surrey vs middlesex match thread

[jimbobgooner]

Team Director Chris Adams has named a fourteen man squad for the LV=County Championship match against Middlesex at the Kia Oval starting on Wednesday.
Rory Hamilton-Brown returns to the squad having played in the last two Clydesdale Bank 40 games. Stuart Meaker is unavailable as he is currently involved in the England Lions series with Australia A.
sadly there is no kp
The Surrey squad for the LV=County Championship game against Middlesex at the Kia Oval on Wednesday 15th August, Thursday 16th August, Friday 17th August and Saturday 18th August:
Gareth Batty (capt)
Rory Burns
Zafar Ansari
Arun Harinath
Rory Hamilton-Brown
Jason Roy
Zander de Bruyn
Steven Davies
Matthew Spriegel
Murali Kartik
Tim Linley
Jon Lewis
Chris Jordan
Jade Dernbach
take it as red for jordan to miss out the other two no idea

[guildfordbat]

Hi JimBob - I'm going tomorrow so will post an evening report. Just hope the weather stays fine.

I agree with you that Jordan is the one most likely to miss out. I would guess that Spriegel and Lewis (hopefully him rather than Viscount) will join him on the bench.

I'm assuming that a turning wicket has been prepared which'll result in both Batty and Kartik playing and bowling together.

Btw, very poor of the Club to make no reference to Pietersen and his omission when announcing the squad.

[jimbobgooner]

guildford i have given up saying the brain should be left out.how he is still being picked in his form is a disgrace

[guildfordbat]

JimBob - the Brain did at least pick up some wickets in Durham. That might just be enough to get him picked again. I agree though that he can have no complaints if left out.

The player who annoys me even more than the Brain is Lewis. Seems only capable of being effective in bowler friendly conditions and bowls far too many no balls which is dreadful for an experienced professional.

[jimbobgooner]

spot on about lewis guildford sad if he's chosen instead of the viscount

[Corporalhumblebucket]

Guildford - commendable sense of duty to show up when we are at such a low ebb. Let's hope there is at least something worthwhile to report back on.

Batty had a column in the Metro today. Did his best to sound upbeat about the prospects...but didn't entirely convince.....

Weather forecast tomorrow looks poor for much of the country, tho' maybe in the south east the forecast band of rain in the middle of the day may be quite narrow and pass through quite quickly....

[jimbobgooner]

just been confirmed that kp wanted to play but the ecb have stopped him
disgraceful

[Corporalhumblebucket]

But Adam Mountford has now issued a further tweet: "Apologies for confusion but just to confirm @ECB_cricket didn't block @kevinpp24 playing for Surrey. He told them he'd prefer not to play"

Would have thought the idea might appeal to KP - score a double century at the Oval the day before the test match at Lords...

[jimbobgooner]

now another tweet i just had a packet of monster munch (beef)

[Mike Selig]

Can we please have at least one discussion which doesn't mention the KPgate? I came on here looking for some relief, and look what I found...

In any case Middlesex are in poor form of late, which is leaving me dread an end of season relegation dog-fight; if Surrey do win this then it's very much on...

Come on the middle! (which is a silly nickname)

[jimbobgooner]

all this talk of kp drives me nuts

[Shelsey93]

Backing Middlesex to do the double here, though standards have slipped a little of late and the absences of Strauss and Finn (England but have both played a fair amount of Champo games) and Morgan (England Lions) can't be a positive.

From an outsiders point of view I get the impression that Surrey are a little confused - different openers seemingly every game, different bowlers all the time, Davies going up and down the order etc. Understandable given recent circumstances but I feel that making a plan and sticking to it might be the way to go next year. Note that the top 4 teams all usually field a similar XI each time, barring England call-ups and injuries.

[jimbobgooner]

Right surrey win the toss and will bat
Jordan spriegel & Lewis which will please guildford miss out

[thegooch7]

Looks like Brain has been selected for his bowling!
Is Tremlett injured again?
Third Degree gone already. The Gaffer gone now as well - another great start after winning the toss! Raining now - that's not going to save us from Division Two
If Interesting doesn't get a big score then surely 'Harold' Wilson has got to be given a game?!

[kingdaveeagle]

Is Wilson permanently with Ireland?

[Shelsey93]

Is Wilson permanently with Ireland?

An Ireland XI, including Wilson, are playing a series of games against South Africa A.

[Shelsey93]

Roland-Jones knocks over de Bruyn for a duck!

Can't believe that Finn will replace TRJ tomorrow if he doesn't make the Test side...

[jimbobgooner]

The decision from batty to bat after winning the toss was batty to say the least

[jimbobgooner]

To say it's a disgrace is a understatement

[jimbobgooner]

50 for roy
the only one to come out of this with any credit

[jimbobgooner]

144 all out roy 55 not out
yet again another game lost on the first day

[Mike Selig]

All going well so far

Have to say I'm surprised Surrey batted first.

Roy is a wonderful wonderful talent, I'm disappointed he hasn't made more runs this year.

[Shelsey93]

All going well so far

Have to say I'm surprised Surrey batted first.

Roy is a wonderful wonderful talent, I'm disappointed he hasn't made more runs this year.

Some talk on the radio that the pitch has been prepared to play into the hands of Batty and Kartik later in the game. Still, if conditions at The Oval have been anything like they have been here in North London it will have been emphatically a bowling day.

Middx's battings been a bit off recently too though. Time for Sam Robson, whose had a touch of second season syndrome, to step up. With Berg and Simpson dropped and Rayner injured it looks a bit flaky or at least inexperienced from 6 down.

[Mike Selig]

Precisely because of their recent frailties and what were surely damp and overcast conditions, batting first was a strange choice.

Middlesex will surely be looking to bat just the once. The tail is pretty strong, but two relative newbies at 6 and 7 as you say.

So far so very good though.

[jimbobgooner]

this game is over another 3 day defeat for surrey

[Mike Selig]

A near perfect day for Middlesex then

Just a shame Rogers had to get out so late in the day, bet he's kicking himself.

Not sure it's quite all over just yet, reports of the pitch and Surrey's selection of 2 spinners suggests any final innings chase won't be easy, so Middlesex really need a substantial lead, and their batting has been pretty brittle recently.

[kingdaveeagle]

I'm going with my son tomorrow - our first visit for 2 years and then it rained all day. Still, at least I won't have to watch De Bruyn try and bat!

[jimbobgooner]

I'm going with my son tomorrow - our first visit for 2 years and then it rained all day. Still, at least I won't have to watch De Bruyn try and bat!

at least you can see him bowl all day dave

[Corporalhumblebucket]

Guildford - commendable sense of duty to show up when we are at such a low ebb. Let's hope there is at least something worthwhile to report back on.

Batty had a column in the Metro today. Did his best to sound upbeat about the prospects...but didn't entirely convince.....

Weather forecast tomorrow looks poor for much of the country, tho' maybe in the south east the forecast band of rain in the middle of the day may be quite narrow and pass through quite quickly....

This preview hardly required great powers of foresight. . But Guildford will have at least seen a brief highlight - le Roi's innings. Otherwise, unremitting gloom. Batty took a lot of stick for inserting the opposition in other recent matches, so he may well have decided to bat come what may....

Frustrating that tail couldn't hang around with an established batsman. That seems to happy to us quite regularly.

[guildfordbat]

As we have a Middlesex interloper on here (evening, Mike ), I'll try to give a more balanced report than normal and praise our opponents rather than just slating Surrey.

As I suspected (and for which JimBob has given me insufficient credit ), Surrey left out Spriegel, Jordan and Lewis from their 14 man squad. In a pre match members' forum meeting, Adams was surprisingly and refreshingly open in referring to the 'unforgiveable' number of no balls bowled this season by the latter two.

Anyway, this meant we played both Batty and Kartik which no doubt influenced our decision to bat first when we won the toss. Understandable to an extent that we would want to bowl in the fourth innings. However, two potential problems. Firstly, conditions suited bowling at the start. Secondly, with the state of Surrey's current batting it's quite an assumption that there will be a fourth innings!

Credit now where it is due. The Middlesex opening bowlers both did their jobs extremely well. Ex Surrey man Murtagh seemed to have more nip than I remembered whilst Roland-Jones sensibly varied pitch and bounce (he'll be hard done by if Finn turns up to replace him tomorrow as reports suggest). They were also helped by the weather. A rain interruption meant they were able to put their feet up in the pavilion and then resume their partnership. They bowled (I think) 23 overs between them before Roland-Jones gave way to the surprisingly effective dibbly dobbers of Dexter.

Adams had promised 'fight' from Surrey. Whilst there may have been some (for example, Harinath was characteristically dogged), there was generally a lack of belief and purpose. Batsmen regularly came and went with no meaningful partnership ever being established. The one significant exception was Roy. As he did at Edgbaston, he largely played with considerable and commendable restraint whilst still not holding back in powerfully despatching anything short or wide served up by Dexter and Crook (the one weakish link today of Middlesex's attack).

Middlesex though did for a time play to Roy's strength. Debutant keeper Rossington continued to stand well back when Dexter and Crook first bowled. This didn't seem necessary given their lack of pace and enabled Roy to bat out of his crease and get further forward with impunity [possibly this'll be shown on the tv clips on the Surrey website in the morning].

That said, Rossington generally kept tidily and took a couple of catches. The Middlesex slip cordon also performed admirably and held onto several low sharp chances.

Murtagh ended up with a fivefer and was the pick of the bowlers although Roland-Jones wasn't far behind. Sadly, Surrey never matched them when Middlesex batted. Linley's radar was too often off (not too surprising given his in-out, mainly out season). Dernbach was better although not as accurate as his theatrics too often suggested. Quite disgraceful - particularly given Adams' pre match comments - was Kartik bowling 3 no balls.

Rogers batted very capably and seemed pretty untroubled [Dernbach got him just before the close as I was heading home]. Robson was more Gomes than Richards (still reading, Mike?) but played his part and will be there in the morning along with nightwatchman Smith.

Probably the most concerning aspect was that there seemed little anger or upset from the Surrey members. Merely quiet acceptance that the game and our Division One place is already up.

[Corporalhumblebucket]

Sadly, at the moment I think we would struggle to give most Div 2 sides a decent game.

[Mike Selig]

Many thanks for the report guilford.

Whilst it is always good putting one over the old foe, I have to say from a neutral's perspective Surrey's demise this season has been sad to watch. At the start of the season this was a genuinely exciting side, featuring the likes of Roy (who I watched for the first time this year smashing 40odd against Durham - that kid is going to play for England some time), Hamilton-Brown, Maynard (RIP), Davies (who's England ODI career was somewhat unfairly cut short on the basis that Prior was a better motivator) and of course Dernbach and Meaker. Plus Ansari, who I really like (although I can't say I think he's an opening batsman...).

It will be an interesting question in the future to determine whether Maynard's tragic death is really what brought everything crashing down, or if things had started to turn before then.

Regarding middlesex, I am a bit surprised that Simpson has been dropped, I admit to having seen little of Rossington. Having said that it is tough to stand up to the stumps when the ball is swinging (as reports suggest it was) so I don't blame him for giving himself the best chance by hanging back and hoping for an outside edge. Crook is always kind of inconsistent he bowls these great spells and great deliveries and then a bit of tripe at times. Roland-Jones is a fine bowler, somewhat a late developper but I do think he'll challenge for England duties in the future.

I still maintain this match isn't over just yet: the pitch will surely turn, and Middlesex really want 300+.

A quick word on Kartik's no-balls - I seem to remember him bowling a few for Middlesex back in the days as well. Kartik strikes me as somewhat old school TBH, which doesn't make it anymore accceptable, but there you go.

[jimbobgooner]

good report guildford
right i'm off to burn my rvp shirt

[thegooch7]

Thanks for the report Guildford, some good points, but surely in those conditions, winning the toss and putting them in is a no brainer!

[guildfordbat]

Thanks for the comments, guys.

Goochie -agree it seemed strange to choose to bat first in those conditions. I just think we're going for broke in trying to get Kartik and Batty to bowl them out very cheaply in the fourth innings. Cricinfo liken this to ''desperation''.

More strangely, I've seen elsewhere that Rogers, the Middlesex skipper, would also have batted if he'd won the toss. To be fair, there didn't seem any obvious demons in the pitch for the seamers to exploit on the first day. It was more a case of very good bowling from Murtagh (ex Surrey) and Roland-Jones (ex Surrey second eleven as I learned last night). Roly-Jones did get one or two to keep low but I thought that was down to his good control and varied pitch of the ball.

Mike - I'll reply separately to your latest post a bit later.

[jimbobgooner]

it was a good day for surrey then the last wkt pair turned up

[thegooch7]

You sound surprised Jimbob. A low scoring match (well for Surrey!) and the 2nd highest partnership is their 10th wicket. At least out spinners will have a 'target' to bowl at in the 4th inns................about 12 I reckon!

[jimbobgooner]

44 for the last wkt
a lead of 88

[jimbobgooner]

zaffer goes for a duck
75 behind

[guildfordbat]

Many thanks for the report guilford.

Whilst it is always good putting one over the old foe, I have to say from a neutral's perspective Surrey's demise this season has been sad to watch. At the start of the season this was a genuinely exciting side, featuring the likes of Roy (who I watched for the first time this year smashing 40odd against Durham - that kid is going to play for England some time), Hamilton-Brown, Maynard (RIP), Davies (who's England ODI career was somewhat unfairly cut short on the basis that Prior was a better motivator) and of course Dernbach and Meaker. Plus Ansari, who I really like (although I can't say I think he's an opening batsman...).

It will be an interesting question in the future to determine whether Maynard's tragic death is really what brought everything crashing down, or if things had started to turn before then.

Regarding middlesex, I am a bit surprised that Simpson has been dropped, I admit to having seen little of Rossington. Having said that it is tough to stand up to the stumps when the ball is swinging (as reports suggest it was) so I don't blame him for giving himself the best chance by hanging back and hoping for an outside edge. Crook is always kind of inconsistent he bowls these great spells and great deliveries and then a bit of tripe at times. Roland-Jones is a fine bowler, somewhat a late developper but I do think he'll challenge for England duties in the future.

I still maintain this match isn't over just yet: the pitch will surely turn, and Middlesex really want 300+.

A quick word on Kartik's no-balls - I seem to remember him bowling a few for Middlesex back in the days as well. Kartik strikes me as somewhat old school TBH, which doesn't make it anymore accceptable, but there you go.

Mike - thanks for your response. Just to follow up on a few points.

* I too really like Ansari. From almost first sight, I've viewed him as an intelligent cricketer who thinks carefully about his game. By chance I found out recently that some friends know him and his family well. By itself that means nothing although their comments support my views of his maturity and professionalism. He probably isn't best suited to the role of opener although he's done the job for Cambridge University. At yesterday's forum meeting, Alec Stewart (executive director and voice of common sense) made the point that our young batsmen should ideally be playing in the middle order but circumstances currently dictated otherwise.

* The wheels were already loose but they certainly came off for all to see with Maynard's death. At yesterday's forum meeting, a member asked if the Club could try and change Hamilton-Brown's mind about relinquishing the captaincy. Stewart said the decision was made and in both his and the Club's interests. That's my emphasis although I think that's what he was trying to convey. I'm fairly sure more will come out at the coroner's inquest next month which won't make for pretty reading.

* There was a frank preview on the Middlesex website on the eve of this match as to why Simpson had been dropped (something Surrey never do, preferring to gloss over or totally duck any controversial team selections). It seems Middlesex are concerned about Simpson's lack of runs and want him to discover some batting form in the seconds.

* I take your point last night about the match not being ''over just yet''. Indeed, Surrey have made a useful fight back so far today. However, they are still on the back foot. Furthermore, they desperately lack confidence and as a coach you won't need telling of the importance of that.

[guildfordbat]

Meanwhile, Surrey are now 64-1 off 22 overs (trailing by around 20).

Rogers certainly mixing his bowlers up second time round. 22 overs bowled so far and six bowlers used. Yesterday Murtagh and Roland-Jones got through 23 overs before the first change.

[jimbobgooner]

well i have to hold my hands up there
what a excellent 2nd day for surrey only 2 runs behind and 9 wkts in the hutch
kartik already turning it on day 2 so hopefuly day 4 will be even nicer
and burns and harinath leading the way with the bat

[chichestersurryfan]

just been reading all the comments from yesterday and today... no doubt if I'd made been ablet to make a contribution yesterday I'd have been echoing 100% all the comments, especially from Jimbob....

However, atlast we've had a good day! - hooray! - just a glimmer of hope that we could turn this match around... however, just as likely is us getting a lead of 200 and Middx getting home with a couple of wickets to spare... could that last wicket partnership from Middx come back to haunt us for the second time this season??

[guildfordbat]

As Chichester suggests (and interloper Mike pointed towards last night), day two clearly belonged to us and we are now back in the match.

However, as Chichester also warns, there are almost certainly more twists and turns to come.

Our batsmen need to carry on tomorrow as the gutsy duo of Burns and Harinath finished off tonight. Our bowlers will then need to repeat today's effectiveness as spearheaded by Kartik with his fivefer. They'll probably need to be a tad more clinical as well. As the ever astute Chichester also says, that last wicket Middlesex partnership could again have a real impact. Also annoying that we allowed nightwatchman Smith to score over 30 - that too could ultimately be significant in a low scoring game.

Anyway, we're in a much better position than I anticipated last night and it's refreshing to have an opportunity to try and win rather than merely save the match. I think tomorrow will have an enormous bearing on how our season finally ends up ....

[Corporalhumblebucket]

A welcome surprise and relief to see us get the better of an entire day's play

There is a pretty much iron rule that Murtagh and Roland Jones always do well with both bat and ball against us, so it will take something to turn that round.

Good efforts from Burns and Harinath today - again we will need to break another iron rule that if Harinath is not out overnight he is dismissed in about the first over the following day. Hopefully the Brain may reach double figures too for a change.... But at least we are in with some sort of chance.

[Mike Selig]

Good fightback from Surrey - game now evenly poised. Middlesex won't want to be chasing much over 150 you would think...

Can't say I was that surprised, our batting has been very brittle recently, with a lot resting on Rogers. Oh well.

[thegooch7]

Gordon Bennet!! Just checked the score for the first time today!
Well done to Third Degree and Arun (can't think of a nick for him!) A fantastic effort by both!

[jimbobgooner]

sadly gooch there efforts have been wasted as the rest of the batsmen let them down

[Mike Selig]

Hummm this is very well poised now. Rogers is a big big wicket for Surrey to take (again) just before the close.

Malan could be key, plays spin well and plays at his best when going is tough.

Well done Surrey for the fight-back, I would say marginally favourites right now.

[chichestersurryfan]

A welcome surprise and relief to see us get the better of an entire day's play

There is a pretty much iron rule that Murtagh and Roland Jones always do well with both bat and ball against us, so it will take something to turn that round.

Good efforts from Burns and Harinath today - again we will need to break another iron rule that if Harinath is not out overnight he is dismissed in about the first over the following day. Hopefully the Brain may reach double figures too for a change.... But at least we are in with some sort of chance.

spot on Corporal with your prediction about Roland Jones! - reading the reports on line... sounds like after a very untypical 2nd wicket partnership.. a more typical performance from partnerships 3 - 11
Will the Corporal's prediction be even more accurate after the last day tomorrow... any takers for a winning late order partnership from Middx involving Murtagh?

I think it is fair to say, without being overly dramatic.. but lose this tomorrow and its Div 2 here we come... win it.. and there's more than a flicker of hope...

I'm afraid when it comes to Surrey Middx matches... Middx I predict will sneak home by 2 wickets... lets hope I'm as wrong about this as I've been with most of predictions this season