Victories, balls and farewells

Balls.

That’s what Surrey showed today. Big, massive ones at that! In a metaphorical sense, you understand. Displaying the non-metaphorical ones in public can result in arrest. Just ask any streaker worth his salt.

I don’t know if there was something in the Rosebowl air today, or whether Surrey were high on the back of their heady win over Scotland yesterday. I don’t know if maybe Deirdre, fresh from having her ashes scattered at the Oval today decided to look down at the teams from on high and have a laugh. Whatever the truth, today’s humdinger of a match just about caused me a peptic ulcer! Something decidedly odd seemed afoot almost from the word go.

I mean, Hants are chock full of decent players. And one by one – and at regular intervals – they dropped like ninepins! I’m not one for casting aspersions on the boys abilities and certainly Surrey are a more than reasonable team, but if you’d asked me if they’d have Hants all out for 141 in 30 overs I’d have probably spat my cup of tea out at your face in disbelief! How long have the doom merchants, naysayers and long-suffering “I can remember when we were invincible” brigade been hankering after a display like that?

It did seem a little too good to be true, to be honest. I’m afraid, with all due respect to our wonderful bowlers, I had suspicions something was up with the pitch. And when Hants began their response in the same manner as Surrey had, with wickets tumbling all over the shop, I felt all the more certain that the Rosebowl was misbehaving unexpectedly. Not in a naughty “call the ECB inspectors” way, I hasten to add. It just didn’t seem to be going the way either team had anticipated. By all accounts it should have been a marvellous batting track, and yet the ball dominated the bat in an almost obscene manner.

Take the Hants innings for example. The top score made by a batsman on their team was a slightly incongruous 34 from Dawson. The next highest score was 21 from McKenzie! With other scores ranging from a first ball duck for Corky to a couple of 15s for Pothas and Howell, things were looking mighty ominous for the home side. 4 wickets fell to a rather imperious Dernbach, with two for Arafat, two for Linley and one apiece for Schofield and Spriegel. I’m pretty sure even the most faithful of Hants supporters would have considered going home at the half way break!

If they did then they would soon have been regretting missing out on one heck of an exciting game. The skipper followed up his single run in the last game with, you guessed it, a single run in this one. I said RHB would have his day – and he will – but it seemingly wasn’t meant to be today. And when Davies, with the score still on 1, followed his captain back up the steps Dominic Cork must have been scenting blood! Worse followed when the experienced de Bruyn was out for 5 with the score on a measly 24, and when Maynard was dismissed for 14 (and then Wilson next ball for a duck) it looked as if another calamitous collapse was on the cards!

Thank heavens then for Jason Roy! I have the feeling (and indeed hope fervently) I may be saying that a lot in future years. He, ably assisted by Spriegel, was the main difference between winning and losing today. Yes, it was a long and protracted journey towards that 142 total that put me slightly in mind of my new treadmill: a lot of huffing and puffing but getting nowhere fast. But riding his luck once again and staying in to make 76 before being bowled was the main factor that Surrey now finds themselves near the top – if not at the top – of their CB40 group. Schofield came in and smashed the last couple of runs required to take them over the line, and although Roy wasn’t there at the end I’m sure he will reflected well upon his performance.

Credit to Spriegel for sticking with him to the end and playing such a pivotal role. His 29 not out was the third highest score in the entire game! And much credit to RHB for his constant mixing up of the bowlers; chopping and changing so that the opposition couldn’t settle at all. He showed a great deal of nous, and certainly in the shorter game he seems very tactically aware. The changes in bowlers he made today, and the times he made those changes, seemed almost inspired.

And so, with a second win under their belts the Surrey Lions can look forward to their next championship game against Leicestershire on Wednesday. Surrey seems to have a reasonable record against them, I think. At least a certain M.R.Ramprakash does. Will he be in the squad? What position will he play if he is? I had heard some ugly rumours about him possibly opening...but that does seem like wasting your best asset. Would you drive your Rolls Royce in a cross-country rally? Openers are there to take the sting out the new ball. Exposing your best player to it straight away seems like sheer lunacy to me, although given the number of times in the past that Ramps has had to come in early with the first wicket down I suppose he may as well open...

Back to the Oval. I mentioned earlier that our very own Deirdre’s ashes scattering took place today. By all accounts it was a very moving experience, even if she did turn up late to her own ceremony! The Rampants who made it to the Oval extend their thanks to the groundsman who both met their party and allowed them on to the pitch. Final word, I think, should go to one of our founding members, Fiona, who expressed the following sentiments on the scattering of Dee’s ashes:

“Gosh it was so very moving - her little patch of grass on the Oval pitch where she will now always be... Oh, and Dee, don't think we don't realise that it was you who ordered that great big gust of wind that took you floating up all over the members area!! Good girl! And her being late was SO Elizabeth Taylor. It was a very lovely day.”

God speed, lovely Dee! xxx

Thanks for the memories

 
I had such plans to blog about the final of Strictly, having dutifully reported on every show up until final week, but then Christmas came and went, and with it my impetus to continue! Suffice it to say that in my opinion the right couple won on the night, and congrats to Kara and Artem on lifting the glitterball. I was sorry that Pamela and James never got second spot as I would love to have seen their AT, but it was not to be.

England have lifted the Ashes and given the Aussies a damn good thrashing in the process. The best tribute I can give to them is that I went in to the series as a complete neutral and ended up an England convert. Okay, the fact that Mr Tremlett was playing certainly helped but I have to be honest and say I was impressed with the way Andrew Strauss quietly and solidly went about marshalling his troops. I’m pretty sure this was his finest moment to date. His dignified leadership pretty much made him the unsung hero in Australia.

It was fitting that Surrey man Chris Tremlett claimed the winning wicket in what otherwise was a very sad day for the Rampants as we discovered that Deirdre, Ramps fan of many years and Surrey radio devotee, had passed away just before Christmas. Whilst Dee wasn’t in great health over the last few years she never complained or mentioned how poorly she may have been, and as such it came as a considerable shock to us all to find out that she had died.

Dee had an amazing sense of humour and was a genuinely warm person who took a real interest in how everyone else was. She also had possibly the greatest, loudest laugh I have ever heard! Although she was not well enough to come to our very first Rampant Annual General Meeting back in 2007 she was nevertheless given a special place at our gathering care of a mobile phone which was passed joyfully between us all, so that we each had several minutes of time to speak with her. My only regret in retrospect was that I couldn’t think of anything particularly intelligent to say!

But that wouldn’t have bothered Dee at all, who was a fun-loving individual. Her collection of huge – and sometimes rude – earrings, bargain hunting on e-bay (which once resulted in her becoming the proud owner of several Barbie dolls) and nail polish kept us amused over the years that we knew her. Those amongst the Rampants who follow the Surrey cricket commentaries will have often heard her e-mails read out by Mark Church, and it feels very strange to think that she won’t be around to contribute any more. She was a wholehearted supporter of Surrey as a club, of Mark Ramprakash in particular, and was delighted to be able to listen in to his exploits via the ball by ball coverage on the internet. I think it may have helped to take her mind off the fact that due to ill health her world had become somewhat limited, so I extend a thank you to Churchy on all our behalf.

Whilst we sadly won’t be able to pass the mobile phone around our assorted band of cricket/dance enthusiasts and hear that wonderful, booming laugh, many of us are hoping to meet up this year...maybe watch some cricket and raise a glass or several in her honour. And above all I think it should be about having fun, because that is exactly how we will all remember her: laughing, and making us laugh with her.

We’ll miss you, Deirdre! xxx