SURREY VS KENT LV=COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP

SURREY HAVE NAMED AN UNCHANGED THIRTEEN MAN SQUAD FOR THE LV=COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP GAME AGAINST KENT AT BECKENHAM STARTING ON SUNDAY.
The Surrey squad to play Kent in the LV=County Championship at The County Ground, Beckenham on Sunday 24th May, Monday 25th May, Tuesday 26th May and Wednesday 27th May :
Gareth Batty (capt)
Zafar Ansari
James Burke
Rory Burns
Tom Curran
Steven Davies
Matthew Dunn
Luke Fletcher
Stuart Meaker
Jason Roy
Kumar Sangakkara
Dominic Sibley
Gary Wilson
will dunn come in for meaker or curran?

Thanks Jimbob. I think your question is the right one.  I guess much depends on whether there is a need to rest Curran.

Yes, thanks, JimBob.

Logically - although we know things don't always work like that! - Clive should come back in. It was said he needed a rest and he got that when left out for the last game. Whilst Curran was also said to need the same, he only had to bowl (and bat) in one innings at Northants. Plus he got a fourfer which should boost his confidence and give him extra energy.

All things in the mix, it doesn't look good for Meaker although I wouldn't suggest Olly put his Canaries season ticket on it! Hard to see Burkey (he's playing for Guildford Cricket Club some of the time now) making the cut.

Olly could have put his season ticket on it - Meaker misses out along with Burkey.

Kent win toss and bat. May turn out not to be too bad for us. I would fancy our batters to chase a total or hold out on the last day far more than our bowlers to take 10 wickets.

Kent will bat and Clive for Meaker is the change

earlry wkt for norman

Seems like Norman Stanley was Going Straight. Impressive opening spell of 6-1-9-1. Replaced by Ansari who gets clobbered in his first over for a 6 by Rob Key. Key's a canny old b*gger, knows if he hits Zaf off his line and gets him taken out of the attack we're going to have problems.

#ansariforengland picks up Bell Drummond

94/2 at lunch. We can settle for that although a shame that the penultimate over of the morning, from Curran, went for 10. Those few additional runs probably tip it towards being an equal morning rather than our's.

We need to continue to nibble away and take more wickets in the remaining two sessions - that sort of consistency has too often been lacking. You would think 290/8 would be a satisfying close of play score from here but will we get near to that?

Hmmm, things starting to slip away. 100 partnership achieved. Kent now 150/2. Key who nearly always does well against Surrey is on 74 whilst Northeast has passed 50.

Fletch hasn't turned his arm since his good opening spell and has now bowled the least of the 5 bowlers. Don't know if he's got an injury or if it's just Batty's captaincy.

Fletcher was off the field at one point Guildford - so I'd err more towards a niggle

Cheers, Olly.

With bowlers being injured during a match this season (Dernbach, Trem, Batty and now apparently Fletch), we've had bad luck ... or bad preparation.

guildfordbat wrote:Cheers, Olly.

With bowlers being injured during a match this season (Dernbach, Trem, Batty and now apparently Fletch), we've had bad luck ... or bad preparation.

Tbh you can do all the preparation in the world but if a bloke twinges something or takes a misstep on the field and rolls his ankle, no amount of preparation can prevent that

Back spasm for Luke Fletcher

In the meantime three quick wickets have reduced Kent to 189-5

Olly wrote:

guildfordbat wrote:Cheers, Olly.

With bowlers being injured during a match this season (Dernbach, Trem, Batty and now apparently Fletch), we've had bad luck ... or bad preparation.

Tbh you can do all the preparation in the world but if a bloke twinges something or takes a misstep on the field and rolls his ankle, no amount of preparation can prevent that

Yes ... but that hasn't always been the case. Too often a re-occurrence of an existing injury; certainly with Dernbach and Tremlett, which puts me in a grumpy mood now for Fletcher being off the pitch.

My mood improved though by the 3 recent wickets. Particularly good to have Stevens back in the hutch for a duck - he's another who normally does well against us. Could certainly do with him picking up a knock and being unable to bowl.

224/5 at tea. A few more runs than I would prefer but again that's ok. Important now not to let Billings and Cowdrey build a partnership.

Unless we run through them, I would now expect Kent to be North (although not with Northeast - sorry!) of my earlier hoped for restricted total of 290 at stumps. However, having them 8 down, should be realistic - whether it is remains to be seen.

Billings is the key wicket - he will score quickly

Yes - and Curran gets Billings soon after tea!

All good stuff - just don't let the Kent tail wag!

Kent 282 all out. Excellent effort

Agreed - excellent work having lost the lost the toss, lost a bowler and being 182/2.

If the weather permits (there's a bit of drizzle around, per Churchy), we'll have 8 overs to see out tonight.

PS How many times will Churchy use the word ''unit'' when referring to the bowlers on Surrey tv tonight?

Damn ansari goes which puts a blip on an otherwise good day

Olly wrote:Damn ansari goes which puts a blip on an otherwise good day

Agreed but still our day in my book.

Credit to all our wicket takers, good to wrap up the tail quickly for once. Now for a couple of geeky points:

* Two catches for Le Roi including a caught and bowled. I think that's 8 CC catches he's taken this season and he's only into his 5th match. He really is an excellent and reliable fielder. Just a shame he can't field at slip and on the boundary at the same time!

* Just 1 extra - a leg bye - conceded by Surrey . Olly, you weren't with us when Lewis gave away 100 CC runs one season in no balls! If I wasn't such an easy going supporter, that would have bothered me.

My only comment has to be why is batty playing if he's bowling so few overs (especially considering we only had 2 seamers most of the day)

Only just catching up with this as I was at Lords today. .  Looks like a good day's work by Surrey with Curran and Dunn each taking three.  We seem to specialise in seamers getting crocked during matches. From the comments made by Dunn it sounds as though there's a bit in the pitch for the bowlers, so it could be a challenge to score over 300.

Impressive prediction about the Kent score by Guildford.

have i told you about my thoughts about sibley opening

Ooooh heck! 70/4. Burns, Sanga and nightwatchman Burns all put back in the hutch this morning.

Kent's 282 looking a formidable score. Still some batting left but more than one will need to fire - would be good for Sibley to remind people what he can do.

jimbobgooner wrote:have i told you about my thoughts about sibley opening

Have I told you about needing a definite decision about Pietersen before it happens

Olly wrote:My only comment has to be why is batty playing if he's bowling so few overs (especially considering we only had 2 seamers most of the day)

With Batty being appointed captain, the team was always likely to lack balance in the early part of the season. It is a concern and I said the same on the ''Surrey news/articles'' thread and on the wallpaper site. On the other hand, Batty has a lot of credit in the bank and there probably isn't an ideal solution. He might also end up bowling more and in tandem with Ansari when conditions better suit the slow men. I suspect somewhat cynically that supporters will be happy to go along with the situation whilst we're in contention for promotion but will turn unpleasantly if we drop out.

95-4 at lunch. Sounds like a real struggle this morning. Hope Davies continues his recent excellent form

guildfordbat wrote:

jimbobgooner wrote:have i told you about my thoughts about sibley opening

Have I told you about needing a definite decision about Pietersen before it happens

sibley with a harinath tribute

stevens must love playing us

jimbobgooner wrote:stevens must love playing us

Yeah, I was saying that yesterday. 3/26 for him now.

We're going to have to pull out the stops in the rest of this game.

jimbobgooner wrote:sibley with a harinath tribute

180-7 at tea. Sounds like a struggle. Sibley nearly 3 hours for 40-odd. Still don't see why Roy and Davies can't open to give the innings a quicker start, especially as Roy seems to do better there than at number 6.

Very overcast in Kent, which may be helping swing bowlers. But Riley also bowling v economically, going at less than two an over.

250 - 8 at stumps represents a useful recovery from a very perilous 170 - 7, with Harold and Norah making timely contributions later in the day.  Probably too much to hope that we can eke out a third batting point tomorrow, but even reaching parity on first innings would be excellent.

Totally agree with the Corporal's assessment.

Whilst Kent may be happy they don't have to bat last, they will still be wary of the Sanga factor.

Haven't followed today (I'm currently on the coach back from Wembley - What a day!) but seems like a good recovery from the boys

Would just like to point out that my NFL team won the super bowl and I have fulfilled my dream as a football fan of seeing my team at Wembley. I'm on a sporting roll and the Surrey promotion push is next upon the horizon!

Many congrats, Olly!

Hi Olly - well done Norwich.  It's a great feeling to get through the playoffs.  

(Just don't give too much thought to the 35 matches of toil and trouble next season following on from the brief flurry of optimism when the Canaries are third in the table on 7 points after three matches.... )

And still on a footy theme - great news for this West Ham fan with the departure of Allardyce!
Norah gone already this morning. I doubt we'll 'escape' with a lead, even with Norman Stanley at the wicket!

Hi Goochie - maybe Ancelotti next up?!

Cheers chaps - I'm grinning from ear to ear today and will be for sometime yet! Easily the best day I've ever had following sports

Now Surrey let's keep this roll going....

Scores now level, with useful last wicket partnership of 26 so far... and now we go into the lead.

Curran has now passed his previous highest first class score (23*).

All out 292. Didn't quite get a third batting point, but still a very useful effort from the later batsmen. It's a much brighter day in Kent so there may not be so much assistance for the bowlers today.

Corporalhumblebucket wrote:Hi Goochie - maybe Ancelotti next up?!

We can dream eh corporal?!

Better than expected wagging of the tail! Wouldn't really want us chasing anything over 250 in the 4th inns though!

Fletcher doesn't take the field when Surrey players come out - still crocked.