Following on from the non-follow on...

Day Four, Surrey v Middlesex at the Oval - Match drawn

It must be difficult being a sportsperson of any description when you put in a whole lot of effort and it comes to naught.

I’m not just talking about Mr Ramprakash here, although his tally of 223 and 103 not out combined was herculean enough, but the whole team who played out of their skins. The draw did have an inevitable feel to it, although at the start of the day there was always the hope that they might skittle Middlesex out quickly, but the (not surprisingly) defensive bowling and then the solid batting from Surrey’s north London rivals set the tone for the day.

You’d have to say that Surrey played the better cricket over the four days, but Middlesex were wily and experienced enough to swim against the tide, with the resulting draw probably a reasonably fair result (albeit typed with teeth firmly gritted). England fans will be mighty impressed with the way Strauss weathered the storm in two consecutive innings even although he seems to have fallen twice in similar circumstances to the same bowler (Dernbach). Kudos to Newman, too, for the way he got his head down and brushed aside the criticism.

I expect that both the gloriously-quaffed Rory HB and ‘Sir’ would have ideally wanted to get out and tonk the ball about a bit to see where they could get, but in the end not that many runs were added to the overnight total. Enough to see Ramps to his 111th first class century, which in the process means that he managed to create a new batting record. These batting records tend to happen a lot where Mr R is concerned, and my poor ickle brain has fried now, like it did when I was first instructed in the laws of cricket by dad when I was five. Hang on...

*runs off to check Cricinfo*

Think I’ve got this right. He’s now the first person to score two hundreds in one first class county championship match, done seven times. Ponting and Zaheer Abbas have done it eight times over all. What price he equals that at some stage before he retires? And whilst we are talking near superhuman antics, Ramps now averages 125 or thereabouts against Middlesex. That must be extremely cathartic!

I’m aware that this is statistical overload, but I used to work in statistics a few years back, so I’m quite fond of figures for the sake of it. I’m not talking about counting how many spiders the average human swallows in a lifetime (apparently it’s five, although who is counting them???). That bat has been raised an awful lot of times up to the balcony of the Oval. Stacks of photographers have got almost identical photos to go on their web pages/newspapers over the years. And it’s a lot of chewing gum left stuck to the old bat handle every night as well. Now, there’s a stat for Johnny Barran to work out!

A brief match report:

The skipper managed 29 from 30 balls before being caught by Middlesex captain Strauss, with the declaration following immediately; leaving Ramps on 103 not out. The total would have been about spot on in a five day game, and did at least give Surrey the consolation of knowing they probably wouldn’t lose the match from that point. Hindsight’s a marvellous thing, but from a Surrey perspective I suppose making Middlesex follow on would have been the best thing to do, yet I find myself suffering yet another conflict of thought. Do you keep bowling tired players and risk injuries? Do you want Tremlett to fall to pieces after just two championship games? And then of course from a rather Rampant point of view we wouldn’t have had the rather magnificent stat as relayed earlier (not the chewing gum one). Difficult, isn’t it?

Scott Newman managed to make 43 in the second innings, and Strauss added 61 to his previous 92 which in the end took the legs away from the prospect of a Surrey victory, just about seeing Middlesex to safety. Malan was bowled by Afzaal for 30 – although I don’t know if he took off down the runway to seek out his buddy or not. Possibly Mr R would have been too sore after his batting exertions to run away this time. Owais Shah made 40 and remained not out at the time the captains shook hands.

So, what to make of it? Some good individual performances from Surrey (and Middlesex), and a pretty decent team effort as well overall, in a game that you feel was won in a moral sense by the Oval residents. Alas, batting and bowling points don’t really make prizes, and a draw hasn’t really done Surrey any good as they still remain pretty far adrift at the foot of division two. Still, a win on a performance like this is probably not too far away now.

Tomorrow Surrey are heading off on some kind of marathon fortnight tour of the country, which is little short of insanity, and gives further credence to the theory that the schedule was drawn up by a bunch of Meerkats, high on blue Smarties, randomly pressing buttons...

Here comes that music again...

Day Three, Surrey v Middlesex at the Oval


Actually, I’m saving the play-on-name stuff for the moment, as I don’t want to jinx ‘himself’ for tomorrow.

I’ve been in a bit of a quandary with this game. I find it so much easier to cheer on Surrey when the opposition is full of players I have no emotional attachment to, but Middlesex are stuffed with ex-Surrey players like Newman, Murtagh and Collins so it’s not as straightforward as I thought it might be. And then there’s Udal, who I rather like, and Finn who seems destined for great things at the top level in due course. So, when the likes of Newman get set for a big score against my team I really don’t know whether I’m supposed to applaud or secretly cross my fingers under the desk and hope that his bails are whipped off...

The splendiferous ninety one that he made was, for me, the best compromise in the circumstances. Bet the poor man was gutted to fall nine short of a ton! Strauss similarly accumulated a very frisky ninety two and then managed to get out to Dernbach (who replicated Udal's effort and picked up five wickets) when Middlesex would have hoped he’d go on.

In all other respects the Middlesex first innings sort of stumbled and stuttered along. Shah, Dexter, Simpson, Murtagh and Collins all went for single figure totals, and only Berg with his effort of 43 made a really useful contribution to the efforts of the two opening bats. Middlesex ended with 324 all out.

Possibly most people expected the follow on to be enforced. I didn’t, mostly because I was on the bus home from work at the time and remained in total ignorance as to the situation. I do however recall thinking that the bus would get home quicker if it ran over a few of the slow moving pedestrians at Frederick Street corner. The upshot is that RHB opted to bat again, which I am personally delighted at because Rampants and Surrey fans alike now get a second chance to watch the great man bat once more in a quest to help Surrey to that elusive first win of the season. The win is a possibility now, although it would take another Middlesex collapse to do it. Newman and Strauss - and one or two others – are really going to have to dig in deep because Surrey definitely go into tomorrow with their chins held higher. I personally think the draw is still the most likely.

Harinath played another blinding innings second time round. He was eventually out for 63, but I think the commentary had it right, in that batting with a senior player such as Ramps will just bring the best out of him. A real shame that he couldn’t quite kick on to what would have been a well deserved century. Evans, alas, only made seven this time although there isn’t any doubt that he is a talented player. Mr Ramprakash achieved an excellent 86 not out and (she said trying to type and touch wood – or desk vinyl in this case) looks set for a possible second century in this game. It’s well deserved if it happens, although I should think that going for the win will be first on his and everyone else in the team’s mind.

So, bat for an hour tomorrow and see how the ground lies? What kind of total would RHB look for? What would Middlesex fancy chasing and what would make them bat for the draw? I still haven’t recovered from the finish of last year’s humdinger of a derby at the Oval! People were being bowled and run out all over the place!

At the moment the Surrey boys are looking mighty hungry for this first win. A total will be set, the bait laid, and then it will be up to them to reel in their prey. Whatever happens, I hope the Middlesex squad have their earplugs in because that Jaws theme is getting ominously louder and louder at the moment...

‘Kash and carry

Day 2 Surrey v Middlesex at the Oval


I’m loving the chance to write these cheesy headlines. I’m hoping for a superhuman century in each innings for the rest of the season so that I can spend more time than is considered reasonable thinking them up!

Anyhow, here is a brief synopsis of the day’s play at the Oval. It’ll be briefer than yesterday because I was at work today and the unfeeling monsters that are my employers have seen fit to block the BBC ball by ball coverage. Thankfully Harold has come to the rescue yet again by recording the day’s play. Big kudos here to Harold as I reckon he probably has to get up at some ungodly transatlantic hour to catch the commentary, so that my fellow enthusiasts and I can listen to the immaculate trinity that is Mark Church, Kevin Hand and Johnny Barran. It’s like the broadcasting version of The Three Musketeers, only with cakes instead of swords and twirly moustaches...

Mr Ramprakash carried all before him – again – in the morning and for a lot of the afternoon as well. I was going to say he also carried the squad, but that isn’t an entirely accurate description of what went on, as there was an extremely good first team championship debut for wicket keeper Gary Wilson, who managed a breezy 62 in support. Perhaps there wasn’t quite the same amount of scoring by the others: Tremlett and Gareth Batty managed 13 apiece, Spriegel hit 12 whilst Nel garnered 3 runs, and Dernbach was the last man standing with 2 not out. Ramps eventually succumbed whilst on a princely 223.

With Rob Key also hitting a sizeable double ton yesterday and Udal claiming an impressive five wicket haul in this game, it looks as if the senior players are showing the way once again...and I like that. I find it reassuring that great county players like Ramps and Key continue to be the best in the land. Governments may come and go, ash clouds may cause havoc...but some things stay the same. Well, at least until the ECB start tinkering with the County Championship format again.

The day might have belonged to Ramps, numerically speaking, but with a pitch that seems to be flatter than a female limbo dancer’s chest it was fairly inevitable that good batsmen were going to get in. Now, Scott Newman’s come in for a bit of stick from the Middlesex support because, how shall I put this, he hasn’t really scored many runs. Quite a few single figures from what I’m told. And the odd quacker. But is there a better track to regain your good form than the Oval? Certainly not in the case of Newman, who knows the ground better than most. Just like Ramps, no doubt he feels he has a point to prove against his former team. And let’s face it: he is a very good player when he gets going, and he scores very rapidly to boot.

Somewhat alarmingly from a Surrey point of view, Newman has got himself into the 70s with not much effort at all and at an incredible rate. England skipper Strauss also seems to have played himself into some form with an equally fast 50. If I was RHB I’d be a tad concerned that the total of 490 posted by Surrey over two days might well be whittled away in no time at all. Middlesex closed with 148 on the board for no wicket lost.

You’d still have the draw as the favourite, though. Day three beckons tomorrow and despite the Middlesex siege on the Surrey total there doesn’t seem enough time in the game to make something of it.

If nothing else, today was about Ramps showing why he is still the prized wicket in the county game. Age has not withered him, and I’m sure there were some weary Middlesex bowlers watching on the balcony today. This was his 11th double hundred for Surrey and his 16th in total. He now stands joint fifth in the all-time list of double hundred scorers, rubbing shoulders with the likes of Jack Hobbs, with a conversion rate far better than the man affectionately known as ‘The Master’.

It’s not bad company to keep, when you think about it.