Surrey V Glamorgan CC Division 2

So a Tuesday start for our latest game means I get to listen to Mr. Church and his special guest Henry Blofield - what a treat! The squad is much changed from our last match. Out go KP and Tremlett on England duty and Meaker/Arafat who are injured. In their place come Roy, Dernbach, Jewell and Jordan.

Rory Hamilton-Brown (Captain)
Jason Roy
Mark Ramprakash
Zander de Bruyn
Steven Davies (Wicket Keeper)
Tom Maynard
Gareth Batty
Chris Schofield
Chris Jordan
Tim Linley
Jade Dernbach
Tom Jewell

So a 3 way fight between Jordan/Jewell and Schofield for the last bowling place. They are all decent with the bat and if the pitch is green again like last time having the 2 different pace options would definitely be beneficial so I would leave Schofield to carry the drinks.

Glamorgan have been doing very well in this competition but have lost 2 matches to our 1 and only 1 big partnership stopped us getting a win against them last time. Word has it that James Harris is out so that is a definite bonus but unfortunately our attack is severely weakened for tomorrow as well.

As you say, Carrot, our attack is much weakened, especially without Meaker. We need Dernbach to be on top form.

Good to see Roy back in the team. We'll need the batsmen to be on top form as it is difficult to see Jordan, Schofield or Jewell taking all that many wicket.

Lots of pressure on Dernbach. The rest are capable of picking up the odd wicket but he is the only one who you can see getting 4/5 wickets which is what Meaker has been doing regularly this season. A great chance for Jewell and/or Jordan to show what they can do though.

I would like to see Jewell given a chance as he played reasonably well in the pre season friendlies and has subsequently put in some decent performances for the seconds. However, I suspect he may miss out to the greater experience of Jordan and the leg spin alternative of Schofield.

De Bruyn has bowled more regularly in recent games and, with him having a similar style to Jewell, that may also be a factor in Jewell not getting the nod.

We are missing a lot of experience and talent in this game. Important that the 'usual regulars' and the replacements take on the additional responsibilities falling to them ....

Any guesses on the batting lineup for this match?

RHB and Wine Gums did well last match opening, so I would stick with them.

RHB
Wine Gums
Ramprakash
Roy
De Bruyn
Davies

I think the best strategy would be to sandwich the explosive Roy between two steady and experienced hands. If he comes in at three, theres always a chance we will be three wickets down in a heartbeat.

With regards to bowling, agree with all that has been said so far - I wouldn't be upset with whichever direction they go.

Hope to keep up our good record against Glamorgan, although as has been mentioned, it will be hard to get a win at the Oval with this depleted bowling attack.

Tibor - I agree with you on the likely batting lineup and order. Roy is seen (at least by Adams) as a replacement for Pietersen and so I think he'll take the number 4 spot.

I actually think he'll open with Wine Gums dropping back down to number 6, although I prefer the line up Tibor has put up. Davies could do with some runs, they have dried up for him since his couple of 90's a while back. His scores since then in all competitions have been 0, 12, 37, 10, 40, 9, 8.

Glamorgan win the toss and bat first. Jewell is the one to miss out as we suspected. Could be a long old day in the field.

107/2 at Lunch. Dernbach with an early wicket and De bruyn with one just before the break. Certainly sounds like it'll be a long day in the field as the pitch is decent and our bowling unthreatening in the main. Hopefully Dernbach can pick up 1 or 2 with his next spell after lunch.

As I listen now de Bruyn and Linley are going past the outside edge regularly which is extremely frustrating.

Petersen making his first score of the season against us

Unsurprisingly. Doesn't seem like the pitch is doing anything at all.

We're going to have to bat big in our 1st inns just to stay in this match again, and then be reliant on Glam setting us a 4th inns target, cos we aint going to take 20 wickets in this match!

Best we're getting is a draw I'm afraid, even if we match their first innings score (which is going to be huge btw) I can't see them agreeing to set us a run chase with their weakened bowling and our strong batting.

Petersen just about to get his highest ever score..............and who is it against again?! It's getting a bit monotonous every game this is

Clearly a disappointing day.

We are going to need a very good morning session tomorrow if we are to get back at all into this one. That looks unlikely from here with too many of the current bowlers seeming more suited to the chorus than a leading role.

Sadly the bowling turned out pretty much as all had predicted.

Just maybe if Dernbach has a wicket taking burst tomorrow morning - but then there will be 9th wicket stand of 87, no doubt.....

When Schofield plays in cc he rarely bowls to any extent in first innings.

Yep. On the plus side it was fun listening to Blowers doing our commentary! I'd be interested to know how many batsmen this season have got their highest ever score against us, seems like it happens all the time and I can think of 3 off the top of my head.

Linley with 3 quick wickets this morning but already a partnership forming for the 8th. Peterson past 200 and I wouldn't be surprised to see Cosker get his highest ever score today!

419/9 at lunch is a pretty good comeback by all accounts.

Petersen finally out for 210, hopefully we can get this final wicket quickly after lunch and start our reply.

Both openers gone already. That's always going to be a possibility with Roy and Hyphen at the top of the order, but now we're back to the old position of telling the seasoned campaigners - Ramps and de Bruyn - that they can't afford to fail.

I have a feeling this total is going to be tougher to match than Essex's 548.

Doing well(ish) so far, still a chance of a victory if we bowl them out cheaply second time around.

I think we're going to struggle to avoid the follow on to be honest, and I'd snatch your hand off for a draw at the moment

Follow on should be easily avoidable - we need around a hundred runs with six wickets in hand, although this is Surrey batting, and anything can happen.

That's the thing with Surrey - Davies and Maynard could see us past 400, but if one of them gets out tonight, we could be all out for 250 tomorrow morning!

240/6 at the close, Maynard and Davies continue the trend of getting in and getting out. Should avoid the follow on as only 30 needed but very disappointing after an excellent morning not to be in a better position. It was once again one big partnership that has done us again in this game, although in reality it was one brilliant innings from Peterson. Either way the last 8 wickets went for 90. Hopefully our part time spinner batsmen can push on to a reasonable total tomorrow and we'll go from there.

Managed to get along to the Oval today. Really enjoyable and so very interesting. A few highlights and anorak points from the Surrey perspective:

1. The Viscount bowled the best I've ever seen from him. He regularly troubled the batsmen seeming to consistently find the right length and a bit of movement. He deserved more than his 3 wickets with another 3 dropped /missed slip catches (including Petersen) and a confident LBW appeal turned down.

2. Although overall a very good morning session for us, frustrating that Petersen and Cosker put on fifty for the eighth wicket. De Bruyn bowled tidily but never looked that threatening - thought Hyphen kept him on too long. Jordan engaged in a few verbals with Cosker which seemed unnecessary and not particularly helpful. Suspect Jordan will want to hit Cosker out of the ground if he faces him tomorrow - just hope he's sensible with it.

3. Glammy's third top scorer was 'extras' although not nearly as prolific as at Whitgift.

4. As per Churchy, Petersen's double hundred uniquely contained at least one of the following runs: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7. Overthrows gifted him the 5 and the 7!!

5. Lovely knocks from Ramps and Davies helping to repair somewhat the loss of three quick wickets. Just a shame they didn't convert their half centuries into tons. Ramps accumulated his runs in steady fashion and hardly ever looked in any trouble before being surprisingly castled. Davies began slowly (I think he contributed 8 of the first 50 runs put on with Ramps) but grew in confidence and his scoring rate accelerated.

Clearly we have to avoid the follow on in the morning. Provided we go about things sensibly, that shouldn't be too difficult. After that, who knows? Glamorgan should be careful about making a declaration and setting us a target. Although their seamers did well today, they are an inexperienced bunch. Our batmen on form could get 350 in two sessions. There again ....

A somewhat disappointing conclusion to the day by the batsmen, as has been noted. Could have been a lot worse (eg see Durham vs Warks) but there is a real risk that we will be faced with a total of at least 450 to win....

If we can somehow keep the lead down to no more than, say, 80 we may have an outside chance of victory. Can't help thinking that if Schofield is only going to bowl 3 overs out of 123 then we would be better off giving Harinath a chance to establish himself as an orthodox opener.

Guildford - pleased to hear the Viscount took the biscuit with his bowling performance....

I see we have just gone past 2000 posts on the cricket pages of this website - of which posts about Surrey comprise virtually 25%

I've got a meeting on Friday morning in Vauxhall, so I'm planning to slope off to The Oval afterwards. Desperately hoping the tail wags furiously and the game goes to four days !

I'm sure the game will go to four days Dulwich! Such a shame to hear that we bowled so well today, why couldn't the Viscount have found this form yesterday? Agree about Schofiled btw Corporal, it would seem more worthwhile to let Harinath open and move Roy down the order where he belongs. It is very nice to have such a good number of Surrey fans with which to discuss things

Dulwich_Dog - you should know more than most about tails wagging!

Like Carrot, I'm sure you'll get to see cricket at the Oval on Friday.

Corporal - Viscount took the biscuit in mint and orange flavours!

Quick question - where did the Viscount nickname come from?

GFB - ah yes I only noticed the irony of The Dog commenting on wagging tails after I'd hit the send button!

I see Dernbach went for a ton, and The Viscount (after David Armstrong-Jones aka Viscount Linley ) almost the same.

28 extras including six wides and 12 no balls. Who bowled all the wides and NBs ? Was that 18 separate deliveries, or were there some boundries. The extras tally was over sixty at Whitgift too.

Is Schofield playing as a batsmen? Makes no sense to play two spinners (particularly when RHB can chip in, if needed) and only bowl Schofield three overs.

Anyone know how long Meaker and Arafat are out for ?

Dulwich - 5 of the wides came from a wild leg side delivery this morning from de Bruyn (1 for the initial wide plus 4 more as it went to the boundary).

These days the bowling team concedes 2 extras for each no ball bowled. Therefore, we actually only bowled 6 illegal deliveries (still too many) but these counted as 12 no balls. I think Jordan bowled a couple this morning. Hope that makes some sense!

Schofield's selection is mighty puzzling. He appears to have been selected as a replacement for one of the several bowlers we have unavailable for this game. However, Hyphen doesn't seem to have the confidence to give him the ball and is increasingly turning to de Bruyn as a 'fill in' bowler. Schofield is no mug with the bat but that shouldn't be enough to get him a first team CC game!

I don't believe either Meaker's or Arafat's injuries are that serious but don't know whether that means out for a couple more days or weeks!

You are quite right about Tim Linley's 'title'. I understand that even his brothers now call him 'Viscount'!

I've mentioned before that at the end of his time with Lancs, Schofield was selected exclusively as a batsman. Thing is, he's bowling quite well in the one day form (for us), so it can't be a lack of confidence that he doesn't bowl in the 4 day game (confidence is something I don't think he lacks anyway).
On paper, with an offy and a leggy in our team we should have the necessary variaton to bowl teams out............just a pity we don't play on paper!!

As bods have said, if Schofield isn't going to be bowled then we might as well select another batsman and Hyphen (and even J-Roy!) can act as fill in bowling

I've got a feeling Cosker and Croft will show our two how it's done on the 4th day when (if we don't follow on!) we're going to be chasing 350+

Glam's weak attack is miles better than ours then, only rain can save us now!

Oh dear - distinct lack of wag from the Surrey tail.

GFB - I didn't realise it's two runs for each NB, and with the boundary wides, the extra's tally I suppose isn't too bad.

Need a big performance from the bowlers today or we'll be dogging it out for a draw against the Glam Spin Twins tomorrow.

Best things about today are that we avoided the follow on and the rain prevented further embarrassment.

However, I don't expect that to be of much comfort to anyone - particularly the poor folks who trekked to the Oval today.

Dulwich - the Met Office suggest you'll see cricket if you pitch up tomorrow but it's now very hard to imagine you seeing either side win!

Well it looks like the rain has saved us from a potentially tricky final day of batting. I'm off to New York for a few days tomorrow so will miss the conclusion, hopefully it is a decent day for Dulwich if he does go.

Have a good time, Carrot. You deserve a break after all your recent football and cricket stresses ....

FYI

I will not be commenting on any match thread that has Chris Schofield in the team!!!

In four day cricket that is!!!

Depressed - might be worth seeing if the Corporal can get someone from the Army Medical Corps to prescribe some anti-Schofield drugs! Meanwhile, keep taking the tablets!

Dulwich - I do hope you made it today. I envy you if you saw Jason Roy's maiden century. A king in the making ....

Despite finishing well and having a good second day (when I was lucky enough to attend), we were second best in too much of this game. By all accounts we started badly and were playing catch up from then on. Yes, we had players missing but so did Glamorgan. Need to hit the ground running from the off against Derbys ....

Guildford & Depressed - I'll have a think - I rather doubt that the our stores include any drugs licensed specifically for the purpose of creating amnesia in relation to the presence of Chris Schofield in a team.

Maybe an IT solution would work better? Maybe there is a programme that could automatically deletes any reference to Schofield.

Good to see Roy get his century. I think Guildford is onto a winner....Presumably in due course he (ie Roi) will be presented with a crown rather than a Surrey cap!

Corporal - perhaps there is a legal solution? Could Depressed on health grounds seek a super injunction to prohibit any reporting of Schofield?

Jason Roy - Le Roi Like it, Corporal!

Guildford I think you are right, but with one adjustment. I suggest Schofield would need to take out the super injunction - presumably on the grounds that ongoing unfavourable reporting of his bowling performance in four day cricket was an invasion of privacy. Or maybe an infringement of his right to peaceful enjoyment of his reputation?

Roi, King, Jewell, the Viscount .. all sounds a bit feudal if you add in the peasant, Meaker, hanging around outside the court.... The makings of a Christmas panto I feel!

Good points again, Corporal. With thoughts possibly of a certain Welsh footballer in mind, we also though have to manage the twitterati. I'm sure lessons can be learnt there from Surrey's own website - they normally manage to eradicate anything online deemed undesireable!

I'm sure Depressed would say we too often have a panto on the pitch without needing to wait for Christmas!

PS Look forward to your feedback on my dissertation on Hyphen and the Art of Captaincy ....