The Unofficial 2011 Awards

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'

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

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

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.

Back to losing ways, but progress is made

A strong Hampshire side featuring Lumb, Carberry and Pietersen triumphed by ten runs at the Rose Bowl today, and while in truth we were further behind than that, it was a decent effort in chasing a mammoth total.

Hampshire won the toss, chose to bat and probably the least vaunted (but most in-form) of their batting lineup, Jimmy Adams, cracked an excellent 101* from 65 balls following up a half century against Somerset on Friday.  201/2 was the result after 20 overs with Sean Ervine also contributing an impressive 54 from 34.  Surrey's bowling today was less impressive than the last two games, Dernbach went for 36 runs before being forcibly withdrawn from the attack after two no balls for height.

Nel and Tremlett also went for 9 and 10 an over with only one wicket between them but Symonds two overs in the middle of the innings were most costly, they went for 32 runs and his bowling has been well below par so far.  Gareth Batty was only given a single over for 9 runs, more on this later.

Surrey's top order batting was brittle again, in the four games so far our top three batsmen are out for just an average of 12.3 runs, that doesn't make for impressive starts and does not constitute exploiting the powerplays.  Davies did today pass 20, but only made it to 24 but again seemed in good touch, although the manner in which he got out - trying to hit a second consecutive six - was perhaps unnecessary.  The Batty-at-three experiment continues but will surely end there, he was run out for a second consecutive duck.

Thereafter though the news is better.  OK Symonds was out for 26 which is well below what he's capable of, but he did start to middle a few and will hopefully kick on.  Ramps continued serenely on with 61 before getting out when trying to press on.  Younus perished similarly in the pursuit of quick runs and when he was clean bowled by veteran Dominic Cork, the game was up.  Hampshire were penalised 6 runs for a slow over rate, but even that wasn't enough to bring us close enough.

The selection of Batty and Schofield in the same side continues to confuse me.  I'm no master tactician, but Batty is not a pinch hitter and has never shown himself to be, he hasn't bowled more than two overs in either game (and is going at 10 and over) so he's clearly in for his batting, which is very strange.  Stewart Walters waits in the wings, he is a batsman able to hit a long ball and is also an excellent fielder.  Walters has to come in for the match on Thursday if we are to win.  The employment of Spriegel in the lower order again confused me, its unfair to expect him to hit big, he isn't that sort of player and suits a more accumulator-type role.  The fact that his strike rate this tournament is 80 runs per 100 balls (no one in the top 50 run scorers has a srtike rate below 105) would seem to suggest he's not playing in the correct role.

The batting though is slowly starting to slot into place, RHB and Davies' propensity to get out cheaply is frustrating and will have to stop if we are to post/chase big totals, but Ramps in this form and Symonds and Younus scoring decent (and quick) runs around him will see us bag plenty.  Three losses out of four is a rubbish start to the Twenty20 Cup, and we'll not be progressing far, but consistent improvement through the next 12 games and we might be a force to be reckoned with at the back end of the month.

Off the mark with an impressive win at Taunton

After two galling defeats in the week Surrey showed a great deal of character, and no little talent, in beating Somerset (comfortably in the end) by 21 runs at Taunton today.

Trescothick won the toss on a beautiful pitch in perfect conditions, clearly confident that his batting lineup could chase anything, and when Surrey were reduced to 47-4 it looked like it might have been the right move.  However for the first time in the T20 this season two batsmen stood up to be counted, Ramps and Younus both scored 59, off 38 and 41 balls respectively and put on 84 quick runs at a crucial time.  Davies again looked in very good touch at the top but got out for less than 20 for the third successive game, very frustrating - not least for him I'm sure.

Nonetheless Surrey's 160 at a ground where the par score in T20s is 178 looked short.  However our bowlers continued the good work started against Essex.  Nel and Tremlett picked up two apiece and Dernbach picked up just the one but only went for 19 runs from his four overs.  His economy rate in the tournament this season is 5.7 and his slower ball (quickest ball today was 89mph, his slower ball is about 73mph, very tough to play) is right up there with the best - it comprehensively accounted for Buttler - his career economy rate is over 9 so its fantastic to see him improving so much.

Bizarrely after giving away just three runs from a powerplay over, Spriegel was given just one over while Symonds and Batty gave away 40 from 4.  Which leads me on to team selection which to me seemed very odd.  After two games where our batting really struggled we dispensed with an (admittedly out of form) batsmen in Afzaal and replaced him with an off-spinner - Batty, who wasn't introduced until the 14th over and only bowled 12 balls.  And then promoted him to number three, whereupon he absorbed 11% of the powerplay in getting out for a duck, a very strange move, but not punished, which is a relief.

Again Spriegel was wasted in the batting order, down at number 8 which if he isn't going to bowl much is strange, but on a day when we finally picked up maximum points, perhaps I shouldn't be dwelling on the negatives!

But the best thing to see today was the character showed by the players.  It must be difficult for them to come out after two terrible performances and hold your head high but they did just that.  The bowling remained good, the fielding was excellent and although some of our top order failed again, we still posted a good total against a good side.  Well played boys, some pride has been restored.

Well, it was an improvement at least...

Here I am, yet again, a few pints down and I'm writing about another Surrey defeat.  This was no Tuesday the 8th of June, or 8/6 as it will forever be known among Surrey fans, but it wasn't very good either.

We won the toss, elected to field first and our bowlers restricted Essex's pretty decent batting lineup to 121 runs, with our main bowlers restricting the runs and by and large taking wickets.  Nel, Dernbach and Tremlett bowled accurately and with good pace in excellent bowling conditions.  Hamilton-Brown gave himself three overs, the third of which conceded the runs which ultimately made the difference.  Another over from Symonds was probably more appropriate, but Hamilton-Brown's spin it was.  He did pick up two wickets in his three overs, but I don't think the third was the right way to go.

Then the batting, well the batting...it was poor again.  No one passed 24 (neither did anyone in the Essex innings mind you), and Symonds and Younus have now totalled 10 runs from their four innings so far, not what we'd expect for handsomely paid overseas players.

Ravi Bopara ended with 3-13, Symonds and Younus among his victims, and Scott Styris did well in choking the runs as well.  Throughout the innings Surrey conspired to keep themselves behind the curve, wickets fell at regular intervals and when it came to the crunch, the 9 run margin actually flattered us a little bit.

I did say I wanted an improvement, and I got that, so I shouldn't whinge too much, but I want - and we all expect - so much more from this team.  As I'm sure the players expect more from themselves.  Two defeats from two, it hardly needs saying, is the worst possible start and the manner of the defeats will be crushing for morale.  Back to back games over the weekend present a good opportunity to fight back, but given the quality of the players in the weekend's opposition - Tres, Kies, Pollard, Lumb, Pietersen and so on, that will be very, very tough.

Brian Lara and Surrey...no, seriously...

This story on the BBC has it that Surrey are considering a shock, and it really is a shock, bid for Brian Lara to play Twenty20 cricket this summer. As much as I believe Lara is one of the finest cricketers of his generation, nay one of the best ever, but the man is forty years old and hasn't played top level competitive cricket for some time.

Yes the likes of Warne, Hayden and Gilchrist are approaching forty years of age too, but they've at least kept their eye in with the IPL, and yet still in all three cases its clear that they aren't the players they used to be.

Surrey, and indeed county cricket as a whole ought not to be considered a vehicle for players to put themselves in the IPL shop window, that's what seems to be inferred by the BBC's story. Moreover, I'm just not sure this sends the right message - we all remember the last 40-something Surrey signed, and that ended in a 13 year jail sentence. I'm not suggesting Lara would be a failure of Lewis-like proportions, I just don't think it says the right things about the club.

Yes, Lara will bring in the crowds and might even sell a few shirts (I have to say, a Surrey shirt with Lara on the back would be nice...) and maybe that is part of the reasoning, but will he enrich our side? I seriously doubt that.

Now, if Lara was to be drafted in to fill a seriously large gap in our batting stocks for four day cricket, well that might elicit a different reaction!

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!

Another one that got away.....

David Warner has signed for Middlesex...somewhere deep down I thought we might dip into our deep pockets and sign him. Alas no. Is it just me or is there a lack of ambition here from Surrey? Middlesex only found out a couple of weeks ago that Yuvraj wasn't coming, so they got straight on to signing a world class replacement...we've been one overseas signing short for the T20 Cup for months and....nothing.

The overseas players are a statement of intent, its important. Afridi, Mendis, Razzaq, Warner, Pollard, Morkel, Gilchrist...all players NOT coming to the Oval...sort it out Adams!