You've been Jigar-ed!

I’ve often wondered what it must be like to evaluate players as the newspapers sometimes do, and score them according to performance, but I think it would be harsh to do this on what unfortunately turned out to be the last day of the game against Leicestershire due to Surrey losing by over an innings. I’m praying fervently that we won’t perform as poorly as a team ever again. Hopefully. She said, crossing fingers, toes and sundry body parts.

In fairness you’ve got to credit the Leicestershire bowling attack and Hoggard’s leadership. The pressure they put the Surrey team under from day one was immense and they thoroughly deserved their win. Naik and Henderson were really on the money both today and yesterday, and following the Surrey first innings capitulation for 236 they must really have fancied their chances of demolishing them for less than their 479 total. And so it proved to be.

I guess what was so disappointing was the fact that having played so well in the previous games leading up to this match, Surrey probably were not expecting to perform so badly. If anything they should have been on a high given their much improved performances in the last three games. The sad thing is that they will now have a loss against their names going in to the T20, although in fairness it’s a different contest, and a fresh slate. That is the way they have to look at it, and I hope they are a hungrier side in the shortest form of the game than they sometimes appear in the county championship. As I have said, it’s not a lack of effort that is proving Surrey’s downfall at the moment, but they look to be missing that vital killer instinct.

If I was going to nominate the best overall performance of the game I would probably give the award to Claude Henderson, just, over Naik. However, although it was in vain I would also highlight Dernbach’s fivefer yesterday and today’s effort with the bat by Younus who managed 77 in the second Surrey innings. Considering his previous tally was a total of 4, I’d say that was more than a pretty decent effort especially given the fact the rest of his team mates had collapsed like a stack of cards around him.

This said my man of the match was actually Mark Ramprakash. Sure, he only got a total of 50 in both innings, and if I were to score him for his performance in the game it would have been a 6 out of 10, but I rounded it up to 9 for just being there. And then I rounded it up to 10 to make up for the one that Craig-Revel Horwood never gave him for the Argentine Tango.

When it comes to standing around on turf all day, Mark Ramprakash is probably the biggest draw in the country. He played well enough but got done by two rather excellent deliveries. But at the end of the day that didn’t really matter, because we are honoured to cheer Mr R and the boys on, no matter how they fare in the game.

Good luck in the T20, Surrey. Get one for the Rampants!