24 hours on from the horrible performance against Gloucestershire the result smarts no less, but where does the team go from here? It is very easy to call for people's heads at a time like this when the team seems to be going backwards, but I don't think that is right at all.
As people who know much more about cricket than me have said, the team is at that incredibly infuriating stage of taking one inspirational step forward only to take two clumsy steps back. I don't doubt that the frustration is felt all the more acutely among the players than among the fans, this can't be an easy time for them to come out and play.
But come out and play they must! The collection of players we have is too good to fail like that on a regular basis, but the team at the moment is not the sum of its parts. Adams and Hamilton-Brown have an enormous job on their hands to fix things and unite the team behind the young skipper. Younus, Ramps, Symonds...they are all massive names who have played with the likes of Ponting, Hussey, Atherton, Inzamam and so many more, and now they are operating under a 22 year old captain with very little first class experience but is without question a prodigious talent. That is just a snapshot of the tricky task for Adams and RHB.
Way back when Hamilton-Brown was signed and appointed captain I posted that I hoped the supporters would get behind him and back him to succeed, I still think that is important now.
To say 'it can only get better' after yesterday is trivialising the situation too much, but the team does need to come together and put in a much improved performance against a very decent Essex side tomorrow night. Gone is the optimism of Tuesday morning, I'll settle for a fighting performance with bags of character thank you!
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Everybody Talkin’ Bout Gilly
2 years ago
6 comments:
Hear, hear. Had a quick check of the fixtures today - Gloucs have had a week since their last CC match and a 20/20 match on Friday to prepare for that match. Surrey had the day they didn't have to play Leics as it finished in 3 days. Does not entirely excuse the performance, but may explain why they appeared to be caught on the hop...Like yourself hoping for much better things tomorrow. Karen B
Yesterday was an aberration, as generally Surrey's short form cricket has improved this season-though it was fairly poor last year. I think the fans want wins in the CC, though they don't look any closer to coming
"unite the team behind the young skipper. Younus, Ramps, Symonds...they are all massive names who have played with the likes of Ponting, Hussey, Atherton, Inzamam and so many more, and now they are operating under a 22 year old captain with very little first class experience"
Maybe this is where the hare lies in the pepper, as we say over here. In football it is often so that a unit that grew and evolved together plays tighter than a random assortment of superstars. If I knew anything about cricket I could tell you now if it applies to cricket too. Surrey need to have faith in themselves at first, the legionnaires are just the cherry on top of the cream I think.
Btw here is another very colourful match report: CLICK
Cheers,
Wes
Karen, you're right about the difference in preparation time, that has to be considered. Adams was right not to invoke that excuse mind you!
Alex, likewise I would dearly love to see us succeeding over four day games, but that will be the toughest, its where the little kinks that inexperienced players have are most ruthlessly exposed, so we might have to wait a while for sustained improvement.
Wes, you Aussies have the most mental sayings. Mind you that's a bit rich coming from an Englishman I suppose. I would instinctively agree that a team which evolves together will be more likely to have strength in the long term - but it is long term, and patience is very difficult to find for Surrey fans of late!
Thanks all for reading.
"Wes, you Aussies have the most mental sayings."
Jay, I'm German... that should explain about everything! Including my extremely ambivalent feelings for English cricket ;)
German...like fully German? Your English is amazing if so!
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