SURREY VS SOMERSET SPECSAVERS COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP

First topic message reminder :

SURREY HAVE NAMED A THIRTEEN MAN SQUAD FOR THE SPECSAVERS COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP GAME AGAINST SOMERSET AT TAUNTON STARTING ON SATURDAY.
Zafar Ansari returns to the Championship squad having recovered from the thumb injury he sustained in the Durham game earlier in the season. Dominic Sibley is named in a Championship squad for the first time this season but Jason Roy is unavailable for selection due to a wrist injury that is being monitored by the medical staff. Matthew Dunn has a low grade hamstring strain and continues with his rehabilitation programme.
Ravi Rampaul,Mark Footitt and Jade Dernbach remain on the treatment table.
Sam Curran has detention
THE SURREY SQUAD TO PLAY SOMERSET AT TAUNTON IN THE SPECSAVERS COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP ON SATURDAY 28TH MAY, SUNDAY 29TH MAY, MONDAY 30TH MAY AND TUESDAY 31ST MAY :
Gareth Batty (capt)
Zafar Ansari
James Burke
Rory Burns
Tom Curran
Steven Davies
Ben Foakes
Arun Harinath
Stuart Meaker
Mathew Pillans
Kumar Sangakkara
Dominic Sibley
Gary Wilson
probably go for burke and sibley to miss out
over to you chaps

Between them in the match, Batty and Meaker took 17 wickets for 233 runs @ 13.71

There is no way that any team should be losing from that position and for me the only way back is an honest appraisal from the club and a willingness to completely rebuild strategy—and attitude—wise. MDV etc need to stop with the "very disappointed, but hard fought game" line and instead own the fact that we are not yet good enough. For me, a clean break needs to have Batty stripped of his captaincy; quite apart from the poor tactical thinking that has been flagged on here throughout the season, they need to put down a marker for a new start for the season and cultivate a new culture that can help these (extremely talented) players get to a level that approaches their best.

Are your players extremely talented though or actually decent players that aren't quite good enough for Division 1 of the CC. There is said to be a big gulf from Div 1 to 2, so it might actually be the case you are now trying to win games with 6 or 7 players that simply aren't up to standard

Just an outsider perspective, and a bit of a challenge to the view that all Surrey have to do is play to their potential to comfortably stay up

VTR wrote:Are your players extremely talented though or actually decent players that aren't quite good enough for Division 1 of the CC. There is said to be a big gulf from Div 1 to 2, so it might actually be the case you are now trying to win games with 6 or 7 players that simply aren't up to standard

Just an outsider perspective, and a bit of a challenge to the view that all Surrey have to do is play to their potential to comfortably stay up

An issue has certainly been injuries this season and a lack of depth in the bowling specifically has been exposed

See my thoughts on our best XI below

Burns - good enough for Div 1
Harinath - not really good enough if not in top form
Sanga - obvs good enough
Davies - again good enough
Roy - Jury out for me, but has the potential to be
Ansari - good enough
Foakes - with the gloves yes, with the bat he's borderline
Tom Curran - good enough
Batty - good enough
Rampaul - borderline
Footitt - borderline

Problem is Ansari has been out, Footitt/Rampaul too - and Meaker the best replacement also out for a while and simply put the other replacements for them (Burke, Dunn and Pillans) have been absolute rubbish

Batsmen are horribly out of touch too - but again the depth there is poor, Wilson isn't upto div 1 imo and Sibley is an unknown

I certainly take your point VTR, and there are players that could be said to be true of (worryingly the two most obvious names are the openers), but there are also players like Davies & Roy who played excellently in Div 2 but have also been extremely impressive in white-ball cricket where there is no division system. Davies spent most of last season averaging >90 in the 50 over stuff for example and Roy has an ODI century.

Maybe a bit of both, but there is no doubt in my mind that this group of players should be doing significantly better than they currently are. Sangakkara, Davies, Roy, Ansari & Foakes is a middle order that should be racking up significant scores more often than not.

Agree they should be doing better, and in spite of everything a team with more than 0% confidence wins yesterday's game.

Looking at Olly's first choice 11, its not bad but the batting does look weak to me. Ansari/Foakes is a very stodgy 6 and 7 with an out of form Roy above them, even with that lineup teams will fancy themselves from 3 down onwards

VTR,

It's a reasonable challenge. I'm not convinced we have the team ethic to stay up, somehow we're not playing as the sum of our parts, let alone better than. Our return to CC1 has, however, been shot through with unbelievable injury issues to our attack: Dernbach (I know, but wiser nowadays), Meaker, Footitt, Ansari for starters. We have also greatly missed Sam Curran - not only is he an outrageously precocious talent in his own right but he brings out the best in his brother, too. That said, should a genuinely able CC1 side be bemoaning the absence of a schoolkid (till the end of Summer Term)?

I think your observations on our middle order are a little harsh. Roy at 5 with Foakes and Ansari to follow is probably strong enough for CC1, especially once a couple of Currans follow them in. Our problems are more towards the top of the order: Burns and Davies appear horribly out of touch, while it looks as if Harinath, whose courage and commitment are beyond compare, might be being found out technically as a good CC 1 1/2 player. Even Sanga has had a couple of quiet matches.

In sum, I think we could possibly have the squad to achieve somewhere around 5th and 7th in CC1. But at the moment, and even before May is out, it's hard to see beyond 9th.

I agree with most of the points made in response to VTR's valid questions.  On the bowling front I agree that Burke, Pillans and Dunn are probably not Div 1 standard bowlers.  Footitt ought to be - but had a very poor start to the season before injury struck, and Ansari, Meaker and Dernbach have been injured for most of the time.

Batting wise, we are partly suffering with several players being out of form. The batting line up would be a fair bit stronger with Sam Curran in the team. Tom Curran at 9 and Batty at 10 would start to look like a half decent batting tail. Higher up the order, Harinath probably doesn't have the quality to hold down a regular opening slot in Div 1, while I would see Burns at best as a reasonable Div 1 opener, and not one likely to challenge for international recognition. Roy and Davies on their day are brilliant but do seem a bit fragile in difficult situations.