Surrey vs Glamorgan LV=County Championship

First topic message reminder :

SURREY HAVE NAMED A THIRTEEN MAN SQUAD FOR THEIR OPENING GAME IN THE LV=COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP AGAINST GLAMORGAN STARTING ON SUNDAY IN CARDIFF.
Kumar Sangakkara will make his Surrey debut having arrived at the Club this week and Kevin Pietersen is also included. Chris Tremlett is unavailable for selection due to a minor hamstring strain he picked up against Oxford MCCU
The Surrey squad to play Glamorgan in the LV=County Championship at the Swalec Stadium on Sunday 19th April, Monday 20th April, Tuesday 21st April and Wednesday 22nd April :
Gareth Batty (capt)
Zafar Ansari
Rory Burns
Tom Curran
Steven Davies
Jade Dernbach
Matthew Dunn
Stuart Meaker
Kevin Pietersen
Jason Roy
Kumar Sangakkara
Vikram Solanki
Gary Wilson
no sign of foakes yet guildford

It's ok Guildford, Norah's on in the 8th over of the 4th innings 'sticky dog' of a wicket, with his(her?!) assortment of doosrahs, googlies, chinamen, wrong 'uns and the world famous mystery ball!

Whenever Surrey declare my instinctive reaction is work out whether we have a fighting chance of avoiding defeat. But here it looks like Glam have shut up shop.

Goochie - 22/0 off 11 overs now. This has ''shake hands for a draw and clear off home as soon as we can'' written over every inch of it!

It certainly has Guildford. Olly can go and collect his winnings after your earlier 'tip'!
I wonder what the par declaration on day 4 is now? It used to be about around 4 and half to 5 an over for a 65/70 over chase. I suspect a run a ball is the minimum now

50 for kp

To be honest, apart from that one very good season by Linley when we last went up (approx 70 wickets) we've never got close to producing another Martin Bicknell - i.e. someone you can reply on getting 3-4 wickets every innings.

Game turned on Surrey's inability to polish off 9, Ten, Jack quickly in the first innings (although Meschede & Cosker are far from the worst 9 & Ten you'll ever see, as they proved). I agree 100pc with kingdaveeagle. Where will salvation come from? Curran and Meaker possibly, Tremlett ditto if/when fit, and Dunn if he continues last year's upward curve. Is Balcombe any more than the new Jon Lewis (why? why? why?).

I fear JD is on a terminal decline, especially in the longer form of the game. I wouldn't bet against him leaving/been shown the door at the end of this season.

I know Balcombe isn't a big name, but he has taken a lot of wickets at this level - should be worth a go in my opinion

Match drawn without Surrey taking a wicket in Glam second innings - despite a hostile spell from Rory Burns.  

I suppose, being charitable, we could say both sides were defeated by a pitch that didn't offer bowlers any help. Also, there were two Div 1 matches that ended without a positive result. Perhaps the better test will come when there is a bit in it for the bowlers. Quite often in recent seasons I seem to recall that we've blown matches by failing to take advantage of helpful bowling conditions and then having to play catch up. 

There was a time when Meaker was liable to take a bunch of quick wickets but, possibly linked to his injuries, those days seem few and far between.

jimbohammers wrote:I know Balcombe isn't a big name, but he has taken a lot of wickets at this level - should be worth a go in my opinion

Hi Jimbo - unfortunately Balcombe got off to a dreadful start this week for Surrey seconds in a friendly 3 day game against a Hants & Kent combo side at the Aegeas. His first innings figures were 11-0-84-1 with 31 of those runs coming from no balls and wides. He didn't bowl in the second innings (don't know if he picked up an injury).

This doesn't mean he can't go on and be something of a success but it has to be accepted that he's well down the pecking order tonight.

Evening Corporal - no drinks in the mess tonight, I guess.

Take your comment about the pitch but, as you also say, feel that's a bit charitable. Bowlers with the pace of Dunn (or Meaker) or the supposed variation of Dernbach should be able to york or trick out a number 10 regardless of the surface. The failure to do that really put the mockers on things and to all intents and purposes made today a complete waste of time. As Goochie posted earlier, we still might not have been able to take all 10 second innings wickets but we would at least have gone into the fourth day with some genuine hopes.

A good draw I think - excellent batting performance to start the season and a decent bowling one too.

Hi Guildford, thanks for that, shame to hear that about Balcombes performance, looks like he's not exactly pushing for a start then! I did think his move to Surrey was a strange one.
He had a loan spell with Kent a couple of seasons ago and took a lot of wickets and he was always pretty handy for us.