surrey vs essex LV=County Championship

Surrey have named a thirteen man squad for the LV=County Championship game against Essex starting on Sunday at Chelmsford
Gary Wilson will captain Surrey and Hashim Amla is named having joined up with the squad this week.
Gareth Batty is included having recovered from his finger injury but Tim Linley is unavailable with a side strain.
Dominic Sibley is unavailable for the next four Championship games as he is sitting his A Levels.
stuart meaker returns after being rested for the t20   
The Surrey squad to play Essex at The E.C.G, Chelmsford on Sunday 25th May, Monday 26th May, Tuesday 27th May, Wednesday 28th May:
Gary Wilson (capt)
Hashim Amla
Zafar Ansari
Gareth Batty
Rory Burns
Tom Curran
Steven Davies
Matthew Dunn
Arun Harinath
Aneesh Kapil
Stuart Meaker
Jason Roy
Chris Tremlett

Thanks for the thread, JimBob. I'm away for a few days from tomorrow morning so won't be able to follow this match closely but will try and make the odd cameo appearance.

Interesting - and not particularly reassuring - that the club have not commented on who will be keeping wicket. Davies needs to get his act together.

For all his batting potential, I suspect there are concerns that number 8 is currently too high up the order for Curran. That could see him dropping down a place or out altogether which might allow Batty to squeeze back in.

are you off to paris as well guildford   

jimbobgooner wrote:are you off to paris as well guildford   

  Nope, Dorset actually.

For that, JimBob, I'll ask a favour. I'm not on twitter myself so would you like to tweet Churchy and ask who'll be keeping wicket in tomorrow's match. I'm sure he won't know but his reply might be interesting.

 

JimBob - thanks for trying even though Churchy hasn't taken the bait.

Hashim Amla appears to say in his Surrey tv interview that he hopes to be at first slip to pass on his experience to Gary Wilson. That strongly suggests Wilson will be keeping. If so, that'll put a lot of responsibility on him. I don't doubt his determination but it'll certainly test his concentration.

The one thing going for us is that Essex have a lot of players missing. Masters, Napier, Mills, Topley and Mahmood plus Newby, who was loaned by Lancs, are all out crocked whilst Cook and Bopara are with England.

essex won the toss and bat
meaker and kapil miss out
2 quick wkts for nora   

3rd wkt for batty   

wkt number 4 for batty   

5 wkts for nora     

make that number 6   

number 7   

8th wkt and career best figures for nora 8 for 62      

essex 228 all out batty finishes with 8 for 68      

Given Surrey's batting, notwithstanding a dreadful weather forecast for Tues and Wed...just about possible that there could be a result in this match 

Remarkable bowling figures for Batty.          Good too to see Ansari getting a couple. I don't have a lot of confidence in our batting against Panesar on a turning pitch to get our score much past 150, but maybe someone will dig in and get us some runs tomorrow.

Seemed to me that Ansari was underused yesterday and seeing the highlights I haven't changed my mind.

Going well so far today but I do worry about how slowly Harinath and Ansari bat, you're really not going to win many 4 day games batting at under 2 runs an over. I assume it's hard going out there based on the spinners figures yesterday though.

son of boris out to part time bowler westley   

Hi Carrot.  Something that Harinath and Ansari, (and also Spriegel) have in common is a batting average that is not really strong enough long term for a first team front line batsman in first class cricket.  Slow scoring may well be based on pragmatic recognition that there high chance of getting out quickly if they start to become more free scoring.  Plus a determination to justify place in first team and not to throw away wickets away cheaply, often a problem for Surrey in recent years.

Hopefully Ansari in particular, now that he is full time with Surrey, will see his rather modest first class batting average steadily start to increase this season, which could give him added confidence to play his strokes in first class game.

126 - 4 at lunch. Will certainly take that score in preference to what I had feared would happen this morning.   

204 - 6 before the rain closed in.  Fairly attritional stuff, with the innings occupying 93 overs so far.

Amazed that there was any play at all given how bleak the weather has been down here on this part of the south coast....yes,those people who braved today's fare deserve a medal!

Weather forecast suggests rain will have plenty to say about the development of this match.

Not sure whether to be pleased we ground it out today or slightly disappointed we couldn't press on and start to build a lead. Some days you do have to dig in and maybe today was one of those days but I definite share Carrot's general concern about our scoring rate and not just Harinath and Ansari. Burns has gone into his shell this season so far and Sibley's battle for form seems to have made him virtually shotless in the innings I've seen this year.

Of course I'd soon complain if any of those players got out to a rash shot but I do think the tempo of our batting is something we need to look at. When and if we have Amla in the top three I would favour Ansari dropping back to seven in the order. He would be a good foil for Roy or Davies should they be going well at the other end when he came in.

Otherwise I would echo the typically pertinent comments from the corporal and think that the confidence issue you referred to with Ansari applies equally for the other young players I mentioned.

261/7 with bad light now delaying play once more

Afternoon all. Been absent from the boards for a fortnight or so missing the start of the T20 but can definitely share the worries of many with regards to our run rate. It seems the usual county fear of players getting into a T20 mindset is not affecting our youngsters anyway! That said new skipper Wilson has picked things up slightly with a brisker 38* when play has been possible.

Frustrating to see Davies depart when well set just after passing his half century though.

Hello folks! I've been off the forum for a considerable time, but it felt appropriate to re enter the fray with praise for Norah and his remarkable (and admittedly surprising) figures on his return this week. I also noted his comments this week regarding his prospects of filling the test spinner's vacancy for England. Whilst several Englishmen would have to lose their bowling arms to freak accidents in the next couple of weeks for that to occur, you have to admire his self belief!

My own county, Worcestershire, take on your boys from Sunday. Lets hope for some better weather to greet the familiar faces in the Surrey side.