SURREY VS HAMPSHIRE SPECSAVERS COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP

First topic message reminder :

SURREY HAVE NAMED AN UNCHANGED FOURTEEN MAN SQUAD FOR THE SPECSAVERS COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP GAME AGAINST HAMPSHIRE AT THE KIA OVAL STARTING ON TUESDAY.
Jason Roy will miss the game after he was named in the England squad for their T20 International against Pakistan and Zafar Ansari is unavailable for selection due to a back injury.
The Surrey squad to play Hampshire in the Specsavers County Championship at the Kia Oval on Tuesday 6thSeptember, Wednesday 7th September. Thursday 8th September and Friday 9th September:
Gareth Batty (capt)
Rory Burns
Sam Curran
Tom Curran
Steven Davies
Ben Foakes
Mark Footitt
Arun Harinath
Stuart Meaker
Ravi Rampaul
Kumar Sangakkara
Dominic Sibley
Amar Virdi
Gary Wilson
Rampaul, Virdi and Wilson to miss out you would think
over to you chaps

kingdaveeagle wrote:Only one winner of this.

Hants now 382/5 off 113 overs. Ervine and McClaren both close to centuries.

Just the 1 measly bowling point to go with the 3 for batting. JimBob won't like that.

Hants look well on the way to a significant lead and are clear favourites from here. However, if we keep our heads, we can still bat our way to a draw. Hants may yet regret leaving out Crane.

401/5 off 118 0vers, 48 still left in the day. A lead of 72.

Ervine on 100 and McClaren on 96. to them but for Surrey.

Once McClaren gets his ton, I guess the batters will feel they have license to go crazy trying to go big.

Reckon we'll have something like 20 to 25 overs to see out tonight, either through getting the last 5 wickets or Hants declaring. Vital we bat well tonight.

guildfordbat wrote:Our only other CC match this season is away to Durham. In both the last two corresponding fixtures (2012 and 2013) we came back from the Riverside with just 2 points having suffered an innings defeat.

Repeating that after losing at home to Hants would certainly have me studying the table anxiously. Just saying ....  

On the plus side (from Surrey's point of view) the poor result for Warks in this round - defeat and no batting points - does mean that Warks would need to win their last game (home to Lancs) to overtake Surrey if, as usual, we lost away to Durham.

Meanwhile Lancs will be home to in form Middlesex and if they lose that one and then lose to Warks they will I think be struggling to overtake Surrey.

So, in short we probably don't need to muster at the panic stations just yet, Guildford....

Corporalhumblebucket wrote:

guildfordbat wrote:Our only other CC match this season is away to Durham. In both the last two corresponding fixtures (2012 and 2013) we came back from the Riverside with just 2 points having suffered an innings defeat.

Repeating that after losing at home to Hants would certainly have me studying the table anxiously. Just saying ....  

On the plus side (from Surrey's point of view) the poor result for Warks in this round - defeat and no batting points - does mean that Warks would need to win their last game (home to Lancs) to overtake Surrey if, as usual, we lost away to Durham.

Meanwhile Lancs will be home to in form Middlesex and if they lose that one and then lose to Warks they will I think be struggling to overtake Surrey.

So, in short we probably don't need to muster at the panic stations just yet, Guildford....

What if Lancs do well at home against Middlesex?

guildfordbat wrote:

kingdaveeagle wrote:Only one winner of this.

Hants now 382/5 off 113 overs. Ervine and McClaren both close to centuries.

Just the 1 measly bowling point to go with the 3 for batting. JimBob won't like that.

Hants look well on the way to a significant lead and are clear favourites from here. However, if we keep our heads, we can still bat our way to a draw. Hants may yet regret leaving out Crane.

I'm fuming

I'm away now.

We need to end the day with 10 wickets in hand.

481 - 7 as the lead passes 150.  Five catches for Foakes.  Looking for any pluses - at least our bowling hasn't completely wilted.  Last 10 overs Hants have scored 30 - 1.  And their overall scoring rate still remains at below 3.5 an over.

Corporalhumblebucket wrote: Looking for any pluses - at least our bowling hasn't completely wilted.  Last 10 overs Hants have scored 30 - 1.  And their overall scoring rate still remains at below 3.5 an over.

Spoke too soon. Berg hits Batty for three successive sixes - and 22 in four balls  

Hants declare on 582 - 9, with a massive lead of 253.  We will do well to escape from this match with a draw as we'll need to bat for a tricky 9 overs tonight and then all, or virtually all, of tomorrow. 

Having said that it doesn't look as though there are many demons left in the pitch

The old Surrey reappears - 229-5 to 582-9. I'm fuming. I'm guessing we'll be all out for 109 in our second innings.

Sometimes the other team just plays better, and you have to say fair play to Hampshire today, two magnificent innings by Ervine and McLaren.

Surrey just need to bat sensibly and they should see out tomorrow however - the Hants bowling isn't too good.

And nobody needs to worry about relegation or looking over our shoulders. It's pretty much a mathematical improbability, let alone a realistic possibility

Good that we got through to the close without any batting mishap.

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:Sometimes the other team just plays better, and you have to say fair play to Hampshire today, two magnificent innings by Ervine and McLaren.

Surrey just need to bat sensibly and they should see out tomorrow however - the Hants bowling isn't too good.

And nobody needs to worry about relegation or looking over our shoulders. It's pretty much a mathematical improbability, let alone a realistic possibility

Olly - no one (to my knowledge) is saying relegation is likely. Simply that I - and maybe a few others - would like any possibility to be entirely removed, and preferably by ourselves rather than having to check that an extraordinary sequence of other results hasn't occurred.

As regards fair play to Hants, absolutely agree. Unable to follow today's play so don't know how well Ervine and McLaren batted or how we bowled and fielded but the Hants batsmen did what was required and then some.

It was vitally important we safely navigated those 9 overs tonight - good work there from Burns and Sibley after a long time in the field. Cool heads and patience - particular virtues of Sibley and Harinath - should see us to a draw which will seem like a win tomorrow evening. As said before, Hants may wish they had the leg spin of Crane available for the last day - Jimbo?

A very good day for us. Would have liked us to declare a little earlier but that's being a bit picky.

Guildford, yes would be more confident going into today with Crane in the side! Especially as McLaren said in his interview last night that in Dawson's over late on it started turning.

Overcast at the oval we've really not had the luck with conditions this match

jimbobgooner wrote:Overcast at the oval we've really not had the luck with conditions this match

 I was a bit surprised they got away on time, tbh.  Raining and overcast at 1030 in West Kent, though it has brightened up a bit since.

Dawson gets third degree

Not what we needed, although at least the first wicket partnership occupied almost 20 overs.

Worried that this could be a jinx but Sibley has done well so far this morning. Now get us to lunch.

Been listening now and then. Berg has been off the field with an unspecified injury - that's probably good for Surrey.

Sibley now gone for 44 quarter of an hour before lunch

Poster's curse sees Sibley back in the hutch - sorry about that, folks!

108/2 at lunch. Both sides can still feel there's something in this for them. 65 overs to go - I'm sure JimBob will be counting down some time after tea ....

Fairly even morning's play, with Surrey maybe just about shading it.  But that could change rapidly - and there are minimum of 65 overs play left.

Essentially two very useful but not match saving partnerships so far.  Harinath is probably overdue a solid innings. Let's hope he gets one this afternoon.

Les Dawson already bowled 17 overs.

50 for kumar

50 for harinath

Sanga and Baron doing well. It's looking good for Surrey.

Quite grey with a spot of rain in the air my way too.

Incredibly jealous of those in attendance witnessing a Baron/Sanga masterclass

Both me and Guildford doing our best jinx work there

Ervine gets the baron in his first over

Oh no, I've done it again! Eddie Ervine causes Baron to crash!

Olly - Church was going on earlier about how much Sanga and Baron like batting together and that Sanga rates Baron highly. I'm sure it must apply the other way as well!

Tea 3 down shame about the awful ervine (buffet bowler) getting the baron

jimbobgooner wrote:Tea 3 down shame about the awful ervine (buffet bowler)  getting the baron

Agree about it being a shame that Baron got out but easily our session - arguably the first session we've won since day one.

Should be plain sailing from here.

5 runs behind

Rain stops play

Match drawn we are staying up

...and that, apparently, is that: match drawn.

A draw which, with other results today, means rather bizarrely we are only today mathematically guaranteed to be neither Champions nor relegated.

SimonofSurrey wrote:...and that, apparently, is that: match drawn.

A draw which, with other results today, means rather bizarrely we are only today mathematically guaranteed to be neither Champions nor relegated.

Let's bask in mid table mediocrity!

Seriously though a fantastic effort considering how we started the season. Really do think our early season struggles can be put down to the coaching turmoil we unfortunately had to go through. Di Venuto deserves great credit for sticking in there and coming through the other side.

Indeed Olly. Worth noting we are unbeaten in all competitions now for exactly 50 days (ladt loss to Middx in 20/20 on Thursday 21 July). We have picked up remarkably since the first weeks of the season.

What's changed? Getting fast bowlers fit, return of Sam C and a general upping of everyone's game, typified by #burnsforthelioms' dogged 1000+ runs for the season.

Well done to everyone for a great result - I, like many, presumed we'd be straight back down, especially after the awful start. But like last season, a great second half has done the business. All we need to do next year is get everyone fit and performing in the first few games.

Yes...congratulations to the lads....that terrible defeat at Somerset now seems light years ago....have to say. Especially congrats to Batty...to keep morale up and that fighting spirit going...lets hope we end the season with some silverware and dare I say it....lots to be positive about for next season too...

Very solid last day performance.  Well done in particular to Sibley, Sanga and Harinath.

Doubtful that Hants would have won, even if they had picked Crane. Neither Batty nor Dawson seemd to get much help from the pitch on day 3 and 4.

Maybe, with Div 1 status secured for next year, we can expect Virdi to make his debut in the last cc match?

Anyone there to see how Dawson bowled today? According to the Cricinfo report the spin was quite slow, but at least he managed to trouble all batsman aside from Sanga and deserved a little better?

Hi JD - not today but I saw Dawson on day one. There wasn't anything in the track then for a spinner and the overcast conditions favoured the seamers but he bowled fairly tidily and got the wicket of Sam Curran.

We'll never know whether it would have made a difference if Hants had also played Crane but I thought at the start that it was a shortsighted decision to leave him out and play the extra seamer. That probably helped them to begin with but I'm sure Vince would have liked to be able to call on the young leg spinner today and have Dawson as a supporting slow bowler rather than the main act.

Anyway, a solid and commendable display by Surrey today to deservedly confirm their Division One status for next season.

To put it in perspective, would you have settled for CC1 safety and a return trip to Lords for the RLODC Final come mid-September:
1/ when the season started?
2/ just after this: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/scorecard/ECKO39825 ?

Okay, I'm willing to accept the gamblers among us might answer 'yes' to 1 above, but I cannot believe anyone honestly would answer 'yes' to 2.

Well done to all involved, especially - and far from the first time in this spell with us - the mighty Norah. If Zaf cannot recover in time, he surely has to be a good outside bet to go to Bangladesh this winter as England's third spinner.