SURREY VS SOMERSET AWAY LV= COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP DIVISION ONE 2024

Surrey have named a 15 man squad for the LV=Insurance County Championship game against Somerset starting on Monday 9th September at Taunton.
Shakib Al Hasan has joined Surrey and is available to play in the fixture against Somerset at Taunton in the Vitality County Championship.
Tom Curran comes into the squad for the first time in red ball cricket since 2022.
Surrey are without Test players Ollie Pope, Jamie Smith, Dan Lawrence and Gus Atkinson. Will Jacks, Jamie Overton, Reece Topley and Sam Curran are part of England’s IT20 squad for the upcoming series with Australia and are thus unavailable for the trip to Taunton.  
Yousef Majid is named in a red ball squad for the first time in a Surrey shirt, whilst Josh Blake and Ben Geddes are recalled to the squad.
There is no place in the squad for James Taylor
Full Squad:
Burns (c)
Blake
Clark
T.Curran
Foakes (wk)
Geddes
Lawes
Majid
McKerr
Patel
Roach
Shakib
Sibley
Steel
Worrall
So the second and final game with the kookaburra ball making it hard to pick the four to miss out, if the pitch is like notts we will have to go spin crazy and probably leave out most of the quicks. if not Majid and Steel can carry out the drinks with maybe Geddes and Lawes,   my head hurts trying to predict this.
Over to you chaps  

Cheers jimbob, it's certainly a bowler heavy squad! I assume Roach is 'available' now! I can't see Lawes or Blake playing regardless, and I'll add McKerr and Geddes, still leaves us with 4 medium pacers (and Patel!) and 3 spinners, Shakib could be a very shrewd all rounder signing

Somerset win toss and bat
Blake, Lawes Majid and McKerr miss out

thegooch7 wrote:Cheers jimbob, it's certainly a bowler heavy squad! I assume Roach is 'available'  now! I can't see Lawes or Blake playing regardless, and I'll add McKerr and Geddes, still leaves us with 4 medium pacers (and Patel!) and 3 spinners, Shakib could be a very shrewd all rounder signing

as meatloaf sang 3 out of 4 ain't bad

It’s a compliment to little old Somerset really that the mighty Surrey have to draft in a bloke with 4500 Test runs and 240 Test wickets to play one game at Taunton. It’s a hard life sometimes.

Worrall excepted, plenty of dross bowled by Surrey, and as for the fielding... absolutely shocking

thegooch7 wrote:Worrall excepted, plenty of dross bowled by Surrey, and as for the fielding... absolutely shocking

You've done it again Goochie

jimbobgooner wrote:

thegooch7 wrote:Worrall excepted, plenty of dross bowled by Surrey, and as for the fielding... absolutely shocking

You've done it again Goochie

To be fair, a lot of help from Somerset batsmen at 305-5l But I'll certainly take 317 from then...a lot of work to do from our batsmen still

Roach and Steel awful with the ball the latter lucky to be playing.
must say I like the look of this Shakib

JDizzle wrote:It’s a compliment to little old Somerset really that the mighty Surrey have to draft in a bloke with 4500 Test runs and 240 Test wickets to play one game at Taunton. It’s a hard life sometimes.

Well, we couldn't sign Brett Randell as some little old side had beaten us to him.

Seriously and along with a few others, I don't go a bundle on Surrey signing a guy for just one match at this stage of the season but tbf we are significantly handicapped by the ECB depriving us of eight players at this time. In those circumstances, should we have given a Championship debut to a rookie like Majid in a game of this significance or bought someone in from outside? I honestly don't know.

guildfordbat wrote:

JDizzle wrote:It’s a compliment to little old Somerset really that the mighty Surrey have to draft in a bloke with 4500 Test runs and 240 Test wickets to play one game at Taunton. It’s a hard life sometimes.

Well, we couldn't sign Brett Randell as some little old side had beaten us to him.

Seriously and along with a few others, I don't go a bundle on Surrey signing a guy for just one match at this stage of the season but tbf we are significantly handicapped by the ECB depriving us of eight players at this time. In those circumstances, should we have given a Championship debut to a rookie like Majid in a game of this significance or bought someone in from outside? I honestly don't know.

It’s a real shame what has happened to Virdi - but at least he is getting some cricket at Worcs now and can get bowling some overs again.

I hope there is some rain due over the next few days at Somerset know they have to force a result. As otherwise the shots played by to a degree Banton (but at least he was 130* at the time) but especially Aldridge and Overton who are proper batters were absolutely criminal. Hardly rocket science but going massive in the first innings vs Durham two weeks ago and then letting Leach lose on Day 4 worked perfectly. No silly shots then.

The game is very interestingly poised.

Somerset will be disappointed to have fallen like a heap late on but still appear to have a reasonable score and will take some satisfaction from that, particularly against a Test spinner on the Taunton track.

Surrey ideally need to bat all day plus some of tomorrow and better that score of 317. Leach today could be a handful and even more so in the fourth dig. At least we didn't have to face him or any of their seamers for a tricky 2 or 3 overs last night. Resuming today at 1/1 with a night watchman in would have really put us under the cosh.

Although not their intention, by being skittled in the last hour Somerset have also moved the game on towards a positive conclusion. With the weather not looking too bad, the draw now seems less likely. But who will win?

91/2 at lunch and still tantalisingly poised.

Patel and Geddes steadying the ship after the openers fell quickly in succession to leave us in the dangerous position of 48/2. Not Leach but youngster Vaughan with the wickets.

37 overs bowled in the session. Going to be a load more than the usual 96 in the day if the weather and our batting hold.

Encouraging but Surrey aren't out of the woods and certainly aren't holding any silverware at this stage.

Vital session coming up ....

Fascinatingly poised now, that lost session also brings the draw back into play! If Surrey can bat 2 sessions and get parity (or beyond) it's going to be really interesting to see what target Somerset could set, given that the pitch is likely to deteriorate, and if there's any carrot to dangle as Surrey would snatch your hand off for a draw. Patel and Geddes did really well to put Surrey in this position. I remember many moons ago being at Lords and Middlesex declared leaving Surrey to get just 161 in about 50 overs, and we got skittled by the spin triplets of Edmonds, Emburey and 49 yo Fred Titmus (his last ever game)
https://i.imgci.com/db/ARCHIVE/1980S/1982/ENG_LOCAL/CC/MIDDX_SURREY_CC_25-27AUG1982.html#:~:text=Middlesex%20v%20Surrey%2C%20Lord's%2C%20London%2C%2025%2C26%2C27%20August,58%20runs%2C%20Points:%20Middlesex%2018%2C%20Surrey%205.

thegooch7 wrote:Fascinatingly poised now, that lost session also brings the draw back into play! If Surrey can bat 2 sessions and get parity (or beyond) it's going to be really interesting to see what target Somerset could set, given that the pitch is likely to deteriorate, and if there's any carrot to dangle as Surrey would snatch your hand off for a draw. Patel and Geddes did really well to put Surrey in this position. I remember many moons ago being at Lords and Middlesex declared leaving Surrey to get just 161 in about 50 overs, and we got skittled by the spin triplets of Edmonds, Emburey and 49 yo Fred Titmus (his last ever game)
https://i.imgci.com/db/ARCHIVE/1980S/1982/ENG_LOCAL/CC/MIDDX_SURREY_CC_25-27AUG1982.html#:~:text=Middlesex%20v%20Surrey%2C%20Lord's%2C%20London%2C%2025%2C26%2C27%20August,58%20runs%2C%20Points:%20Middlesex%2018%2C%20Surrey%205.

 

Goochie - that's a top post and excellent link to an old match. I wasn't there but remember coverage of it from the time. Titmus' selection was remarkable and a tribute to the genius of Brearley. Fred had already finished as a player (although presumably still registered as a player with Middlesex) when he popped into the Lord's changing room before the first session of play on day one to wish his mates well and cadge a cup of tea. Having just looked at the wicket and upon spotting his old colleague, Brearley said something like, ''Right Fred, get changed, you're playing!''. Whites were quickly found for Titmus and he then successfully went about his business for the very last time.

JimBob - you won't normally hear me say this and I hope it doesn't upset you but we shouldn't worry about batting bonus points today. The overwhelming priority is to bat long and ensure Somerset don't win. Just the 1 point will do me as long as we continue to bat on after 110 overs.

Definitely Surrey’s day. Especially with more showers forecast for the next two days.

Only saw the highlights, but there did look to be some sharp spin appearing. And they never allowed the run rate to get away did Somerset, so they still have a nice lead. Just need to shoot through them no later than mid afternoon to have any chance of making something happen on Day 4.

guildfordbat wrote:JimBob - you won't normally hear me say this and I hope it doesn't upset you but we shouldn't worry about batting bonus points today. The overwhelming priority is to bat long and ensure Somerset don't win. Just the 1 point will do me as long as we continue to bat on after 110 overs.

anti bazball needed today Guildford

Some of the county umpiring, my word. Fellas get eyes

Timely little wag this from the Surrey tail.

45 mins ago I thought we were looking at a tidy 50-60 run headstart for the second innings, now we're looking at parity and a deficit.

On this pitch any lead will be invaluable for Surrey

all out by lunch, and whilst we could have had a lead, a one innings shootout batting first on this pitch will suit us.

A huge afternoon coming up

Great knock TC, need to bowl a lot better in this innings or it's going to be all to play for in the last 2 games

Somerset 2 down early - and it sounds as though Banton is on crutches. So presumably he won’t bat or will be majorly limited. Will need the tail to wag more than the first innings… As it is a long one!

Abell gone now too

JDizzle wrote: it sounds as though Banton is on crutches. So presumably he won’t bat or will be majorly limited.

They don't think he'll bat.

Bad news for Saturday too

Yeah saying Banton is off for an MRI tomorrow - on crutches now.

52-4, but essentially 52-5. Somerset exactly where they want to be...maybe another one or two to go before their usual 100+ 8th wicket partnership

That Curran knock looking crucial.

We're 109-5, so with the 4 run lead and Banton not batting, effectively 105-6. Without Currans knock, that would be more like 160-6, which would be a platform for a 200 run lead which would be competitive on this pitch

Banton coming in to bat.

Not sure about this decision tbh. He can barely walk

Afro wrote:Banton coming in to bat.

Not sure about this decision tbh. He can barely walk

i wish he hadn't

thrown it away in the last hour

Dreadful couple of hours bowling after the rain break from Surrey, lead almost 200, I'd have Somerset as favourites now

As for Cam steel don't get me started

jimbobgooner wrote:

Afro wrote:Banton coming in to bat.

Not sure about this decision tbh. He can barely walk

i wish he hadn't  

Heroic but he could be doing lasting damage

Afro wrote:

jimbobgooner wrote:

Afro wrote:Banton coming in to bat.

Not sure about this decision tbh. He can barely walk

i wish he hadn't  

Heroic but he could be doing lasting damage

If Somerset win the match, they could well win the Championship and Banton will never have to buy a drink again. Indeed, he'll be set up for life in the county.

Some flippancy there but some seriousness as well. Yes, a risk but I understand him doing what he's done and why. Not going out to bat would probably have haunted him for ever.

Championship cricket at its entertaining best with the team in the box seats see-sawing throughout the sessions.

guildfordbat wrote:

Afro wrote:

jimbobgooner wrote:

Afro wrote:Banton coming in to bat.

Not sure about this decision tbh. He can barely walk

i wish he hadn't  

Heroic but he could be doing lasting damage

If Somerset win the match, they could well win the Championship and Banton will never have to buy a drink again. Indeed, he'll be set up for life in the county.

Some flippancy there but some seriousness as well. Yes, a risk but I understand him doing what he's done and why. Not going out to bat would probably have haunted him for ever.

Championship cricket at its entertaining best with the team in the box seats see-sawing throughout the sessions.

Great post and I agree. I understand why he has done it and only time will tell whether it was worth it or not. Either way, its pretty clear that this innings will be his last cricket for the season.

Brilliant cricket match and a great advert for the County Championship.

Side note, Banton must be pretty pissed off to hobble all the way to the middle this morning, Overton faces two balls and then it chucks it down so he has to hobble all the way back

All out, Banton bowled for 46.

Lead of 220, Overton left not out on 49

Afro wrote:All out, Banton bowled for 46.

Lead of 220, Overton left not out on 49

That's the absolute most I wanted it to be from Surrey's pov.

Wonderful effort from Banton with commendably sensible play from COve.

Minimum of 76 overs left (I think). As long as the weather hold, one side should win this match and also I reckon the Championship. A Somerset win would leave them trailing Surrey by 8 points but with, on paper at least, the better final two games. Somerset away at freefalling Lancs and then home to Hants whilst Surrey face Durham at the Oval before a tricky away trip to Essex.

I am not entirely sure how Leach doesn’t have a wicket yet - he has bowled some magic deliveries to both right handers.

JDizzle wrote:I am not entirely sure how Leach doesn’t have a wicket yet - he has bowled some magic deliveries to both right handers.

Rew needs to keep his legs closed. Twice he's been megged

JDizzle wrote:I am not entirely sure how Leach doesn’t have a wicket yet - he has bowled some magic deliveries to both right handers.

Spot on, JD (I appreciate he did get Geddes later).

A few drops of rain and Sibley and Foakes move faster than they have all day to get off.

Early tea being taken. That's sensible from the umpires to try and keep the game alive although Surrey won't thank them. I'm pretty sure we've given up hope of getting 221 against the King and young Prince of Spin and will be content to head home with our 24 point lead at the top of the table preserved.

guildfordbat wrote:

JDizzle wrote:I am not entirely sure how Leach doesn’t have a wicket yet - he has bowled some magic deliveries to both right handers.

Spot on, JD (I appreciate he did get Geddes later).

A few drops of rain and Sibley and Foakes move faster than they have all day to get off.

Early tea being taken. That's sensible from the umpires to try and keep the game alive although Surrey won't thank them. I'm pretty sure we've given up hope of getting 221 against the King and young Prince of Spin and will be content to head home with our 24 point lead at the top of the table preserved.

Have to say I am not a fan of this approach - a good opportunity to win this game being not taken, when the downside is we would still be 8 points clear at the top of the table with two games to go if we lost...and if we win the title is basically (?) confirmed. Not a fan.

Burns effectively took a Surrey win out of the equation from ball 1, we needed less than 3 an over, so Somerset could attack every over without the chance of any quick singles, even the odd long hop and full toss were patted back, so it looks like we'll get our dull draw with help from the weather

I do feel that Somerset could attack more though. Losing is no worse than a draw really, so we need to go for it and not be scared of losing runs

The comms were saying a few mins ago that there were only 9 overs left. BUT can’t Somerset play until 5:30 if they want? They will now with 5 down.

6 down.

7 down - 67 balls remaining…

Id given up, got in the car and missed 4 wickets.

Might be giving up again asap!

Full credit to umpire Millns for ordering Surrey’s 12th and 13th men off the field as they attempted to waste time.
Get on with the game!

Clark out after a great effort. 5 minutes to go. Maybe 2 overs after this one? At most

Yesssssssss! What a win. What a game of cricket.