I’ve dispensed with the hoover for the time being.
Today’s bout against Derbyshire saw Surrey fall agonisingly short of maximum batting points, with Tim Linley being the last man out for 15. The total was 391, certainly reasonable on a track that seemed a little bit naughty at times for batting on. It’s a good enough surface if you pick your shots and play each ball on its own merit, but if you get a good one or you take a chance you’ll most likely end up with egg on your face.
Still, without wishing to do Linley a disservice – especially given his heroics with the ball – you most likely wouldn’t have had serious money on him getting to double figures anyway, so those 15 runs of his were worthy ones. Jones ended up with a 4fer, and Tremlett was not out on 29. Of course with cricket being the sort of multifaceted game that it is, so many things were going on at the same time that it became difficult to know what to concentrate on. First and foremost was the game itself, with Surrey fighting hard to get off the bottom of the group and leapfrog Middlesex a couple of places. And for those of a Rampant frame of mind there was also the race to be first to the magic 1,000 runs mark. I’m not sure why this feat takes on an almost mystical, holy grail-like significance each year but with Mr R stranded 41 short and Lancashire making a real fist of a fight back against Yorkshire, a lot depended on how Chris Rodgers performed in the Derbyshire second innings.
I bet it doesn’t actually matter a jot to the players. Just the journalists and county championship enthusiasts. Still, it just adds to the drama!
As it happened, Rodgers was the first batsman to fall in the Derbyshire reply, making 14. With Rodgers probably not going to get another bat unless the follow-on was enforced, he was out of the immediate race to 1,000 runs. I’m not claiming any responsibility. I’m sure a lot of the Rampants thought I’d hexed him. As if I would be so dishonourable...
Everyone pitched in and kept digging away, but Linley was the hero of the day for Surrey, without question. He picked up the wickets of Park (6), Greg Smith (2), Hughes (2) and Durston (8), before something went really badly wrong for him. In horse terms he pulled up lame...how badly nobody knows at present. Obviously Linley’s welfare is the prime concern here and I hope he isn’t in too much discomfort, poor fellow. Surrey however will miss him in this game. He’s been by far the most accurate and economical of the bowlers, which isn’t to take anything away from Tremlett, Batty or Nel, who all picked up wickets today. But with Dernbach and Jordan still very much sidelined it’s going to be difficult to replace him.
As you can tell from the figures above Linley fairly carved his way through the Derbyshire middle order and left them floundering for a good long while. After lunch Surrey had them 5 down for only 80 or so runs. But, as always tends to happen, along came a good partnership to buttress up the innings and so it proved with Madsen, who made 109 before Gareth Batty struck towards the latter half of the day to remove him. If he had stayed in he could easily have inflicted a lot of damage on that Surrey total, but once he was gone the remaining batsmen, with the exception of the (nearly) immovable Goddard (67) were dismissed quite cheaply. Peterson (the one without the ‘i’ and not called Kevin) made 5, Lungley went for a duck, Jones for 4 and Ramps’ arch nemesis Groenewald also went for 4, leaving Derbyshire all out for 237.
The ‘race to 1,000’ took a new twist when RHB decided not to enforce the follow-on which, given that he was a bowler down, was the most sensible course of action. It meant that when the skipper fell for - no, not 6 as often happens – 4 runs, Mr R came in alongside Harinath to see Surrey to the close of play. They did so, and Surrey ended the day on 50-1 in their second innings.
This is of course good news from both a Rampant point of view and also a Surrey one as well. Skittling Derbyshire out within a day has left Surrey with a good chance, all being well, of creating a sizeable total for the opposition to chase on the last day. It also means that Mr Ramprakash has another shot at being first to 1,000. With Adam Lyth still waiting for his second turn with the bat this is realistically the best shot at it, and at present he is 17 runs away. I shan’t keep my fingers crossed: I did that yesterday and it didn’t work. I doubt the man himself is much bothered...it’s just one more milestone in a long career full of other much larger milestones, and as a team player his first concern will be to occupy the crease and get that total up to an amount that would be difficult for Derbyshire to fight back against.
Still...it’d be nice, eh?
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