Shark attack

I said to a few of the other Rampants that I reckoned Sussex would be up for the challenge...well, in fairness it’s rare to see a Sussex team that isn’t hungry for a victory. Their run in the shorter forms of the game has been a little unreliable whilst in the championship they continue blithely on their merry way, but they are the class act in division two when all is said and done. For Surrey, coming on the back of their world record last week, this marks the start of a five day contest against Sussex and today’s CB40 game kicked things off in interesting fashion.

The game seemed to twist and turn a bit and promised to be a reasonably close affair for a good long while. Winning the toss and batting first Surrey got off to a nicely judged start. Perhaps there wasn’t the pyrotechnics and dazzling array of fours and sixes as there had been against Glamorgan, but without wishing to insult the Welsh team (who are currently near the top of the championship table) Sussex were always going to be a much more difficult proposition. RHB and Davies began to turn on the gas a little but then as can happen when looking set for a big score the skipper got out for 31. Walters then came in at three and showed exactly what a class bat he can be when he gets his head down, scoring at a good pace. Unfortunately, Davies then went for 26.

A word here for the Sussex bowling, which was very good indeed. Every time Surrey looked as if they might get the upper hand they managed to peg it back. Ramps came in next and kept ticking along, allowing Walters to go about his business at the other end, with the pair of them putting up a stand of 84 together. Alas, he was bowled by Kirtley for 33 when attempting to up the tempo. Other than Spriegel who made 30 none of the other batsmen made a score over 13, although in part this was testament to the excellent Sussex attack. The mainstay of the Surrey innings however turned out to be Walters who made 88 before Liddle claimed him as a victim, and it was just a shame that he was unable to claim what would have been a well deserved maiden 40 over hundred.

Sussex started strongly and their innings appeared to mirror the Surrey one in many respects. Joyce looked set for a massive score, but then his dismissal when on 37 by Spriegel came out of the blue! Steady rebuilding appeared to be the order of the day with young Joe Gatting (who although a fine cricketer in his own right will probably always have his name affixed with the tag ‘nephew of Mike’) staunchly digging in for what looked like a long stay. But his dismissal on 19 by Tremlett potentially opened up a tiny window of hope. At this point the Sussex and Surrey total was pretty much on a par.

Confession time: there was much cheering when Nash went. Not that we have anything against Nash especially but he’d made 63 when Batty snared him and hadn’t looked like getting out at all. There was even greater Rampant cheering when very next ball Goodwin (who we do tend to boo in mock-pantomime villain fashion) was bowled by the selfsame Gareth Batty for 10, to the extent where we decided to anoint the Surrey bowler as St Gareth of Batty!

Alas, the prized scalp of Goodwin turned out to be the last Sussex wicket to fall, as the rearguard action by Hodd (46no) and in particular Yardy (66no) made the real difference between victory and defeat. Although difficult to know for certain what was a good score or not, it did feel that Surrey had fallen maybe 25 runs short of what they might have hoped for and unfortunately this proved to be the case. Having done the trench work, Yardy took the batting power play at the death and it was enough to see a sudden increase in Sussex boundaries just when required. In the end Surrey lost by six wickets, and although in some respects it had been a tight and interesting game it did seem to be a match that had the Sharks’ name on it from the start of their reply.

I did feel sorry for poor Mr Church & Mr Barran. It can't be easy to commentate your little socks off when you've got people blocking your view, wandering in front of you or generally being a little disorderly. I wonder if that sozzled spectator made it out the ground or if we'll find him sleeping off his excesses on the boundary somewhere! And I have to agree that it must be annoying to have children running infront of the sight screen all the time. Kids should be taught in the nursery that there are wizened trolls feasting on the bones of children who mock the gods of cricket!

The Surrey fielding was really strong today by the sound of it. Despite the odd howler here and there – and every side will make those – Surrey are out of sight in terms of fielding compared to how they were last year. Hopefully we will see more of this in the championship game tomorrow. One thing is for certain: Surrey will have to be at their Northants beating best to get one over on Sussex over four days. But, given clear skies, good bowling and the odd Ramprakash century, who’s to say they won’t do just that?