Stylish Styris sneaks it

 
So near and yet so far!!! Ugh! How frustrating to fall at the very last hurdle!!!

And yet, whilst we are muttering disconsolately and kicking inanimate objects (I refuse to kick either of my cats) let us not forget the brilliant batting of Mr Styris, who snatched the game away from under Surrey’s noses in the final over. And it wasn’t all doom and gloom. I personally didn’t feel the same deflation as I did against Sussex, even although the result serves to widen the contest even further in the Southern group. There is a huddle of teams on the same amount of points, the Lions being one of them, all bunching up for a crack at qualification. A win would have put Surrey in a mighty fine position but as it stands they aren’t dead in the water. Best not to send for the undertakers just yet: there’s still life in this competition!

Essex won the toss (a bad sign if ever there was one) and to many people’s surprise stuck Surrey in first. We all waited to find out if the skipper was going to have one of his Blitzkrieg days or whether he was going to fall for less than double figures, and as it transpired he went for 7. It’s a real pity, because talented or otherwise, if RHB was playing in the capacity of a regular player rather than a captain he might well have found his place in the team coming under scrutiny. That’s not me being harsh, as I have pretty much been in the Chris Adams camp since he came onboard with Surrey. It is true though that Rory’s position does to a degree protect him. Next time out he’ll no doubt be back to blasting quick fire 50s, so it would be wrong to harp on about any blips in form. Every batsman has those.

Fortunately, Davies once again kicked on. I’m a fan of the talented Davies, and I’m even more of a fan of the resilient ‘stick-around-and-bat-long’ attitude he’s taken of late. Jason Roy, having been the hero of a few days ago, was once more batting at three. I think in T20 there’s nothing wrong with him having the third spot, although hopefully it will take the devil and a stick of dynamite to shift Ramps from that position in the championship. Talking of Mr R, he made a much welcome return to the squad in fourth spot in place of Younus Khan, something I had advocated previously. I’m pretty certain my pleas on this blog had zero to do with the team selection, mind you!

Jason Roy certainly showed some very deft shots but it was always going to be difficult to replicate his immense innings of the previous game and Kaneria, who had a very good spell with the ball, eventually had him stumped him for 29 by Foster. Davies contributed a magnificent 89, just when everyone thought there may well be another Surrey centurion in the offing, whilst Ramps made a useful 35 before being stumped by Foster. The only other batsman to put any useful total on the board was Symonds with 17. Batty made yet another T20 duck, whilst Schoey (1) and Walters (7) were both not out at the end but had run out of overs to really add anything worthwhile to the final tally of 187.

187 isn’t a bad score, but whether it was because in the last few games Surrey have posted over 200 and we have suddenly come to expect it, somehow 187 didn’t feel as if it might be enough. And so it actually proved. Had they managed 200 things might have been very different, although much credit has to be given to Essex at the end of their bowling spell. They were in real danger of being trampled by the Lion’s charge and they managed to get right back into it at the death. Between you and me however, we managed to pinpoint the source of the problem as Jean admitted that when Ramps was batting she got up to put the kettle on. The curse of the Rampants strikes again! And just to further prove the jinx exists, Jean further admitted culpability with “I got Batty as well...went for some food...I hang my head!”

Sorry Ramps. Sorry GB. It was Jean wot did for you!

Before the start of the Essex reply those Rampants with access to Sky (who are pointedly reminding we satellite-less peasants that they can see everything we can’t!) informed us that Mr R had not only taken the ball from the umpires and had marked out his run-up, but was shaping up as if he was going to have a bowl! Even with a few test wickets to his name it seemed unlikely, and judging by the grin on his face it must have surprised a few of the Essex team before Tremlett walked up to the plate! Nice joke, sir!

The Surrey fielding was by and large pretty sharp today. When I think back to the awful, ghastly mess of two years back it’s like chalk and cheese. I know there are one or two people who aren’t the biggest fans of Chris Adams but if he has done one immensely important thing it’s to get the team to remember how to pick up and throw the ball! Early success occurred for the Lions when Cook went for 11, and ten balls later Ramps caught Walker for just 1 run. Bopara eventually played a really silly shot at exactly the wrong time and went for 27, at which point Surrey must have thought it was going to be a walk in the park. I’m pretty sure even the most vociferous of Essex supporters, whose raucous yelling and screeching made me wonder if I was being transported back two centuries to a fight in a bear pit, must have thought it could well be curtains for their team.

I even ventured to say that we might be possibly on for a win. Big, big mistake.

If I say that getting Philips out on 30 near the end made little difference you will get an idea of the superhuman effort by Styris. What an incredible piece of batting! He was very nearly caught at the end which would have turned the tables on Essex, but the momentum was very strongly with them in the latter part of the game. There was one massive over where he took twenty plus off a Tremlett over, which was not only a shame from a Surrey point of view but a real pity for Tremlett, who had done a magnificent job with the ball up to that point. You don’t see many maiden overs in T20 but that is exactly what happened earlier. The fact that Essex came back the way they did shows you precisely how massive Styris was.

I actually switched the sound down. It’s not that I didn’t want to hear Churchy or Johnny Barran but, ever the optimist, I was still fairly confident that Surrey would somehow scramble home in that last over. And if they didn’t I wasn’t looking forward to hearing all the braying fans filling up the ground in Chelmsford. Good lord, they really are loud!

I’m pretty glad I switched it off, given the result.

Oh well. Styris’ knock was pretty special, and it took a monumental effort from one man to stop Surrey from winning. I’m not sure Symonds was the right choice to bowl the last over to be honest, but that doesn’t detract from a very fine performance from both teams and from Styris in particular, who navigated the enormous run rate to finely timed perfection with a barrage of boundaries and sixes.

Maybe we should have let Ramps have a bowl after all!