SURREY VS NOTTINGHAMSHIRE SPECSAVERS COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP

First topic message reminder :

AND WE'RE BACK
SURREY HAVE NAMED A THIRTEEN MAN SQUAD FOR THEIR OPENING SPECSAVERS COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP GAME AGAINST NOTTINGHAMSHIRE AT TRENT BRIDGE STARTING ON SUNDAY.
Mark Footitt and Ravi Rampaul are both named in a Surrey Championship squad for the first time and Jason Roy is included in the squad having returned from the World T20 with England.
Rory Burns has been appointed the official Vice Captain for the 2016 season.
There is no place in the squad for james burke or Dominic sibley while jade dernbach,stuart meaker and son of boris remain on the treatment table.
The Surrey Squad to play Nottinghamshire in the Specsavers County Championship at Trent Bridge on Sunday April 10th, Monday April 11th, Tuesday April 12th and Wednesday April 13th :
Gareth Batty (capt)
Rory Burns
Sam Curran
Tom Curran
Steven Davies
Matthew Dunn
Ben Foakes
Mark Footitt
Arun Harinath
Ravi Rampaul
Jason Roy
Kumar Sangakkara
Gary Wilson
tough to call the two to miss out so i'll go for wilson and dunn
over to you chaps

Think best we can hope for now is full batting points and a draw - which id snap your hand off for

Congrats to Rampaul on the fiver - but it's a very hollow one as Guildford says. The main culprit for our leaking of runs I thought.

And also as Guildford says, Batty will really need to bowl well second dig to justify his selection. You gotta think when Zafar is fit he comes in for Batty

Alec Stewart sounded pretty disappointed in interview on Surrey website. He referred to bowlers' lack of consistency and giving away too many easy runs and said that there had been plenty of help for bowlers if they put the ball in the right place.

Feel a bit sorry for Batty - it's clear from what Stewart said that there was plenty of movement on offer for the bowlers, and certainly enough in the wicket for Surrey faster bowlers to have dismissed Notts for a lot less.

Evening Corporal - I take your point about feeling a bit sorry for Batty but only go so far. Yes, his seamers did let him down. However, as well as being captain, he's part of a 5 man bowling unit. Felt he should have brought himself on much earlier - he didn't bowl until the 58th over when Notts were pushing 300 - if only to try and mix things up and apply the brake.

If the track was so unsuitable for Batty to be bowling today, should he have chosen to bowl first or even have included himself in the eleven?

Not a good morning - 71-3 with Davies gone now for 8. Who's gonna start the rain dance?

Hi Dave - trust you are well and full of the joys of Spring - ok, I'll give you it's not a good morning for us!

Oh well played one lost one

Decent start

So Gareth about that decision to bowl first...

jimbobgooner wrote:Oh well played one lost one

Certainly going to require a real turnaround or some bad weather (Corporal, over to you for the forecast ) to avoid defeat with us 4 down at lunch and trailing by 340.

Olly wrote:So Gareth about that decision to bowl first...

Jason Roy 28 off 40 balls - all runs coming in boundaries #notyourboytoyJasonRoy

Baby face to the crease

Olly wrote:Jason Roy 28 off 40 balls - all runs coming in boundaries #notyourboytoyJasonRoy

Out next ball

You've got quite a long tail haven't you?

It'll bat like one regardless

GSC wrote:It'll bat like one regardless

On form today, GSC!

Hi Strings - good to see you on a proper board. When Surrey win, you must join us in the cyber bar run by the Corporal in the officers' mess - unfortunately, I don't think it'll be open for business this week!

Now leaving the gags about Surrey's tail to GSC, I'll say that the Curran brothers - especially Sam - can bat although both need to properly demonstrate that. Batty going in after them at number 9 probably supports that view.

Start the car

174/6 with the Curran brothers at the crease ....

Four of the top six got beyond 20 but none reached 40. Very disappointing.

Make that - five of the top seven got to 20 but none reached 40. Highly disappointing.

175-7 now. Probably not even 1 batting point. New captain please!

As Guildford says a lot of starts, nobody kicked on. Will need to in the second dig

193 - 7 The inability of any of our batsmen to build a significant innings or partnership today rather reinforces the view that our bowling was very, very poor yesterday. Stewart was more or less saying in his interview that if bowlers continued to put the ball in the right place they would have reward. I imagine a par score yesterday would have been something like 250.

Not sure that there'll be much help from the skies. Looks like a narrowish band of rain just might sit across E Midlands for much of tomorrow. But it doesn't look like something one could rely on!

201 - 7. A batting point.

Best case scenario here is to get put back in and rack up 400+ in the third innings - not sure we really want to be batting 4th with a day and a bit to see out

I would suspect Read would bat again regardless.

GSC wrote:I would suspect Read would bat again regardless.

Would be the logical choice for Notts yes

GSC wrote:I would suspect Read would bat again regardless.

I would expect so too. It's his seamers who have done virtually all the bowling so far. He'll want to give them a break plus he'll be reassured by the Corporal's weather forecast.

Ravioli to the crease

Useful partnership of 47 between Batty and Tom Curran, but nowhere near enough to repair earlier damage.

Pleased to see Tom Curran getting a few runs today.  Not surprisingly, with his bowling heroics last year, including sheer number of overs he had to bowl, his batting didn't really advance. But it seems a good idea to persist with putting him in ahead of Batty.

Tea interval - no doubt much appreciated by both Ravioli and Patel!

Welcome back division 1 how we've missed you

Off slightly early for bad light

Zafar confirmed as playing for the second XI this week

Need him back asap

Olly wrote:

Olly wrote:Jason Roy 28 off 40 balls - all runs coming in boundaries #notyourboytoyJasonRoy

Out next ball

Very good plan. Since Surrey were already on the skids when he came in, it's good to see him thinking ahead and saving energy for the very, very long innings we may need him to play when we successfully chase 500+ second dig for a stunning win. (...Or maybe not)

Great resistance put up by Rampaul

225 all out

Might not be the worst time to have a blast at our openers.

Granted you'd like a few more in the bank.

All out for 225, lead of 221.

Id be tempted by a quick flurry tonight and come back tomorrow morning, but smart play is to bat I think

Ah, last 3 wickets for a handful of runs. Summer's here!! Pathetic display by our batsmen. Hope this isn't going to be a poor season as I'd have thought Notts would be one of the weaker teams.

Notts want day 4 to be a rest day follow on enforced

Evening all,

6 batsmen get past 20 and none go past 40...

Just goes to show that we'll need our batsmen to be a lot more consistent and patient over the course of an innings to make runs. The big step up between Div 1 and 2 is the depth of bowling most counties have. Many sides in Div 2 have 2nd change (and even 1st change) bowlers who batsmen like Roy and Foakes could score very quick and easy runs off.

That's not as often the case in Div 1. Much better application of their undoubted talent will be needed for them to score runs consistently.

Notts have put us back, a surprise from Read and the scenario I'd much prefer from a Surrey perspective.

8-0 and 1.3 overs.

C'mon Third Degree and Baron, last the evening!

Read fancies a flurry tonight then, fairly aggressive

Hi GSC - Are you surprised to see Jake Ball getting the new ball over Gurney?

When I saw your line-up I presumed the senior bowler would open with Bird.

Not entirely sure that enforcing the follow on was the smart play by read, players constantly on and off for bad light means limited overs tonight.

I'd have looked to run Surrey ragged in the field for two sessions tomorrow if I were notts

Play closes with Surrey 14-0 from 6 overs in their second innings, following on.

It leaves a simple if not easily accomplished task for tomorrow - bat the day to stand a chance.

Olly, I expect that worries about rain interfering may have come into the decision.

Personally - and this goes with a lot of my traditional / old fashioned approach to the game - I'm normally keen to enforce the follow on and so from a Notts' perspective have no issue with Read's decision. However, it surprised me as it's not the modern way.

I understand the thinking behind not enforcing - let your bowlers have a rest, tire the opposition out in the field for another couple of sessions or so and then set them a soul destroying impossible target. It's got a lot going for it!

I just prefer the approach that when the opposition batsmen are in trouble, you immediately go for the jugular and try to take more wickets straightaway. Bowlers don't tend to get tired when they are taking wickets! Also, and this is important to me, if you don't enforce the follow on, you run the risk of batting too long and letting the opposition escape with a draw. Less chance of that if you know how many runs you need 4th dig (assuming you have to bat again) and the pace at which you need to go.

Anyway, just the thoughts and ramblings of an oldtimer.

Of course what we are probably missing in the current match situation is that it's all part of a cunning plan by Batty so he can bowl on the last day!

I probably would've batted, tried to get 250 or so by tea tomorrow, some players in this lineup can accelerate. But when you're 220 runs ahead in the first innings, there aren't that many bad decisions. If you're going to enforce the follow on, might as well be the first game of the season when guys are fresh and healthy.

I think enforcing follow on was sensible decision by Notts. There's a fair possibility of losing chunk of tomorrow's play to rain, so by enforcing follow on Notts don't have to worry about whether/when to declare.

A bit of a wake up call for the lads thus far...given we are only 2 days into the season, probably a bit soon to start demanding heads to roll the weather for tomorrow and the East Midlands looks very uncertain...could be a wash out .....equally could get a full day's play in.....assuming that Surrey are able to bat all day which is a mighty big assumption....plenty of time to turn things around!