred to Linley despite the latter's superior returns in pre-season, and as expected Meaker joined him. Given the set up of the side it was an important toss to win...the toss was duly lost and Somerset elected to bat first.

Petersen, a winter recruit for Somerset, had a superb day and took his average against Surrey to 104, and his average at the Oval to 125 as he led his side to 344 for 8. Things had not looked so rosy for the West Country side when just 1 run was scored in the first five overs, and even that was a leg bye. Matters got worse for them as Compton was bowled for a duck by a rapid Dernbach yorker, and he had Petersen in real trouble first ball with a slower ball. This was part of an exceptional opening spell which gave him figures of 1-5 from five overs. His new ball partner Meaker had considerably less success on an unusually poor day for him despite a wicket late in the day. Meaker generally bowled too much on the batsman's legs and was punished.

After Compton's departure Hildreth and Trescothick set about building but the captain fell in Gareth Batty's first over to reduce Somerset to 58-2. By the 20th over it was spin at both ends, almost unheard of so early in the season. The placid nature of the day one pitch was laid bare once Dernbach's testing spell was done and Hildreth comfortably took the side to lunch with Petersen on 115-2.

Dernbach returned to bowl Hildreth in the first over after lunch, bringing Craig Kieswetter to the crease. He and Petersen formed an excellent partnership of 143, threatening to bat Surrey out of the match. It was a dogged bowling effort from Surrey and chiefly Dernbach to drag Somerset back from 260-3 to 344-8 by the close. It was however Batty, partnership breaker extraordinaire, who snared the wicket of Kieswetter just six overs before the new ball was due but when it arrived Dernbach re-entered the fray with the wickets of Buttler and Trego in consecutive balls. Zander de Bruyn,  Surrey's third seamer in this game, finally trapped Petersen lbw a couple of overs before the close and Meaker clean bowled Jamie Overton to end the day on a more positive note.

To have any chance of a positive result in this game Surrey really need the pitch to start taking turn - which given the selection of two spinners it surely will. Unfortunately for them Somerset now have almost 350 runs on the board, a couple of wickets still in hand and a decent spinner of their own. Besides the remaining Somerset wickets Surrey first need to knuckle down and grind out a big total. Such was Somerset's scoring rate that even if Surrey reach parity there's still time for a result.  Graeme Smith has a fight on his hands in his first match as captain.

Squad named for Somerset opener

Chris Adams has named his first Surrey squad of 2013, 13 brave men who will face Marcus Trescothick's Somerset side at the Oval starting tomorrow.

Graeme Smith has recovered from the ankle injury he picked up playing for South Africa and Gareth Batty has recovered from the side strain which kept him out of the Second XI game last week so there are no injury worries whatsoever. The squad and possible XI is as follows:

Graeme Smith
Rory Burns
Arun Harinath
Vikram Solanki
Zander de Bruyn
Steven Davies
Gary Wilson
Gareth Batty
Stuart Meaker
Chris Tremlett
Tim Linley

12th men: Gary Keedy, Jade Dernbach

There would seem to be three possible variants for the starting XI, with the above being most likely in my opinion. Playing three seamers and de Bruyn means that you can manage Chris Tremlett's bowling up to a point but you still have the insurance of batting well down to number seven. Gary Wilson has more than earned his chance to bat there, though it is very disappointing to see Jason Roy miss out after a very solid pre-season. I can't help thinking we may live to regret prioritising Vikram Solanki's experience over a concerted effort to develop Roy's game a couple of years down the line. Which of Dernbach or Linley plays in the end is anybody's guess, but Linley had the better pre-season, in terms of wickets at least. There is always the chance that Adams will prefer Keedy over Batty as well, though even with a strong top seven that would leave quite a tail.

The second option would be to play a four man attack, as above, but with two spinners. Adams committed to playing two spinners wherever possible, and almost always at the Oval, but such an attack would surely be too much of a gamble with Tremlett's fitness. Of course, they could prefer Dernbach or Linley to Tremlett which may allay that concern.

The final option would be a five man attack enabling both Batty and Keedy to be fielded as well as three seamers. While this is the option most readily able to deal with Somerset's much-vaunted top order, I think the batting would be deemed too thin. I would also have expected Lewis to be named in the squad, to bolster the lower order, if a five man attack was being considered.

The top six is more or less set in stone given the 13 selected, that much we know. I can't be alone in eagerly anticipating Graeme Smith walking out to bat wearing Surrey colours for the first time. I'm also excited to see whether Solanki, de Bruyn and Davies can muster the runs their combined talents warrant.

Somerset have not yet officially named a squad but a top order of Trescothick, Alviro Petersen, Compton, Hildreth, Kieswetter, Buttler and Trego is all but certain. Whatever the make up of the attack, getting that lot out twice isn't going to be easy. There is a question mark over the effectiveness of their bowling attack (indeed some wider question marks about their ship having sailed, here for example), led as it is by the ageing Steve Kirby and Alfonso Thomas. That said, they had little trouble bowling Durham out for 116 last week, albeit in a defeat.

It will be interesting to see what sort of pitch has been prepared. All the indications last season were that a dry pitch will be prepared but unless we select two spinners that could be a risky strategy - Somerset's George Dockrell is a talented twirler.

All the previews, all the quotes and all the press releases are out of the way. All that's left now is to get the 2013 season started. A new look squad under a brand new captain will want to get off to the best possible start.

What did Surrey's pre-season tell us?

Surrey's not-so-busy pre-season schedule has drawn to a close, captain Graeme Smith arrived at the club this week and the press day is done and dusted...all that remains is to start the season in anger.

What did we learn from the three pre-season games the squad played then? Well in short, if I was uncertain of the direction in which Adams would go once Somerset arrive next Wednesday, I'm almost none the wiser now. Two players who are virtually certain of their places in the side, Burns and Davies, scored good runs in the three games. Burns scored 79 against Kent, 39* against Hampshire and 47 against the Gloucestershire Second XI. Davies meanwhile scored a rapid century against Kent but could only muster 26 in the Second XI game. With Smith certain to slot in (in the absence of any update about his ankle I'm assuming he's fit) that means half of the top six is penned in.

The only other contenders for top six positions who scored a convincing haul of runs were Jason Roy (172 runs at 57) and Gary Wilson (155 runs without being dismissed). Frustratingly they are two players in real danger of missing out on selection for next week. Arun Harinath hit 79 against Kent but then followed that with two single figure scores before hitting 25 in the second innings against Gloucestershire. Regardless of that slightly indifferent start he will surely start in the number three slot. Which gives us four places nailed down.

Vikram Solanki had a curious pre-season. He only scored 97 runs at 24 in between stints in the ITV4 studios, but across two innings in the Second XI game he scored 75 off 86 balls, perhaps suggesting he's getting into his stride. Given their far superior returns, one or both of Roy and Wilson is going to feel pretty hard done by if they're ignored, but I can't see Solanki missing out on the XI.

Of course there was no de Bruyn, who only arrived as the Gloucestershire game was beginning, which leaves four players vying for two top six slots (unless of course we play seven batsmen - I discussed that dilemma here). Caution would dictate that de Bruyn and Solanki are selected, but form suggests Roy and Wilson should be preferred. Which way Smith and Adams will go...nobody knows.

What of the bowlers? The biggest concern is the fitness of Gareth Batty, who missed the game against Gloucestershire with a side strain. Without a full scorecard from the Hampshire game its hard to say how many overs he's bowled, but against Kent he only bowled 15 - far fewer than is ideal going into the start of the Championship. Gary Keedy meanwhile unsurprisingly bowled the most overs in pre-season - 47 in total and took six wickets in the process, including four on a day two pitch against Gloucestershire. He only managed a single wicket during the opposition's successful chase of 225 runs on day three however. Perhaps the Oval isn't the raging turner we might have expected.

Of the quick bowlers, Tim Linley bowled the most overs (42) and took the most wickets (5). That however is almost certainly still not enough to guarantee him a place in the starting lineup though. Oddly enough an injury to Gareth Batty might increase Linley's chances of playing. If Batty doesn't play we will probably play a batsman at number seven which will reduce the need for Jon Lewis' batting in the lower order. Lewis bowled 29 overs against Kent and Gloucestershire but took just a single wicket, I think Linley's greater threat with the ball should see him ahead in the pecking order.

Stuart Meaker bowled 30 overs and took four wickets. For evidence of his searing pace check out this video, detonating some poor unsuspecting batsman's stumps around 35 seconds in. He's a guaranteed starter fitness permitting. Chris Tremlett meanwhile bowled 25 overs in the Second XI game suggesting he's heading towards match fitness, you'd still question whether it was safe to play him in a four man attack though. Jade Dernbach bowled plenty of overs and evidence suggests he was swinging the ball, but there's not room for Tremlett, Linley, Meaker, Lewis and Dernbach in the same attack. Adams and Smith have some tough calls to make. If pushed I'd probably say a five man attack consisting of Batty, Lewis, Keedy, Meaker and Tremlett is most likely, or if Batty isn't fit a four man attack of Keedy, Meaker, Linley and Dernbach.

We'll know more soon enough as Chris Adams' first squad of 2013 will be named on Tuesday. Our opponents, Somerset, lost a low-scoring encounter against Durham today but they will welcome back 2012's run machine Nick Compton into their top three. That adds to an already preposterously strong top order featuring Trescothick, Hildreth, Kieswetter and Buttler. It's a tough assignment as Graeme Smith's first match in charge. I for one can't wait.