Monstered!

Surrey v Northants: Day Two
 
That Coke and ice must have done the trick last night.

Poor old Northants. They put in a whole lot of effort for very little return today. From a Surrey point of view it really couldn’t have gone much better! There’s not much really to add in terms of the batting except to say a huge congratulations to Matthew Spriegel (or Matthew Treacle as my increasingly deaf mother believes he’s called) on a wonderful hundred. There must be something about batting alongside Mr Ramprakash that brings out the best in the younger players, but the credit here goes to Spriegs for a really impressive innings.

Perhaps there was something in the air though, as he got to 103 just like the skipper the day before and then was dismissed by – you guessed it – Chigumbura.

Gareth Batty took his place at the crease and kept Ramps company, whilst shortly before lunch the maestro brought up a magnificent double ton. I’m pretty sure Mr R went to lunch on 205 not out...but then the next time I looked (what could only have been 15 mins later) he was on 240 plus! I was almost certain that the BBC cards must have been mistaken, but it appears he must have gone out after lunch and just tonked the ball to all parts, knowing that the declaration was coming, and it was only when he went for 248 that I realised there wasn’t a fault in the site at all! It looks as if Surrey pulled the plug as soon as Ramps lost his wicket, leaving Gareth Batty not out on 48, some 200 runs behind his batting companion.

The coup de grace for Northants came when, with the exception of the odd little partnership, their batting faltered on a regular basis. Howgego went for 12 early in proceedings, whilst Wakely stabilised matters with Peters until caught behind for a well made 50. Sales short-changed himself, making only 7, and then the huge wicket of Peters (who was Mr Ramprakash’s nearest division two challenger) fell for 41. Suddenly you felt the middle order had been exposed by some determined Surrey bowling. Chigumbura sounded a class act but was yorked expertly by Tremlett who, with his very next delivery, removed Hall from the equation. So often this has been the story that Surrey has faced, so it made a refreshing change to see lady luck on the side of the home team!

Andre Nel, still sounding a little bit sore with his hamstring problem, claimed two wickets today; one of them being White for 16, and then at the close of play Batty had Middlebrook trapped lbw for 13. The bowling honours were fairly evenly split, with Tremlett and Nel on two apiece, Meaker claiming one wicket and Batty with three. At the end Northants closed on 174 for 8, and when you consider the monster 620 set by Surrey in their first and probably only innings, it looks as if hardly a dent has been made in the deficit! Wow! I was going to say “is this really Surrey” but of course, it is. Yes, the massive score was built on the foundations of Mark Ramprakash’s brilliant 248 but so many of the guys contributed with bat or ball that you could honestly say this was a team effort of the highest degree.

Surrey have threatened to do this frequently in their last few games. To see it come to fruition must be very satisfying for the team. If they can just continue the forward momentum and get that winning feeling once again, there’s no reason why they cannot continue onwards and upwards. Here’s hoping that they get a richly deserved innings victory tomorrow or the day after! Well done boys!