Back to proper cricket - Surrey vs Gloucestershire CC Div 2

First topic message reminder :

So the Championship returns (briefly) inbetween this T20 season and the squad has been named. Clive keeps his place after his excellent debut and Ansari earns himself a place. To the delight of most if us (especially depressed) Schofield is nowhere to be seen, unfortunately neither is Meaker which is a real shame, his injury must have been quite bad. Ansari surely will be the one to miss out. Dernbach, Linley, Dunn and Arafat as a seam bowling unit is pretty decent.

Rory Hamilton-Brown (Captain)
Jason Roy
Mark Ramprakash
Zander de Bruyn
Steven Davies (Wicket Keeper)
Tom Maynard
Gareth Batty
Zafar Ansari
Yasir Arafat
Tim Linley
Jade Dernbach
Matthew Dunn

Oh no, here we go...

54-5! What's going on?!

five down, we are right in this.

Chris' comment on the "usual west country story" is looking increasingly prophetic!

2nd wkt for the viscount

Arafat's bowling average has gone from 90+ to a respectful (for him!) 67.5

West Country Prediction update (with added optimism):
Less than 100 needed now. It's a gimme...

on another point, it looks like we will be getting Tremlett back during the ODIs against Sri Lanka, after he unexpectantly didn't make the cut.

Although most of the matches in the period are T20s, his return should be a welcome boost for Surrey.

If only Meaker was fit too...

I can't see the point of selecting Clive and then not giving him a bowl?!

It's getting close now - 88 runs or 5 wickets!!

Highest partnership of the match virtually seals it for Gloucs
Another dreadful days cricket from Surrey - what's the point in playing Batty and Dunn?

Linley gets his 3rd wkt 121 for 6

The sad thing is gooch if rhb had not dropped gidman we might have had a sniff

122 for 6 at tea only 38 needed

Did he Jimbob?! Our fielding is still poor isn't it
Need another Arafat blast immediately after tea!

Once again we let a team off the hook. Why on earth de Bruyn came on after the 5th wicket I'll never know. This time it turns a win into a defeat as oppose to a draw. Well played gidman though, match winning innings.

Blimey!! Not sure whether or

ChrisfromStroud

More a case of

Catches win matches never has a saying been more true

Sorry, we can't lose 'em all...
Were we better technically (ie we could catch etc) or mentally?

Well. Where to start? First of all it wasn't the worst performance we will ever give, it was pretty close although disappointingly we were always behind and never on top until we had them at 50/5 today. The fact that the biggest partnership in the match was 50 odd shows that it was tough to bat on and low scores were to be expected. Unfortunately we got about 20 odd runs too few and let them get too many with dropped catches etc which is very very frustrating. For me the biggest mistake of this match was made before we even took to the field, Surrey should have known what the pitch was like and therefore known that 4 bowlers would have been sufficient and Batty would not be needed, de Bruyn has proved more than capable as a 5th bowler. Harinath should have opened the batting as Batty's replacement with Roy providing fireworks and counter attacking at 6 or 7. I'm not saying this would have meant a win instead of a defeat but it was what should have happened, based on the pitch.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, we are very close to being a very good team and I am confident about the future. We seem to have bowlers with the ability to take regular wickets - the Viscount has improved massively which is great to see. The batting is young and exciting (in general) but we do need stability at the top of the order. I see no reason why we can't play 3 seamers +batty+de Bruyn as our bowling attack to fit Harinath in at the top.

jimbobgooner wrote:Catches win matches never has a saying been more true

That more or less sums it up.

Don't wish to stir things, but how many did you drop?

Adams refers to six or seven in an interview on the surrey website...

Ouch!

I actually quite liked that interview, he seemed genuinely annoyed and upset that we had lost. Especially critical of 1st innings batting and the dropped catches. We must have bowled well to drop that many and still be close to winning, I maintain that Adams should have played an extra batsman given the pitch and conditions.

I managed to get along to the Oval today. Mixture of and

Before the Corporal and others get too worried about the nation's salt supplies, I did put in a double shift down the mines of Woking yesterday.

Anyway, back to the cricket. I had the double pleasure - calm down, JimBob, it's not that sort of post - of watching the match whilst listening to the commentary of Churchy and Johnny Barron on an ear piece.

As for the missed chances, Johnny Barron (aka Lord Barron of Broadcastshire) summed things up neatly: 'Gloucestershire have prospered by dropping marginally fewer catches than Surrey!'. It was particularly annoying that both Batty and Arafat were both dropped (respectively, for your info Chris, by Coughtrie and Dent) and then got out moments later without adding to their scores.

Adams makes out that Gloucs put on a fielding master class to help beat us. That wasn't the case.

I agree with a lot of Carrot's comments although just feel deflated now rather than confident for the future. That might well be because we seemed to have the game won when Gloucs were 50 odd for 5 and then let it slip.

Arafat bowled one magnificent spell - hostile and accurate - in which he deservedly took 3 wickets but never recaptured that venom when he returned for two later spells. The Viscount was on the money from the start and, again as Carrot says, is a massively improved bowler. He is now our leading CC wicket taker this season with 25. It should be at least 26 but Hyphen dropped Alex Gidman off him - the last chance we missed and almost certainly the most crucial.

With some (but not total) hindsight, we can ask why Batty and Dunn were selected when they ended up bowling only 6 overs between them in the whole match.

I'll be interested to see Ramps' lbw dismissal on Surrey tv. My impression was that it was going wide. If only the umpire had agreed with my view from a hundred yards away, I might be in a different mood now.

By the way, has anyone seen Depressed?

Thanks Guildford for that interesting update...

I'm worried about Depressed - have there been too many mentions of S......d recently?

It is worrying, hopefully we can win a couple of T20 games to bring him back from the brink...

Thanks for the update Guildford, I'm normally jealous of you going to the cricket but I'm glad I wasn't there today, must have been horrible! Looks like this season will be another 'transitional' one in the Championship unfortunately, can't see a promotion push on the cards now.

Cheers, Corporal and Carrot.

The ending was obviously a bad blow and the fifteen or so minutes before that were pretty miserable when it seemed clear the game was up.

However, it was an enthralling day with elements at times that were so promising. The first hour was slow going but nonetheless very encouraging as Ramps and Batty really dug in before the batting wheels came off. Following lunch, we looked to be once more in the ascendancy as Arafat and the Viscount took control for a while. Alas, it was not to be.

As Johnny Barron also wisely commented, a low scoring game can be the most exciting.

Very true.

I was there at the Oval today, too. A fascinating day, spoilt only by the result - especially when it looked like we had it in the bag for 20-30 runs after the 5th Gloucs wicket going down. I don't think Hyphen's drop of Gidman was the decisive moment; that came earlier when, as captain, he let the pressure off. For the first half of his partnership with Gidman, Coughtrie looked very tentative and it felt like the 6th wicket was moments away with the ball repeatedly passing the edge and the scoring rate so low that it was just adding to the pressure on the batsmen. (I reckon we'd have won it if J Batty had still been playing for Gloucs!) A more attacking captaincy would have had three slips in when Gidman edged. Instead of a very difficult chance for 2nd slip, it would have been a regulation one for 3rd slip. After tea the field for Gidman was all about controlling the number of runs he scored -- as though we were only ever going to take the 4 wickets at the other end!

I though Hyphen's bold leadership against Derbyshire might be a turning point for his role. Now I feel like it's very much three steps forward, two steps back.

Oh, and two of our bowlers bowled six overs between them in two innings. What's that about?

David - I've previously voiced some doubts about Hyphen's captaincy (on the thread 'Chris Adams'). I'm concerned that he's not canny and cunning enough. Too often we get ahead but lack the nouse to finish things off, as today. Not all of that is down to the captain but I do think some of it is.

He's certainly a naturally attacking and bold batsman. I do wonder if that was what we saw more against Derbys than captaincy skills ....

It does seem that Hyphen needs to improve his cutting edge captaincy, although are there any other candidates for the job in the current squad who would be better? I alwayd thought Adams was a pretty decent captain so it surprises me that Hyphen isn't better than he is. I'm not the best person to judge though, I think I generally underestimate the captain's role in a team and purely look at performances

Carrot - although I have some reservations about Hyphen's leadership, I certainly wouldn't advocate any change of captain for a while yet, if at all. Lets review things with a cool head at season's end (as I suggested about any contract extension for Adams which was viewed as blasphemy by some on the wallpaper site!).

If we were then to consider others in the current squad, de Bruyn has good form and experience going for him. Spriegel is generally well regarded but I question whether he is good enough to hold down a regular place. Having said that, I readily acknowledge that I don't know enough about the characters involved to make a meaningful call.

You mention, Carrot, that you 'generally underestimate the captain's role'. I'm surprised by that. Not sure how far back you go in following Surrey. In recent years - to me and Corporal anyway - Adam Hollioake was a really shrewd skipper who helped us to win some games we looked like losing. That's what I want Hyphen to be capable of ....

Despite growing up following cricket it is only relatively recently that I have taken an avid interest in the county game, as opposed to just internationals. As bizarre as it sounds I haven't ever actually lived in Surrey, my roots as a supporter come from growing up with Ramps as my 'hero' and then deciding to start following Surrey after his move here (when I was 13 I think). Just FYI I grew up in Berkshire so I didn't have a local major county! Gradually from then on I grew my knowledge and interest in county cricket and it is only the last 5/6 years I would consider myself a 'proper' supporter as I am now. Very strange I know!

As for the captain's role, I think what I meant is I don't really have the expertise to judge what they are doing, other than opinions on bowling changes and declarations. I do understand, however, how having a brilliant captain can really benefit a team and I do know Hollioakes skills in this regard and I do also agree that we could have turned some draws/defeats into wins with a bit more nouse from the skipper. Hopefully he can continue to develop his skills and become a great captain and batsmen for Surrey, time will tell in this regard I suppose!

Carrot - I have never lived in Surrey either.... I started supporting Surrey when I was very little because I wanted my first cricketing hero, Ken Barrington, to do well

Curiously I never supported Surrey in any other context. In fact I happily attempt to beat them when representing another county - at a very lowly level - in inter county competition.

Come on, Corporal. You can't leave us all hanging on like that? You've got to spill the beans on what the competition is ....

Something about marching?

Carrot - in a manner of speaking, yes....

It's actually chess - a game in which military tactics are honed to perfection. For example, the horrendous blunder which in an instant can throw away an advantage hard earned over several hours.....