Because some double acts are just irreplaceable!
And because the idea of Dave Townsend reinacting 'The Stripper' from the Morecambe and Wise show is faintly horrific!
Somebody take his heater away from him...
*picture expertly doctored by Rowan
Showing posts with label Mark Church. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mark Church. Show all posts
Thursday, 12 April 2012
Bring Me Sunshine...
Because some double acts are just irreplaceable!
And because the idea of Dave Townsend reinacting 'The Stripper' from the Morecambe and Wise show is faintly horrific!
Somebody take his heater away from him...
*picture expertly doctored by Rowan
Thursday, 29 September 2011
Okay, I am seriously...
...bored.
Have had to resort to begging Mark Church (or @surreycricket) via Twitter to make up some cricket commentaries and tweet them to us.
Bless him, he actually gave it a go!
He's a cool dude, is Churchy!
Have had to resort to begging Mark Church (or @surreycricket) via Twitter to make up some cricket commentaries and tweet them to us.
Bless him, he actually gave it a go!
He's a cool dude, is Churchy!
Sunday, 31 July 2011
Obstruction-gate!
I stole this photo from Liz. She won't mind: she's utterly shameless! He he he...
Gloucestershire v Surrey time: a game that had more drama than an episode of I, Claudius. Well, okay. It didn’t have the murders, the plots, the incest or men in short togas, but it pretty much had everything else!
It started off fairly innocuously, with Marilyn delivering a cake and flapjacks to Churchy (one of which I believe was honoured to fall into the clutches of a certain Alec Stewart). The rest of the day was, it appears , taken up snapping photos of the Surrey team as they fielded. At least I think there was more than one team playing, although by the amount of photos of the slip cordon you wouldn’t know that Gloucestershire were there!
Only joking, guys!
The Surrey bowling looked very smart and Arafat recorded his first 5fer of the championship. Linley continued to impress as he had throughout the season. He may not be the world’s most fashionable or stylish bowler, but he’s damned useful and no mistake! Dernbach appeared to struggle slightly in the first innings, but with England duties beckoning it was clear he wanted to leave his club with some wickets to his credit. Gloucestershire were all out for a total of 286.
Day two was the day that Ramps recorded his 114th first class century, leaving him equal with the great Sir Vivian Richards on the list of all time century makers. It also saw him recording his hundredth career hundred-partnership. As the Surrey batsmen came and went it looked as if Mr R was, in time-honoured tradition, running out of partners but then Arafat stepped up to the crease and kept on batting and batting and batting! It was a fabulous partnership between the two of them, and a real pity that Ramps got out just a couple of overs before close of play. Still, the wind had been well and truly taken out of Gloucestershire’s sails.
When the game resumed the next day Surrey managed to add a few more valuable runs. How valuable would become clear later in the game, but Surrey finished their first innings with a splendid 423. Whilst Dent, much like Ramps the day before, was the sole centurian for his side (in fact it was Dent’s first ever hundred) the rest of the team, other than Alec Gidman and Chris Taylor, were unable to contribute any significant runs to the second innings total. Arafat claimed two more victims, the same as Dernbach and Ansari, with Linley taking three and Batty one.
This meant that on day four, once the Gloucestershire side were finally dismissed, Surrey had only to chase down 184 to win the game. A simple enough task you would have thought. To start with it certainly appeared that way, but then Davies perished for 19 and then shortly afterwards RHB for 39. Ramps came in and played his customary steady knock, keeping a cool head whilst Maynard and de Bruyn fell by the wayside without really adding much to the score, but with Jason Roy keeping things ticking along the score began to diminish.
And then we had obstructiongate!
Of course, I have to point out I wasn’t there so I don’t really have anything to base my opinions on. The Gloucestershire players will have their opinions, the Surrey players theirs, as will the umps. Fact is that whether the call was correct or not the umpires’ word is law. But the reason that this will be such an emotive issue with someone who has played for as long in the game as Ramps is that the way he was given out – obstructing the field – is one that the umps can only give if they feel the interference caused was deliberate. And that, of course, is as good as accusing someone of cheating.
You can imagine that, understandably, this did not go down very well with Mr R. I can also imagine that if his discussions on the subject with the umpires were on the ‘expressive’ side that he’s most likely going to be taken to task for it. Bottom line is you can’t feck with the umpires, even if they’ve made a controversial and heavy-handed decision. Still, I can understand the aggrievement in this instance. Who likes to have their professional integrity called into question? It is actually a very big deal at the end of the day.
The upshot of the game was that Jason Roy had to carry the hopes of the Surrey team on his young shoulders, especially as Ansari found himself back in the dressing room within two balls, caught up in the post-obstruction maelstrom! Gloucestershire moved from underdogs to favourites to win when Gareth Batty and Roy went within a few balls of each other. And yet in the face of all the confusion, controversy, and rushes of blood to the head Tim Linley contrived to stroke the winning runs in partnership with the game’s Mr Reliable, Yasir Arafat.
So, a win for Surrey. It was bloody hard work, but it was well scrapped-for and, by the sound of it, deserved. You couldn’t really blame Gloucestershire for appealing for the Ramps wicket because they knew they had to get him out to stand a chance of winning, and it very nearly worked. But the whole thing left me feeling very disgruntled, although delighted that Surrey had taken maximum points, and putting Surrey within a few points of Gloucestershire in the table!
At the time of writing this Middlesex look like they are going to steamroller Northants at the top of the table. The two of them look likely to go up...yet the wheels are starting to fall off Northants a little. There’s still potentially a spot up for grabs. If Surrey shows the same resolve to fight that they did against Gloucestershire then there is always a chance, remote as it may seem.
And so the curtains fell on the drama at Cheltenham. I’m sure we won’t have heard the last of the whole obstruction thing, but nonetheless a satisfying Surrey win and a great return to form from Ramps with his century made for an (over) exciting game! Not bad for a grand old chap with a dodgy knee. After all, in I, Claudius the title character survived everyone else and he also was a grand old chap with a dodgy knee!
Just don’t eat the mushrooms, Ramps...
*Brief addendum to this post. Surrey have signed Gloucestershire bowler Jon Lewis to mentor the young quick bowlers next year, in light of Tremlett, Dernbach and Meaker being spirited away on England duties. It's an interesting move. It's not a bad one: there does need to be some experience amongst the bowling unit, although it's not without issues. As my dad said: "who's this old bloke Surrey have signed, then?"
It's a signing made all the more interesting when you consider it was Mr Lewis who led the appeal to the umps against Ramps in the Cheltenham game...
Gloucestershire v Surrey time: a game that had more drama than an episode of I, Claudius. Well, okay. It didn’t have the murders, the plots, the incest or men in short togas, but it pretty much had everything else!
It started off fairly innocuously, with Marilyn delivering a cake and flapjacks to Churchy (one of which I believe was honoured to fall into the clutches of a certain Alec Stewart). The rest of the day was, it appears , taken up snapping photos of the Surrey team as they fielded. At least I think there was more than one team playing, although by the amount of photos of the slip cordon you wouldn’t know that Gloucestershire were there!
Only joking, guys!
The Surrey bowling looked very smart and Arafat recorded his first 5fer of the championship. Linley continued to impress as he had throughout the season. He may not be the world’s most fashionable or stylish bowler, but he’s damned useful and no mistake! Dernbach appeared to struggle slightly in the first innings, but with England duties beckoning it was clear he wanted to leave his club with some wickets to his credit. Gloucestershire were all out for a total of 286.
Day two was the day that Ramps recorded his 114th first class century, leaving him equal with the great Sir Vivian Richards on the list of all time century makers. It also saw him recording his hundredth career hundred-partnership. As the Surrey batsmen came and went it looked as if Mr R was, in time-honoured tradition, running out of partners but then Arafat stepped up to the crease and kept on batting and batting and batting! It was a fabulous partnership between the two of them, and a real pity that Ramps got out just a couple of overs before close of play. Still, the wind had been well and truly taken out of Gloucestershire’s sails.
When the game resumed the next day Surrey managed to add a few more valuable runs. How valuable would become clear later in the game, but Surrey finished their first innings with a splendid 423. Whilst Dent, much like Ramps the day before, was the sole centurian for his side (in fact it was Dent’s first ever hundred) the rest of the team, other than Alec Gidman and Chris Taylor, were unable to contribute any significant runs to the second innings total. Arafat claimed two more victims, the same as Dernbach and Ansari, with Linley taking three and Batty one.
This meant that on day four, once the Gloucestershire side were finally dismissed, Surrey had only to chase down 184 to win the game. A simple enough task you would have thought. To start with it certainly appeared that way, but then Davies perished for 19 and then shortly afterwards RHB for 39. Ramps came in and played his customary steady knock, keeping a cool head whilst Maynard and de Bruyn fell by the wayside without really adding much to the score, but with Jason Roy keeping things ticking along the score began to diminish.
And then we had obstructiongate!
Of course, I have to point out I wasn’t there so I don’t really have anything to base my opinions on. The Gloucestershire players will have their opinions, the Surrey players theirs, as will the umps. Fact is that whether the call was correct or not the umpires’ word is law. But the reason that this will be such an emotive issue with someone who has played for as long in the game as Ramps is that the way he was given out – obstructing the field – is one that the umps can only give if they feel the interference caused was deliberate. And that, of course, is as good as accusing someone of cheating.
You can imagine that, understandably, this did not go down very well with Mr R. I can also imagine that if his discussions on the subject with the umpires were on the ‘expressive’ side that he’s most likely going to be taken to task for it. Bottom line is you can’t feck with the umpires, even if they’ve made a controversial and heavy-handed decision. Still, I can understand the aggrievement in this instance. Who likes to have their professional integrity called into question? It is actually a very big deal at the end of the day.
The upshot of the game was that Jason Roy had to carry the hopes of the Surrey team on his young shoulders, especially as Ansari found himself back in the dressing room within two balls, caught up in the post-obstruction maelstrom! Gloucestershire moved from underdogs to favourites to win when Gareth Batty and Roy went within a few balls of each other. And yet in the face of all the confusion, controversy, and rushes of blood to the head Tim Linley contrived to stroke the winning runs in partnership with the game’s Mr Reliable, Yasir Arafat.
So, a win for Surrey. It was bloody hard work, but it was well scrapped-for and, by the sound of it, deserved. You couldn’t really blame Gloucestershire for appealing for the Ramps wicket because they knew they had to get him out to stand a chance of winning, and it very nearly worked. But the whole thing left me feeling very disgruntled, although delighted that Surrey had taken maximum points, and putting Surrey within a few points of Gloucestershire in the table!
At the time of writing this Middlesex look like they are going to steamroller Northants at the top of the table. The two of them look likely to go up...yet the wheels are starting to fall off Northants a little. There’s still potentially a spot up for grabs. If Surrey shows the same resolve to fight that they did against Gloucestershire then there is always a chance, remote as it may seem.
And so the curtains fell on the drama at Cheltenham. I’m sure we won’t have heard the last of the whole obstruction thing, but nonetheless a satisfying Surrey win and a great return to form from Ramps with his century made for an (over) exciting game! Not bad for a grand old chap with a dodgy knee. After all, in I, Claudius the title character survived everyone else and he also was a grand old chap with a dodgy knee!
Just don’t eat the mushrooms, Ramps...
*Brief addendum to this post. Surrey have signed Gloucestershire bowler Jon Lewis to mentor the young quick bowlers next year, in light of Tremlett, Dernbach and Meaker being spirited away on England duties. It's an interesting move. It's not a bad one: there does need to be some experience amongst the bowling unit, although it's not without issues. As my dad said: "who's this old bloke Surrey have signed, then?"
It's a signing made all the more interesting when you consider it was Mr Lewis who led the appeal to the umps against Ramps in the Cheltenham game...
Wednesday, 20 July 2011
The Great cake relay!
My dad’s great grandfather was a baker for half a century. My mum’s father and great grandfather were also bakers and confectioners. This being the case, you would expect that I should have Royal Icing running through my veins.
Not a bit of it.
I’m not Delia Smith. I’m not Ria in ‘Butterflies’ either...somewhere betwixt the two would be a better approximation of my culinary skills. I have dabbled with the odd cake here and there but you sort of need time and kitchen space to truly create some magnificent sponge edifice, and I have neither at my disposal. This being the case I passed the mission of creating a cake for Churchy to Val Jones, a lady who works at my office and who is a rather talented amateur cake maker on the sly. The problem wasn’t whether or not Val could come up with something special, but rather how the heck I was going to transport the wretched thing down to London, along with my luggage, my camera, my bag and the food I had bought in at Waverley’s M&S...
It was slightly tricky, but Annabel helped a lot and we got a taxi to the hotel, so the cake actually made it down pretty much unscathed! I was slightly concerned, I confess, as to how I was going to get it through the turnstile at the gates. It’s not the first time I have been stuck in one of those contraptions. Many, many years ago (back when I actually went out and visited places) I got wedged in a turnstile at Murrayfield. It was January, it was utterly Baltic, and I had on an old sheepskin jacket that John Motson would have been proud of. Alas, it was so big and unwieldy that it – and by default myself – became jammed in the metal twirly things. Not very dignified, as I recall. My mother still laughs about it.
Thankfully there was no repeat of this fiasco at the Oval. I did wonder if security were going to swoop and demand to carry out a search on the unwieldy package all done up in string. I had visions of people taking it off me and detonating it as a suspicious item! All of which would have been a great pity for Val, who created the masterpiece.
The irony of the cake reaching the Oval safely and then being diverted from its original target makes me smile. Poor old Churchy! Safely delivered into his hands and then taken away for a quick photograph, the confectionary masterpiece was then passed for distribution amongst the hard working ground staff for the odd slice or several. It proved so popular that it sounds as if they demolished the whole thing!
I think some of my fellow Rampants were worried I would be upset, but not a bit of it. As long as someone liked and enjoyed it then I am perfectly happy: my way of saying thank you to those at the Oval for all their hard work. Already I’m trying to think how on earth we top it next year!
Maybe one shaped as a cricket bat...
Friday, 17 June 2011
The Only Way is Surrey
Essex.
As in ‘The Only Way is...’
As in prefix to ‘girls’ (and assorted connotations that go with it, unfair or otherwise).
As in ‘David’, whose singing voice my dad apparently detests.
As in ‘Ardleigh’, where some of my ancestors came from.
As in the small Czech stallion who ran in one of the mid 1980s Grand Nationals.
As in the cricket team whose fans are most likely to bring on a migraine.
Now, no disrespect is intended here to either Essex players or indeed their vociferous and joyous supporters. It’s just that they do tend to be rather loud when they are doing well against Surrey (and let’s face it; that happens rather a lot).
Imagine my relief when in the T20 game a few days ago at the Oval, the Lions surprisingly gave the Eagles a mauling! All was blissfully quiet, my ears got a rest, and Nasser and his other Sky cronies who obviously detest Surrey to varying degrees were forced to do a bit of a U-turn! Certainly the start of the game didn’t go very well for Surrey: Captain Rory this time decided to have a bat first and then both he and Davies took their evening stroll back to the pavilion in super-quick time! I guess having a turbo opening pair has its advantages and disadvantages, because if we could only get the two of them to stick around a bit longer I could see a series of large, virtually unchase-able scores being posted. Ah, well. Such is cricket!
Ansari impressed on his first team debut, both with the ball and a cool, level headed turn with the bat. It was enough to get him named ‘man of the match’, which made a few of the Rampants laugh given how young and angelic he looked. He may be taking exams at Cambridge at the moment but, as was noted by one of our merry band, he could have been mistaken for one of the boy mascots!
A score of 154-7 didn’t seem that impressive. Certainly it was defendable but you felt that given the superstars which pepper the Essex line-up (who wouldn’t want ten Doeschate on their team, let’s face it) they would readily chase it down. The highest scorer for Surrey was Maynard with 45, and it seemed that one really good partnership between Essex batsmen would soon have the game swinging their way.
And then, lo! A miracle! Arafat, criticised in many quarters for not finding any form in the first half of the season, plucked three wickets out the air including the first ball dismissal of Owais Shah! Napier and Southee also went on to make ducks, with the latter being involved in possibly the most hideous run out imaginable (watch out for it on A Question of Sport next year), and Napier using Bopara as a runner because of an injury he picked up in the match. The idea of having Bopara as a runner is almost as laughable as asking Shah to do the footwork on your behalf. The pair of them are run out kings!
Getting ten Doeschate was really the turning point. He’s one of those players who hook in like a giant tic, and refuse to let go until fully sated. And by then it’s usually too late to do anything about it. Every team should have a ten Doeschate, a Trescothick or a Ramprakash. Or even a Murray Goodwin (can’t believe I said that). When Tendo went for 15 the warning lights were flashing in the Essex control panel. And when Foster controversially went (well, when he could drag himself off the pitch after screaming at the umps) for 31 it was pretty much a mop-up job for Surrey. In the end the South London team, who had fielded like divas during the game, won by a whopping 43 runs!
Bet three years ago you’d never have used the words ‘Surrey’ and ‘fielding like divas’ in the same breath! It shows how far they have come. It was only Surrey’s second ever T20 win over Essex, and I can imagine how delighted they were to get one over their rivals after all the years of pain and misery at their hands.
What a pity then that Friday evening’s match against Somerset was rained off! Poor Churchy, Johnny Barran and the Surrey team made the fruitless journey to Taunton with no play possible. Whilst the dynamic duo of Church and Barran filled the time valiantly, if ultimately in vain, they may take some consolation in that there was hardly a single game that could be played up and down the country due to the rain. Surrey may not be that disappointed to take one point from the encounter: Somerset are a good team with Trescothick in the form of his life. There was a very real chance the sabres, as they used to be known, may well have kebabbed Surrey had the game gone ahead...
But the best thing this week from a Rampant point of view was hearing that Mr R had asked his old team, Stanmore, for a game to help keep him ticking over during the T20 gap. One can only assume that rivals Hampstead must have taken one look at the rival team sheet and sent out for every lucky rabbit’s foot or horse shoe in the county!
It didn’t do any good. 61 no made for a lot of smiley Rampants!
Special mention of the week: Mark Church’s trousers. I don’t normally request pictures of a gentleman’s trousers on Twitter. It strikes me that some people might consider that eccentric at best and downright perverted at worse! However, having seen the much-maligned, oft-talked of garment, I can only say I’ve seen worse. Trust me, I went to art college.
If Smudger’s reading this I can only hope he’s bought some new ones, as that was 15 years ago now, and he only owned the one pair...
As in ‘The Only Way is...’
As in prefix to ‘girls’ (and assorted connotations that go with it, unfair or otherwise).
As in ‘David’, whose singing voice my dad apparently detests.
As in ‘Ardleigh’, where some of my ancestors came from.
As in the small Czech stallion who ran in one of the mid 1980s Grand Nationals.
As in the cricket team whose fans are most likely to bring on a migraine.
Now, no disrespect is intended here to either Essex players or indeed their vociferous and joyous supporters. It’s just that they do tend to be rather loud when they are doing well against Surrey (and let’s face it; that happens rather a lot).
Imagine my relief when in the T20 game a few days ago at the Oval, the Lions surprisingly gave the Eagles a mauling! All was blissfully quiet, my ears got a rest, and Nasser and his other Sky cronies who obviously detest Surrey to varying degrees were forced to do a bit of a U-turn! Certainly the start of the game didn’t go very well for Surrey: Captain Rory this time decided to have a bat first and then both he and Davies took their evening stroll back to the pavilion in super-quick time! I guess having a turbo opening pair has its advantages and disadvantages, because if we could only get the two of them to stick around a bit longer I could see a series of large, virtually unchase-able scores being posted. Ah, well. Such is cricket!
Ansari impressed on his first team debut, both with the ball and a cool, level headed turn with the bat. It was enough to get him named ‘man of the match’, which made a few of the Rampants laugh given how young and angelic he looked. He may be taking exams at Cambridge at the moment but, as was noted by one of our merry band, he could have been mistaken for one of the boy mascots!
A score of 154-7 didn’t seem that impressive. Certainly it was defendable but you felt that given the superstars which pepper the Essex line-up (who wouldn’t want ten Doeschate on their team, let’s face it) they would readily chase it down. The highest scorer for Surrey was Maynard with 45, and it seemed that one really good partnership between Essex batsmen would soon have the game swinging their way.
And then, lo! A miracle! Arafat, criticised in many quarters for not finding any form in the first half of the season, plucked three wickets out the air including the first ball dismissal of Owais Shah! Napier and Southee also went on to make ducks, with the latter being involved in possibly the most hideous run out imaginable (watch out for it on A Question of Sport next year), and Napier using Bopara as a runner because of an injury he picked up in the match. The idea of having Bopara as a runner is almost as laughable as asking Shah to do the footwork on your behalf. The pair of them are run out kings!
Getting ten Doeschate was really the turning point. He’s one of those players who hook in like a giant tic, and refuse to let go until fully sated. And by then it’s usually too late to do anything about it. Every team should have a ten Doeschate, a Trescothick or a Ramprakash. Or even a Murray Goodwin (can’t believe I said that). When Tendo went for 15 the warning lights were flashing in the Essex control panel. And when Foster controversially went (well, when he could drag himself off the pitch after screaming at the umps) for 31 it was pretty much a mop-up job for Surrey. In the end the South London team, who had fielded like divas during the game, won by a whopping 43 runs!
Bet three years ago you’d never have used the words ‘Surrey’ and ‘fielding like divas’ in the same breath! It shows how far they have come. It was only Surrey’s second ever T20 win over Essex, and I can imagine how delighted they were to get one over their rivals after all the years of pain and misery at their hands.
What a pity then that Friday evening’s match against Somerset was rained off! Poor Churchy, Johnny Barran and the Surrey team made the fruitless journey to Taunton with no play possible. Whilst the dynamic duo of Church and Barran filled the time valiantly, if ultimately in vain, they may take some consolation in that there was hardly a single game that could be played up and down the country due to the rain. Surrey may not be that disappointed to take one point from the encounter: Somerset are a good team with Trescothick in the form of his life. There was a very real chance the sabres, as they used to be known, may well have kebabbed Surrey had the game gone ahead...
But the best thing this week from a Rampant point of view was hearing that Mr R had asked his old team, Stanmore, for a game to help keep him ticking over during the T20 gap. One can only assume that rivals Hampstead must have taken one look at the rival team sheet and sent out for every lucky rabbit’s foot or horse shoe in the county!
It didn’t do any good. 61 no made for a lot of smiley Rampants!
Special mention of the week: Mark Church’s trousers. I don’t normally request pictures of a gentleman’s trousers on Twitter. It strikes me that some people might consider that eccentric at best and downright perverted at worse! However, having seen the much-maligned, oft-talked of garment, I can only say I’ve seen worse. Trust me, I went to art college.
If Smudger’s reading this I can only hope he’s bought some new ones, as that was 15 years ago now, and he only owned the one pair...
Saturday, 11 June 2011
What a Difference a Day Makes...
Or a week, to be more precise. T20 mania has taken a complete hold in the schedules. Now, as I’ve mentioned before I like a bit of T20 but it would be a lie if I said it was my favourite form of cricket. Yes, as my dad laughingly labelled me at the dinner table today, I am a ‘purist’. My sister thinks I’m nuts: she’d rather eat recycled cat litter than watch 4 day cricket, but coming from someone whose favourite movie musical has the unforgettable line ‘a man can’t sleep when he sleeps with sheep’, I think her ability to pass reasonable judgement on anything is in dispute...
Since the Derbyshire win the wheels haven’t so much fallen off for Surrey as been subject to a couple of slow punctures. After a few promising wins the boys lost comprehensively to a classy Hampshire, suffered the ignominy of having their match against Glamorgan rained off for a single point, and were today thumped by Gloucestershire. I can forgive the loss to Hants, who look to be a formidable force in the shorter form stuff, but the Gloucestershire loss wasn’t good any way you look at it. Especially after it started so well! A great knock from Cockbain was the difference, but you have to say Surrey rather let the Gloucestershire batsmen get away when they had the chance to tighten the thumbscrews on them. It wasn’t really helped when Surrey lost a very early wicket (heard that one before)! From that point on it seemed to destabilise the Surrey batsmen. Alas, teams in our group will look to capitalise on this weakness.
This is what I have learned then in the last few weeks:
Mark Church and Johnny Barran are very cool in the face of incoming cricket balls; if they’d been on the Titanic I reckon they’d simply have gone down with the ship announcing it was ‘a bit of an inconvenience’. Extremely professional in every respect: I fear I would have uttered a “sh*t, that bl**dy well nearly hit me in the b*llocking face!”
If Rory Hamilton-Brown loses his wicket for less than 10 runs the Surrey batsmen start clucking about like headless chickens. A bit harsh of me, perhaps. But given the amount of times it seems to happen I think I’m probably right.
Ramps is not playing the shorter forms of the game at the moment because, as we supposed, he doesn’t have the speed or general fitness given his ongoing recovery from his knee operation. We all guessed this was the reason, but there has been a surprising lack of communication on this point. In fact it was the ‘London Evening Standard' that actually bothered to let the fans know what was going on. I heard someone a few weeks back at the Grange say he’d been dropped because he “was too old”, which nearly resulted in me decking them (derogatory remarks made about my favourite players in any sport tends to bring out my latent maternal instincts). And to be honest, unlikely as this reason was for Ramps’ exclusion, you do tend to wonder what the situation is when there is no actual word from the club itself. The Rampants are collectively paranoid as it is without this kind of thing!
Walk-on girls are not popular with fans. I wanted to call it ‘glamgate’; save that it’s not exactly headline news, and also it makes it sound as if Cosgrove has been up to something naughty in an all-you-can-eat buffet. Basically, some clever chap (I’ll be surprised if it wasn’t a chap) decided the Surrey players were incapable of walking unaided to the pitch at the start of a game and so they would be escorted by ‘glamorous females’. A bit like Old Mr Grace in ‘Are You Being Served’ with his array of nurses.
Speaking as a non-glamorous female, of the rather plain and stocky variety, my comments are probably going to sound a tad suspicious. I did however, like many of my friends and several Surrey supporters I know of, question the reasoning – and indeed sanity – of the whole thing. I rather thought the idea of going to watch a cricket match was to see cricket, not scantily clad girls. Or is that me just being silly?
Anyhow, a small but vocal insurrection soon informed the relevant persons of the lack of wisdom in implementing the ghastly and tasteless idea. It was swiftly dropped. A big gold star to whoever had the courage to call it off: a big kick up the arse to whoever thought of it in the first place...
Kevin Pietersen is not popular with everyone - and to those die-hard fans who put county above country in particular. Witness this from the Gloucestershire game:
“The next batsman in for Surrey is Kevin Pietersen...”
“BOOOOOOOOOOOOHISSSSSSSSSSS...”
I mean, what was that about? Even I wouldn’t show that level of discourtesy to KP and he’s not my favourite player by a long way. Poor man just wanted to turn up, do some batting and help Surrey to win the game (hopefully not getting out to a left hand spinner in the process). Well, three out of four ain’t bad...
I have my new smart phone. I can now listen to the commentary at work *blows raspberry at employers who block internet access to cricket*. Of course, I can’t help but notice that since the purchase of the aforesaid gadget, Surrey have done nothing but lose. So, now it seems I can enjoy being miserable in real time as opposed to when I go home after work and check the scores...
Since the Derbyshire win the wheels haven’t so much fallen off for Surrey as been subject to a couple of slow punctures. After a few promising wins the boys lost comprehensively to a classy Hampshire, suffered the ignominy of having their match against Glamorgan rained off for a single point, and were today thumped by Gloucestershire. I can forgive the loss to Hants, who look to be a formidable force in the shorter form stuff, but the Gloucestershire loss wasn’t good any way you look at it. Especially after it started so well! A great knock from Cockbain was the difference, but you have to say Surrey rather let the Gloucestershire batsmen get away when they had the chance to tighten the thumbscrews on them. It wasn’t really helped when Surrey lost a very early wicket (heard that one before)! From that point on it seemed to destabilise the Surrey batsmen. Alas, teams in our group will look to capitalise on this weakness.
This is what I have learned then in the last few weeks:
Mark Church and Johnny Barran are very cool in the face of incoming cricket balls; if they’d been on the Titanic I reckon they’d simply have gone down with the ship announcing it was ‘a bit of an inconvenience’. Extremely professional in every respect: I fear I would have uttered a “sh*t, that bl**dy well nearly hit me in the b*llocking face!”
If Rory Hamilton-Brown loses his wicket for less than 10 runs the Surrey batsmen start clucking about like headless chickens. A bit harsh of me, perhaps. But given the amount of times it seems to happen I think I’m probably right.
Ramps is not playing the shorter forms of the game at the moment because, as we supposed, he doesn’t have the speed or general fitness given his ongoing recovery from his knee operation. We all guessed this was the reason, but there has been a surprising lack of communication on this point. In fact it was the ‘London Evening Standard' that actually bothered to let the fans know what was going on. I heard someone a few weeks back at the Grange say he’d been dropped because he “was too old”, which nearly resulted in me decking them (derogatory remarks made about my favourite players in any sport tends to bring out my latent maternal instincts). And to be honest, unlikely as this reason was for Ramps’ exclusion, you do tend to wonder what the situation is when there is no actual word from the club itself. The Rampants are collectively paranoid as it is without this kind of thing!
Walk-on girls are not popular with fans. I wanted to call it ‘glamgate’; save that it’s not exactly headline news, and also it makes it sound as if Cosgrove has been up to something naughty in an all-you-can-eat buffet. Basically, some clever chap (I’ll be surprised if it wasn’t a chap) decided the Surrey players were incapable of walking unaided to the pitch at the start of a game and so they would be escorted by ‘glamorous females’. A bit like Old Mr Grace in ‘Are You Being Served’ with his array of nurses.
Speaking as a non-glamorous female, of the rather plain and stocky variety, my comments are probably going to sound a tad suspicious. I did however, like many of my friends and several Surrey supporters I know of, question the reasoning – and indeed sanity – of the whole thing. I rather thought the idea of going to watch a cricket match was to see cricket, not scantily clad girls. Or is that me just being silly?
Anyhow, a small but vocal insurrection soon informed the relevant persons of the lack of wisdom in implementing the ghastly and tasteless idea. It was swiftly dropped. A big gold star to whoever had the courage to call it off: a big kick up the arse to whoever thought of it in the first place...
Kevin Pietersen is not popular with everyone - and to those die-hard fans who put county above country in particular. Witness this from the Gloucestershire game:
“The next batsman in for Surrey is Kevin Pietersen...”
“BOOOOOOOOOOOOHISSSSSSSSSSS...”
I mean, what was that about? Even I wouldn’t show that level of discourtesy to KP and he’s not my favourite player by a long way. Poor man just wanted to turn up, do some batting and help Surrey to win the game (hopefully not getting out to a left hand spinner in the process). Well, three out of four ain’t bad...
I have my new smart phone. I can now listen to the commentary at work *blows raspberry at employers who block internet access to cricket*. Of course, I can’t help but notice that since the purchase of the aforesaid gadget, Surrey have done nothing but lose. So, now it seems I can enjoy being miserable in real time as opposed to when I go home after work and check the scores...
Saturday, 21 May 2011
Good game, good game!
As Bruce Forsyth might say.
Yes, it ended in a draw that did no favours to either Essex or Surrey in their race to propel themselves up the Division 2 table. I know that a lot of people were predicting a draw at Whitgift even before the game had even started; such was the reputation the ground has as a batsman’s paradise. But even so, it was a contest that had much to be recommended.
You had Napier smashing sixes galore, equalling world records in the process.
You had Cook showing everyone what a classy bat he is, and how much he’s matured over the years into a really smart cricketer.
You had KP trying – and succeeding – to regain his form with some hard graft.
You had RHB making a very smart hundred.
You had a run-chase that, until an hour after lunch on the final day, really looked as if Surrey might be able to go on the attack and sneak a second championship win on the bounce.
It was a gallant effort from Surrey, and fair play to Essex for some very entertaining cricket – especially the stout-hearted defence from the lower order: something that yet again proved to be the Surrey side’s undoing. Unfortunately with Meaker off the field of play and Dernbach not available for the game (he was away getting fivefers for the England Lions) their chief tail-end busters were out of the equation.
Should I mention the shocking amount of extras Surrey managed to garner over the four days? I probably shouldn’t...I know what the sight of a blossoming extras column does to poor Bev! The total may well have been a lot more appealing to chase but for the ghastly 66 in the two Surrey efforts with the ball. Take that away from the 366 or so that they were required to get for a win, and although still unlikely with so little time left in the game they may well have swung the bat a bit more towards the end.
Still, the nice atmosphere of a resplendent Whitgift was expertly delivered by Churchy, Johnny Barran and their Essex counterparts. It does sound like the sort of ground you would really want to make an effort to visit if you were in a position to do so. Maybe one day...
And of course, there was one surprise I hadn’t banked on. When Mr Ramprakash got out for a 12 ball duck, I didn’t hear a peep out of my dad. Not one snort of derision. No teasing. A miracle, in short.
Well, they did say the world was about to end...
Yes, it ended in a draw that did no favours to either Essex or Surrey in their race to propel themselves up the Division 2 table. I know that a lot of people were predicting a draw at Whitgift even before the game had even started; such was the reputation the ground has as a batsman’s paradise. But even so, it was a contest that had much to be recommended.
You had Napier smashing sixes galore, equalling world records in the process.
You had Cook showing everyone what a classy bat he is, and how much he’s matured over the years into a really smart cricketer.
You had KP trying – and succeeding – to regain his form with some hard graft.
You had RHB making a very smart hundred.
You had a run-chase that, until an hour after lunch on the final day, really looked as if Surrey might be able to go on the attack and sneak a second championship win on the bounce.
It was a gallant effort from Surrey, and fair play to Essex for some very entertaining cricket – especially the stout-hearted defence from the lower order: something that yet again proved to be the Surrey side’s undoing. Unfortunately with Meaker off the field of play and Dernbach not available for the game (he was away getting fivefers for the England Lions) their chief tail-end busters were out of the equation.
Should I mention the shocking amount of extras Surrey managed to garner over the four days? I probably shouldn’t...I know what the sight of a blossoming extras column does to poor Bev! The total may well have been a lot more appealing to chase but for the ghastly 66 in the two Surrey efforts with the ball. Take that away from the 366 or so that they were required to get for a win, and although still unlikely with so little time left in the game they may well have swung the bat a bit more towards the end.
Still, the nice atmosphere of a resplendent Whitgift was expertly delivered by Churchy, Johnny Barran and their Essex counterparts. It does sound like the sort of ground you would really want to make an effort to visit if you were in a position to do so. Maybe one day...
And of course, there was one surprise I hadn’t banked on. When Mr Ramprakash got out for a 12 ball duck, I didn’t hear a peep out of my dad. Not one snort of derision. No teasing. A miracle, in short.
Well, they did say the world was about to end...
Tuesday, 17 May 2011
Baby, it's cold outside!
Scotland v Surrey: CB40 at the Grange
And, as expected, Surrey made it four out of four in their CB40 campaign. A trip to the Grange – a very cold trip, I might add – resulted in the anticipated victory over the Scottish Saltires on Sunday. This was a game I was lucky enough to attend in part.
I say in part because I took the decision to leg it homeward with 8 overs remaining. In better weather I might have stayed to the end, and whilst I was aware that neither team nor indeed poor Churchy were in a position to likewise escape from the cold, I decided that when I could no longer feel my nose the time was probably right to call it a day. Blue nose, black hair and red hat: they were about the only colourful things on an otherwise bleak, grey Edinburgh day.
Now, I love Edinburgh. When the sun is shining, or when it’s snowing, there is nowhere more beautiful or picturesque. However, on a horrible overcast day (something we do get more than our fair share of) it frankly makes you want to curl up under a duvet and hide. I certainly wish I’d brought a duvet with me! I got there in plenty of time, chose a likely spot near the boundary boards, then settled in for the start of the game. I have to say that Chris Adams gets bonus points for donning shorts in what was definitely not a day for the faint hearted. I did consider getting a pic or two, but then thought it possibly wasn’t terribly sporting or indeed ladylike to be taking sneaky pics of the Surrey manager’s legs. Not that I do that kind of thing usually, you understand.
Honest.
Anyhow, neither Ramps nor KP were playing. The former didn’t surprise me but I have to say the latter did somewhat...I’m not sure why but I had kind of expected him to be there. It didn’t bother me especially: it was specifically de Bruyn and Spriegel I had come to see in the absence of the maestro. I was richly rewarded with the opportunity to take lots of photos...worryingly it appears I took 414 with my recently revived camera (the one that KP didn’t kill last year). I wasn’t aware I’d taken even half that amount! Spriegel of course takes top honours with his gallant 80+, and subsequently his long stay at the crease meant that most of my 414 photos appear to be of him. I would like to take this opportunity to assure Matthew that I am not a crazed stalker: I’m merely an amateur photographer who sometimes forgets to put the lens cap back on!
I was pretty sure at one point I spotted Churchy on the roof. He must have been mighty nithered by the cold, even if he had the best view in the city! I can’t remember much about the game itself. This doesn’t mean it was boring: it means that the cold had permeated my brain to the extent that I was debating leaving the Grange 5 overs into the Scotland innings. I was receiving texts from my trusty band of fellow Rampants: something along the lines of:
ME: I spy RHB!
ANSWER: Is he looking good?
ME: I dunno...he didn’t stick around long enough for me to find out!
And so on and so forth.
The other nagging worry which stopped me from relaxing and enjoying myself as much as I would have liked was the fact my PC monitor had chosen that morning to blow up. Being disconnected from the internet these days is a bit like going cold turkey. It did not make for a relaxed Miah! No Facebook! No Twitter! I’d have to go back to drawing, embroidering, reading books and being intellectual like wot I used to be before I got a computer! The horror! Well, it made my mind up: I am definitely getting a smart phone so I can listen to the cricket at work.
Much as I enjoyed freezing my bahookie off whilst watching Surrey thrashing my home team, a feat which is a bit like watching Godzilla take on Mole from ‘Wind in the Willows’, the day was somewhat spoiled by the fact I was surrounded by people who didn’t seem to have a clue what was going on (or at least liked to give the impression they did). First of all, a man who decided to come in and sleep with his paper on his knee. How can you sleep with gale-force winds blowing all the empty seats around you? And when he went it was to be replaced by a young lady and gentleman, the former who had decided that Ramps no longer played at all for Surrey because “he was too old”.
I bit my tongue.
The worst was the gentleman who scarce stopped talking to his friend for four hours, and who was complaining bitterly about the amount of South African born people in the Surrey squad. He was most disappointed to look at his program and find out that Spriegel was born in England! He also had the temerity to chastise the female announcer who had about three different attempts at saying de Bruyn’s name without being able to decide which the correct pronunciation was. Of course, Mr Know-it-all decided that his version was correct. At which point I was rather rude and cut in to the conversation and told him exactly how to pronounce it! I’m not usually that ill mannered, but I was rather fed up at this point and I figured that as he was sharing his conversation with everyone in a twenty foot radius that it wouldn’t matter if I did likewise!
By the end of the day I learned that his brother-in-law’s wife makes excellent crisps, he doesn’t like cats or small dogs and he doesn’t play as much tennis as he used to. Frankly, I’m surprised his wife didn’t take one of his tennis rackets and smash it over his head! He left to get something to eat at lunchtime whilst Spriegs was still making steady and relentless progress, convinced that Surrey wouldn’t get much over 200.
Is there ever an appropriate moment to blow raspberries from the comfort of your own blog?
Thursday, 21 April 2011
A welcome in the valleys
The story so far:
It’s day two, at the Swalec in beautiful Wales. Surrey are playing Glamorgan.
No, I mean it. They are! Genuinely! Last year I made a comment that it seemed Surrey were always playing Glamorgan for some weird reason. Some problem with an unravelling causal-nexus, no doubt, or some freaky wormhole in time. But I wasn’t the only one who had remarked upon the fact that no matter how many different teams there were in division two, it always seemed to be Glamorgan that was playing against their team!
Alas, Mr Cosgrove (he of the stout heart and even larger waistline) no longer seems to play the longer form of the game for Glamorgan, but don’t let that fool you into thinking there are no batsmen in their ranks. For that matter, I’m sure the idea of facing a Ramps-less Surrey must have allowed the Welsh side to really fancy their chances of stealing a march against Surrey, given the fact that a fair few previous encounters have ended in stalemate.
So, what do a maestro-less side do when the going gets tough? Answer: find someone prepared to stick around long enough to play the same brilliant type of innings!
Today Surrey found three people who did just that. Firstly, big props to Schofield who fell agonisingly short of a well-deserved hundred, run-out on 99! That is just plain cruel. Equally big kudos to de Bruyn who, ever since we started calling him Reg, has flourished beyond all expectations from the wonderful batsman we knew him to be, to a mega-batsman of Rampresque stature. You can’t really get a better compliment than that, so I won’t go on about it save to congratulate him on his 172.
But the star of the day was Tom Maynard, back facing the club from whence he had come to not a few unsporting boos and jeers from the Glamorgan supporters. The best riposte therefore that Maynard could have given came in the form of his fantastic 123...a well crafted innings that saw him delightedly punch the air when the big moment arrived. Whether he really deep down wanted to turn to the crowd, waggle his fingers in his ears and shout “na na na naa naah!” we will never know, as he was too much of a gentleman to respond in such a way.
I would have!
Imagine. A side boasting a middle order of a fully fit Ramps, de Bruyn and Maynard – and with Davies, Brown and Hamilton-Brown on their A game – would be nigh on impossible to face down! At last Surrey seem to have the men to support Mr Ramprakash, and hopefully that will allow him at long last to feel the burden of expectation being lifted from his shoulders. Although no doubt playing his own game whilst the likes of de Bruyn play theirs may result in some very silly and massive scores! If all elements of the puzzle slot into place this is potentially a very serious Surrey side.
And let’s say a word for the bowlers, because having declared on 575-7, the Surrey team manfully stuck to their task, with three wickets for Meaker and one for Batty. Glamorgan closed on 95-4, and will have to be mighty careful tomorrow not to lose any quick wickets or else they could find themselves facing the ignominy of being stuck in again...
The only slightly worrying side note was the absence of Dernbach, having bowled a few overs and then being taken off, either as a precaution or for ongoing physio. Fingers crossed it’s not too bad.
So, from a Surrey point of view this has gone rather nicely at the end of play. Moment of the day however came from the magnificent Mark Church with the following piquant observation:
"Batty's pulled."
Pause.
"Hamilton Brown to one side..."
That would have been fast work indeed from Gareth Batty whilst still on the field of play!
It’s day two, at the Swalec in beautiful Wales. Surrey are playing Glamorgan.
No, I mean it. They are! Genuinely! Last year I made a comment that it seemed Surrey were always playing Glamorgan for some weird reason. Some problem with an unravelling causal-nexus, no doubt, or some freaky wormhole in time. But I wasn’t the only one who had remarked upon the fact that no matter how many different teams there were in division two, it always seemed to be Glamorgan that was playing against their team!
Alas, Mr Cosgrove (he of the stout heart and even larger waistline) no longer seems to play the longer form of the game for Glamorgan, but don’t let that fool you into thinking there are no batsmen in their ranks. For that matter, I’m sure the idea of facing a Ramps-less Surrey must have allowed the Welsh side to really fancy their chances of stealing a march against Surrey, given the fact that a fair few previous encounters have ended in stalemate.
So, what do a maestro-less side do when the going gets tough? Answer: find someone prepared to stick around long enough to play the same brilliant type of innings!
Today Surrey found three people who did just that. Firstly, big props to Schofield who fell agonisingly short of a well-deserved hundred, run-out on 99! That is just plain cruel. Equally big kudos to de Bruyn who, ever since we started calling him Reg, has flourished beyond all expectations from the wonderful batsman we knew him to be, to a mega-batsman of Rampresque stature. You can’t really get a better compliment than that, so I won’t go on about it save to congratulate him on his 172.
But the star of the day was Tom Maynard, back facing the club from whence he had come to not a few unsporting boos and jeers from the Glamorgan supporters. The best riposte therefore that Maynard could have given came in the form of his fantastic 123...a well crafted innings that saw him delightedly punch the air when the big moment arrived. Whether he really deep down wanted to turn to the crowd, waggle his fingers in his ears and shout “na na na naa naah!” we will never know, as he was too much of a gentleman to respond in such a way.
I would have!
Imagine. A side boasting a middle order of a fully fit Ramps, de Bruyn and Maynard – and with Davies, Brown and Hamilton-Brown on their A game – would be nigh on impossible to face down! At last Surrey seem to have the men to support Mr Ramprakash, and hopefully that will allow him at long last to feel the burden of expectation being lifted from his shoulders. Although no doubt playing his own game whilst the likes of de Bruyn play theirs may result in some very silly and massive scores! If all elements of the puzzle slot into place this is potentially a very serious Surrey side.
And let’s say a word for the bowlers, because having declared on 575-7, the Surrey team manfully stuck to their task, with three wickets for Meaker and one for Batty. Glamorgan closed on 95-4, and will have to be mighty careful tomorrow not to lose any quick wickets or else they could find themselves facing the ignominy of being stuck in again...
The only slightly worrying side note was the absence of Dernbach, having bowled a few overs and then being taken off, either as a precaution or for ongoing physio. Fingers crossed it’s not too bad.
So, from a Surrey point of view this has gone rather nicely at the end of play. Moment of the day however came from the magnificent Mark Church with the following piquant observation:
"Batty's pulled."
Pause.
"Hamilton Brown to one side..."
That would have been fast work indeed from Gareth Batty whilst still on the field of play!
Monday, 11 April 2011
So Near and Yet So Far...
Surrey v Northants: Day Four
Well, the match finally stopped pinging and ponging, so to speak. The unexpected poor weather and the umpires finally colluded, decreeing that the game be terminated somewhat abruptly. It was a bit inconsiderate of the heavens to choose the last half hour or so to inflict bad light upon proceedings, but there you have it!
I’m sure that Surrey will be mostly pleased with the way they played over the last few days, but no doubt there will be some small amount of sighing when they look back on what might have been. As Chris Adams said, the overall effort was very good but those crucial moments on day one when the batsmen didn’t quite kick on from the excellent starts they got made the overall difference. Another 150 runs and Northants would have been stuffed from the word go. Instead Surrey let them get a very tricky lead.
So, having played one game and with a draw to their credit Surrey sit mid table, with Northants ironically 1 point head of them. Still, to use another overused phrase, let’s take the positives from it. This did look like a genuinely hungry Surrey team. There’s an energy there that I’ve not seen in a good while and a belief that they can do well. Long term, I think this is going to pay off for them. The batsmen at least look as if they have the ability to play a decent innings, as de Bruyn showed with his 90 odd runs before the lunchtime declaration. And the bowlers all performed very nicely, with some of them toiling away without the results they richly deserved for their effort.
Best moment for me: Meaker upending Sales’ stumps for the third occasion in as many encounters. Poor fella! I hope it’s a while before they next meet, because if Meaker does the same thing subsequently then Sales is going to end up with the nickname ‘Bugs’...
It did feel a bit of an anti-climax, with Surrey having claimed five scalps and Northants all-but deciding to throw in the towel as regards the run-chase, with not enough overs left in the day to make the effort worthwhile. Especially after the herculean efforts from both teams to gain the upper hand! But as the game came to an abrupt and somewhat subdued end, and even despite Churchy and Johnny Barran’s best efforts right to the very last ball, most of the Rampants had already turned over to ITV4 where Mr Ramps and Alec Stewart were punditing on the IPL.
Sorry Churchy...
Well, the match finally stopped pinging and ponging, so to speak. The unexpected poor weather and the umpires finally colluded, decreeing that the game be terminated somewhat abruptly. It was a bit inconsiderate of the heavens to choose the last half hour or so to inflict bad light upon proceedings, but there you have it!
I’m sure that Surrey will be mostly pleased with the way they played over the last few days, but no doubt there will be some small amount of sighing when they look back on what might have been. As Chris Adams said, the overall effort was very good but those crucial moments on day one when the batsmen didn’t quite kick on from the excellent starts they got made the overall difference. Another 150 runs and Northants would have been stuffed from the word go. Instead Surrey let them get a very tricky lead.
So, having played one game and with a draw to their credit Surrey sit mid table, with Northants ironically 1 point head of them. Still, to use another overused phrase, let’s take the positives from it. This did look like a genuinely hungry Surrey team. There’s an energy there that I’ve not seen in a good while and a belief that they can do well. Long term, I think this is going to pay off for them. The batsmen at least look as if they have the ability to play a decent innings, as de Bruyn showed with his 90 odd runs before the lunchtime declaration. And the bowlers all performed very nicely, with some of them toiling away without the results they richly deserved for their effort.
Best moment for me: Meaker upending Sales’ stumps for the third occasion in as many encounters. Poor fella! I hope it’s a while before they next meet, because if Meaker does the same thing subsequently then Sales is going to end up with the nickname ‘Bugs’...
It did feel a bit of an anti-climax, with Surrey having claimed five scalps and Northants all-but deciding to throw in the towel as regards the run-chase, with not enough overs left in the day to make the effort worthwhile. Especially after the herculean efforts from both teams to gain the upper hand! But as the game came to an abrupt and somewhat subdued end, and even despite Churchy and Johnny Barran’s best efforts right to the very last ball, most of the Rampants had already turned over to ITV4 where Mr Ramps and Alec Stewart were punditing on the IPL.
Sorry Churchy...
Friday, 8 April 2011
C'mon the Reg!
So, here we are at the start of a new County Championship, brought vividly to life via the magnificent BBC London ball-by-ball internet coverage. Its commentators - the splendid Mark Church and the suave J Barran esquire – as ever do their level best to make sure we don’t miss a single stroke or ball bowled in anger. And, when like today, the action is bathed in unseasonal warm weather you can simply close your eyes and imagine you’re at the Oval, accompanied by the sound of leather hitting willow...
Unfortunately I was stuck at work running the annual Grand National office sweepstake this morning so I missed the opening salvos. When I got home Michael Brown had long since departed (for a second ball duck, poor fellow) and lovely Gary Wilson – who I still maintain should have the word ‘chirpy’ forever prefixing his name had followed suit for 29.
Dad hailed me with a “your team’s down two players” and my natural reaction was to stare back with dramatically widened eyes, and then I remembered Ramps was still sidelined and felt slightly better. For a few moments at least.
I do feel sorry for Michael Brown. All those months of hard work, trying to get fit after a year on the sidelines through injury, and then out for zero. But there will no doubt be better times ahead. The same goes for all those who felt the sting of the hurty-thirties, with de Bruyn, Maynard and Davies (or Reg, Winegum and Dangerous, as they are known to the Rampants) all suffering early middle-order crisis with scores of 35, 31 & 32 respectively). Actually, de Bruyn picked up his moniker today when our own wonderful Marilyn tried to offer some encouragement with a resounding if accidental typo of “come on the Reg” instead of the more customary battle cry of “come on the ‘rey!” Well, with de Bruyn in and going well at the time it seemed likely that was who she was referring to!
Reg did show us what he was capable of, however, if we had forgotten what a tricky player he can be. Maynard too. He was ticking along nicely with the skipper when he got out. And probably the least said about the Davies run out the better. I still maintain that immediately after lunch a man’s mind – if not his stomach – is on his digestive tract. Two balls after resuming and Davies was walking back to the pavilion. A bit of a shame because, like the others, he had a decent start that he could have capitalised on. And it’s never nice being run out, regardless of whether it’s your fault or someone else’s. Not to mention downright embarrassing...
RHB, a man on a mission to lead by example, provided one of the genuine moments of pride for Surrey with a well-paced, finely executed 74. He has the talent but last year was never really going to be a vintage one. Taking on the captaincy at such a tender age was always going to be a struggle of biblical proportions first season. This year it appears he knows he has to be one of the Surrey mainstays in the absence of Ramps, which I think basically means ‘don’t give your wicket away with a rush of blood to the head’. There were very few signs of impetuosity, certainly: it seemed like an innings that was level headed and controlled. Well, up to the point when he was given out lbw...
And if your top order doesn’t quite do what it should, what then? Well, in the recent past, Surrey did have a tendency to roll over and die when six or seven down, but last year there were signs on a good few occasions that the tail was more than capable of putting up a fight. And lo – today in stepped the mighty St Gareth of Batty to stop the seemingly inexorable slither to a total some way short of 300, with a resounding 64 of his own. Mr Batty really is beginning to fill that priceless roll of all-rounder. Fingers crossed he can be as successful with the ball should the pitch begin to turn on day two.
So, with Surrey all out for 322 claiming their three bonus batting points, and Northants also on three bowling points, it really is all to play for tomorrow: a day which I have to devote to the Grand National, so my multitasking skills will really be put to the test. Between listening to the cricket and watching the racing from Aintree I shall be so distracted that were Clare Balding to pull on some pads and have a bat, nothing would surprise me!
Unfortunately I was stuck at work running the annual Grand National office sweepstake this morning so I missed the opening salvos. When I got home Michael Brown had long since departed (for a second ball duck, poor fellow) and lovely Gary Wilson – who I still maintain should have the word ‘chirpy’ forever prefixing his name had followed suit for 29.
Dad hailed me with a “your team’s down two players” and my natural reaction was to stare back with dramatically widened eyes, and then I remembered Ramps was still sidelined and felt slightly better. For a few moments at least.
I do feel sorry for Michael Brown. All those months of hard work, trying to get fit after a year on the sidelines through injury, and then out for zero. But there will no doubt be better times ahead. The same goes for all those who felt the sting of the hurty-thirties, with de Bruyn, Maynard and Davies (or Reg, Winegum and Dangerous, as they are known to the Rampants) all suffering early middle-order crisis with scores of 35, 31 & 32 respectively). Actually, de Bruyn picked up his moniker today when our own wonderful Marilyn tried to offer some encouragement with a resounding if accidental typo of “come on the Reg” instead of the more customary battle cry of “come on the ‘rey!” Well, with de Bruyn in and going well at the time it seemed likely that was who she was referring to!
Reg did show us what he was capable of, however, if we had forgotten what a tricky player he can be. Maynard too. He was ticking along nicely with the skipper when he got out. And probably the least said about the Davies run out the better. I still maintain that immediately after lunch a man’s mind – if not his stomach – is on his digestive tract. Two balls after resuming and Davies was walking back to the pavilion. A bit of a shame because, like the others, he had a decent start that he could have capitalised on. And it’s never nice being run out, regardless of whether it’s your fault or someone else’s. Not to mention downright embarrassing...
RHB, a man on a mission to lead by example, provided one of the genuine moments of pride for Surrey with a well-paced, finely executed 74. He has the talent but last year was never really going to be a vintage one. Taking on the captaincy at such a tender age was always going to be a struggle of biblical proportions first season. This year it appears he knows he has to be one of the Surrey mainstays in the absence of Ramps, which I think basically means ‘don’t give your wicket away with a rush of blood to the head’. There were very few signs of impetuosity, certainly: it seemed like an innings that was level headed and controlled. Well, up to the point when he was given out lbw...
And if your top order doesn’t quite do what it should, what then? Well, in the recent past, Surrey did have a tendency to roll over and die when six or seven down, but last year there were signs on a good few occasions that the tail was more than capable of putting up a fight. And lo – today in stepped the mighty St Gareth of Batty to stop the seemingly inexorable slither to a total some way short of 300, with a resounding 64 of his own. Mr Batty really is beginning to fill that priceless roll of all-rounder. Fingers crossed he can be as successful with the ball should the pitch begin to turn on day two.
So, with Surrey all out for 322 claiming their three bonus batting points, and Northants also on three bowling points, it really is all to play for tomorrow: a day which I have to devote to the Grand National, so my multitasking skills will really be put to the test. Between listening to the cricket and watching the racing from Aintree I shall be so distracted that were Clare Balding to pull on some pads and have a bat, nothing would surprise me!
Tuesday, 8 March 2011
Memory Lane
I couldn't help but notice that Mark Church was asking for our memories of the first Surrey game we attended, and that got me casting my mind back to 2007 when the first RAGM (Rampant Annual General Meeting) took place. It was the first time I was able to put faces to a lot of the names that I had come to know during the hinderend of 2006. It was a double challenge for me, in that my agoraphobic tendancies usually stopped me from going anywhere as far as London, but it was something I felt strongly that I had to attempt. And so, with a lot of help from friends, it came to pass that on the last day of the last championship match that year, I attended my first ever game of cricket! It started a rather irritating trend of my travelling down on the train to London on the day that Mr Ramprakash scored a ton! To this day I still haven't seen a Ramps century!
Anyhow, I've dug out my notes from that day and editted them down, just so that I can record them here for posterity.
I arrived at the Oval at about 09.30, mostly because everyone else was meeting up the station and I hadn't a clue what was being arranged. Better to get there early and wait. It was not such a bad idea: I got there in time to see the traditional pre-match football kick-about between the Surrey boys. Yep, there was Ramps and Butch…Newman falling over. Batty running to retrieve the ball from the other side of the ground. Alan Butcher striding imperiously amidst his players. A look up at the sky revealed a few clouds but there was a vague warmth to the day, so it looked as if we might get away without the predicted rain causing too many problems.
I took a picture of the famous gasometer - just to prove that I was there. I still couldn't believe it.
A brief mention then of the situation from a cricket point of view. It was day four of four, and Surrey had spent the last three days tonking Lancashire all over the pitch, which was good if like me you were a Surrey supporter. If you weren't and you wanted Lancs to win the title (which they could possibly have done if they'd manage to pull off a miracle bigger than Craig Revel Horwood declaring Quentin Wilson the world's greatest dancer) then you'd have been casting an eye towards the Sussex match to see what was happening there. Sussex had looked like they were going to win their game, which would have put them above Durham. Then the world's attention would the assuredly turn to the Oval, because if Lancs won the game they would have been victorious outright county champions for the first time in 76 years. If Surrey beat Lancs then Sussex would be the champs.
Whilst I agreed that it would be nice for Lancs to win after such a long gap it seemed to me that Sussex had probably played better and won more games than Lancs overall, so the result should in fairness have gone to the best team that year. Besides, I had come to see Surrey win a game, and with that in mind resolutely decided to applaud every single catch from the home team, and stifle the impulse to laugh childishly every time a Lancs batsman was dismissed. If Lancs were good enough to chase down the massive target set largely by Ramps then they deserved to win, and so be it.
The Rampant hordes descended upon the Oval shortly after, to wreak their own special brand of havoc, armed with munchies and copious amounts of gin! We chose our spot, and with the game already underway seated ourselves spread out over two rows not far from the front of one of the stands. Moments after, Jean decided to wear her gin and tonic rather than drink it, captured for posterity by the camera of yours truly! Fiona promptly started passing around the gin, asking politely if anyone else would care to indulge themselves. Now, I'm as near to tea-total as you can get: the first and last time I had gin was about ten years ago. On that occasion I couldn't walk down the path to the car without staggering (as well for everyone that I don’t drive)! Still, I thought, what the heck and took Fi up on her offer, and proceeded to knock back a huge mouthful of neat gin much to the amusement of all who witnessed it!
So there we were, chattering and laughing, listening to Churchy and applauding the action where appropriate. The grounds weren't exactly packed. I have to admit that I thought there would be more people there for the dénouement at the Oval given how much was at stake. There weren't too many Surrey fans as far as I could tell, but a reasonable smattering of Lancs fans started to filter in as the day went on. They seemed to bring the good weather with them, as they began to shed clothes quicker than a stripogram after a night out on the town. Especially noticeable was the loud guy in the stand who kept standing up shouting "Oh, Lanky Lanky" to the tune of the hokey kokey. It got a bit annoying after the third time or so…and by the fiftieth time there were definite 'herpes vibes' winging their way towards him. I believe I may have threatened to kill him at one point. But as I'm usually such a sweet natured girl I can only attribute this to the gin.
Surrey didn't play badly at all, but Lancs clearly had their tails up and slowly, inexorably, the total began to creep downwards. Wickets would fall but so irregularly that the Lancs fans must have began to get their hopes up. As the day went on the Oval began to get a little fuller: with Lancs fans. The faithful and those who had suddenly found a renewed belief that Mark Ramprakash was not the slayer of dreams began to trickle into the grounds until the numbers in the stands began to swell. And Mr. Annoying was still there with his rallying call of "Oh, Lanky Lanky." Hmm…why didn't I send laryngitis vibes instead of herpes?
At some stage that morning we managed to lose Jean. I say lose but in truth she managed to lose us because we hadn't gone anywhere, and as the minutes ticked away we wondered if she'd somehow managed to get stuck in the ladies. Fearing something sinister had befallen Jean we kept darting looks towards the exit she had left from, only to see a rather hesitant man armed with a carrier bag coming down the steps towards us. I thought his indecisive behaviour a trifle odd but then guessed he was just looking for the best spot to sit.
Which it seemed happened to be right next to us!
Pause. "Excuse me, but are you the Rampants?" He asked us, sounding terribly hopeful.
I think we must have looked collectively shifty. I mean, it's not the sort of thing somebody tends to ask. Immediately I thought Surrey CC had decided to evict us for taking over the airwaves of BBC London with our poems and anagrams. One of us found our voice and squeaked out a cautious “yes”.
"That's a relief," said the man, "I'm Trev. Trevor Jones." He added by way of clarification.
Suddenly the collective shiftiness altered to delight and Trev was welcomed amidst the ranks, seating himself on the edge of the row next to Nic. Now, this man knows just about everything there is to know about cricket, and Surrey in particular. An author, former librarian and commentator for Surrey, Trev's inside knowledge about what had been going on in the team, added to his own witty opinions which were readily given, made interesting hearing. I don't think I've ever been so star-struck by a librarian before!
Trev seems a seriously nice man. He chatted and watched the game with us for some time, and eventually Jean finally reappeared down the steps clearly wondering who the strange man was sitting at the end of the row. Her expression on being told that it was THE Trevor Jones was priceless, and I think she was just about ready to adopt him!
Whilst Jean had been fraternising with someone whilst trying to snag some drink, Trev was kindly signing copies of his books for us. Bless the man: he had a never-ending supply! Trev mentioned that there were several OAP Lancs fans up on the balcony that looked like they had been around the last time their team had managed to win the championship, and probably - should Surrey win the game - might not last to see the dream come alive again. OK - I nearly wavered in my devotion to Surrey at that point, I admit it, but only because I didn't want to see scores of octogenarians throwing themselves off the balcony in some strange Lancastrian lemming-style suicide pact! But no…I hardened my heart to such thoughts and contented myself with sending the herpes vibes again to the noisy barsteward in the Peter May stand.
Trev disappeared shortly before lunch, I think, if I remember correctly - and promised to come back later on to watch some of the game with us. At this point texts were flying about the place between Rampants who were unable to attend the match, saying that we hadn't been spotted yet in Sky's coverage - and where were we sitting? Later on we got one from Ceci saying that she had seen us, and who was that bloke we were with, which made us laugh.
True to his word Trev returned later on in the afternoon with the game looking to swing towards Lancashire's way. Laxman was going so well that you couldn't help but feel as long as he was there the game was slipping out of Surrey's grasp. I began to get a little narked at the idea. Part of me thought Lancs deserved to win for doing so well on the last day, but to be honest when a side so dominates for three days of play, to see Surrey's (and in particular Ramps) efforts come to nothing would have been gutting for me. That was why when Laxman went having scored his 100, caught by a certain Mr. Ramprakash no less, I allowed myself a slightly childish air punch! There was a strangulated squeal of indignation a row back from Fiona (who despite her admiration for Ramps as a cricketer also doubles as a Lancashire supporter), exclaiming loudly "Damn you Ramprakash! That's it: I'm an ex-Rampant!" Thankfully, Mr R couldn't hear the threat of resignation as he was fielding just about as far away from us as he could possibly get!
It was slightly before this point four Lancs fans appeared from nowhere and, with empty seats to choose from all over the Oval, decided to sit right in front of myself and Jean! One of their number proceeded to spend the next forty or so minutes explaining the rules of cricket to his little girls. "You see, that was one run there when the batsmen ran between the wickets…" God, it could have been me half a year ago, feeling as thick as a brick.
Laxman's catch was one of two for Ramps as it turned out. Another of our other Surrey favourites Jon Batty was putting in his usual hard work and taking wickets regularly. The only question was, had they come quickly enough? The dismissal of Laxman however seemed to be the turning point in the game and some of the fire, although not the determination, had disappeared from the northern side. As they began to reach the tail of the team a feeling of slow dread crept over me. Dominic Cork was in and making progress in steady, menacing fashion.
I should at this point make some mention of the delightful 'Number 29' who entertained us for so much of the latter part of the game. This was the ever-grinning Murtaza Hussain, recruited by Surrey as a stand-in for Harbhajan Singh (who was off beating the world in the Indian 20/20 squad). Hussain was fielding in front of us quite a lot towards the end, armed with a grin like Alice's Cheshire cat! I think he - and probably the entire Surrey team - had a very good idea who we were at this point. Each time he went near the grin was switched on like a light bulb! He waved, he posed - he even wiped pretend sweat from his brow in theatrical fashion when he claimed the penultimate wicket! In the meantime Corky was still hanging around like an irritating fungal infection...
Trev disappeared at this point, leaving us to watch the game tick away. The Lancs supporters were counting the required runs down on their fingers. I was quite calm because as soon as the penultimate man had gone I felt confident the remaining batsman would likewise fall before the runs evaporated. I'm not basically a horrible person who takes delight in the misfortunes of others but - just ever so briefly - when the last wicket (Cork) fell with roughly 26 runs left to chase, rather than thinking of the poor old codgers up on the roof I took a little satisfaction in the reaction of Mr Lanky-Lanky in the stand who, as the song goes, wasn't singing anymore!
All that remained at that point was to loiter in the car park in the vain hope of spotting Ramps and his fellows. What we got instead was the rather sad sight of the heartbroken Lancs fans trailing out of the Oval. One or two - clearly the worse for drink and heartily disgruntled to boot - hung around in the car park area with the aim of harassing the umpires: not exactly the best way of rounding off the county season. Back on the field Ramps was being named man of the match, not surprisingly, and giving the obligatory interview with Sky, so it became quite clear that our chances of nabbing a quick conversation with the man himself were slight indeed. Every so often a dejected and miserable looking Lancs player would make his heavy-hearted way past us out towards the coach. Yeah, okay…I was sorry for them at this stage.
The light was beginning to fade as we posed for a group picture, and by the time we were spotted by the lovely Nicole Cutler (supporting Jon Batty presumably) and dance partner Matthew it was almost totally dark. They posed for pictures, chatted…I even managed to swallow my shyness and say a few words to Nicole! We managed to pounce on poor Churchy as he slunk by with his mobile phone, or rather Nicole did. He kindly stopped for a moment to talk as Nicole and Matt said goodbye, asking whom Nicole had been drawn as a partner in Strictly. "John Barnes," replied one of the Rampants.
"She'll not win then." Churchy deadpanned. "His knee will have fallen off after the first week…"
Churchy, like so many people I know, hates having his photo taken. This was a pity as we intended to snap away regardless, so the poor man caught sight of a half-dressed James Benning hiding his white legging-clad thighs behind the shirt he'd just got from his car, and pulled him into the photo! Benning to his credit didn't seem remotely perturbed. Neither did Jade Dernbach earlier when he'd stopped by, but considering JD had been nominated by Jon Batty as the vainest member of the Surrey team this hardly seems surprising! Churchy needlessly apologised for not being able to come down and speak to us, but it would have been an interesting trick if he could have done it considering he was broadcasting at the time!
We let Churchy go, and then shortly afterwards were asked to move on by a female security person, which was fair enough as we had been lurking for some time in the dark. Even afterwards we loitered out on the street for a while to share out the stash of Trev's books amongst us and deciding where everyone was going to head off to. It was hugs all round and many goodbyes: the first of many, as it transpired. The Rampants have met up several times since and hopefully will for years to come.
But for a first ever cricket match; the 2007 September Surrey v Lancs CC game will take a heck of a lot of beating!
Friday, 17 September 2010
End of season blues
So, there we have it. Another county championship ends; heralding the true start of autumn. Now all I have to look forward to are increasingly dark days, overuse of my SAD lamp and the inexorable slithering towards the festive period. There’s always the horse racing, I suppose, and the prospect of watching Ann Widdecombe being manhandled around the Strictly Come Dancing studio floor by an exasperated Anton Du Bec! Whose body will give out first, I wonder?
And please, if they get to Samba week, no pink tail-feathers on AW’s costume. I don’t think my mind could take it...
It was lovely to see Surrey sign off with a win, and in such dramatic fashion! They do seem adept at these random last-gasp rescues! That amazingly tense finish to the 2007 championship against Lancashire will live with me forever. I was so pleased to witness it, even although there was a part of me that felt very sad for Lancs. Then that amazing game last year against Middlesex on a very cold day in May 2009, where they turned almost certain defeat into an incredible draw at the last moment. Run-outs, stumpings, you name it: Surrey pulled it out the bag! If I had a favourite piece of commentary by Mark Church it would most likely be this one.
There have been some tight games since but the defeat of Gloucestershire by 10 runs, thanks at the end to an inspired Jade Dernbach who took two wickets in two balls, ranks alongside them. Well played Surrey! I have to say I thought the declaration a tad generous, but it proves what most people no doubt think: when it comes to cricket I know absolutely nothing!
There have been highs and lows throughout the season, most of which I have documented. The highs were so huge they had snow covering them: the glorious 40 over world record against Glamorgan, Ramps’ imperious 1st innings double century & 2nd innings century (although I still think they should have stuck the team in again), Andre Nel’s bravery doing his best on one leg...it takes a skilled man to hop round the wicket and bowl! There have been many others too, such as Jason Roy becoming the first Surrey man in history to score 100 in a T20 game.
And there have been massive lows, too; many of which were just too depressing to name! It was sad to see Michael Brown unable to bat at all this year due to injury/rehabilitation/surgery. His top order stability was much missed this season, and it must have been desperately frustrating for the poor man to sit on the sidelines and watch as his team struggled at times. It was also sad to see Usman Afzaal being released by the club, although the writing appeared to be on the wall for a good few months.
The undoubted successes of the year were Steven Davies and in particular Chris Tremlett. Considering Tremlett had a reputation for disintegrating if you so much as sneezed a mile downwind in his direction, the boy done good! In fact I’d be surprised if he didn’t get Surrey player of the year to be honest, sad as it is for Ramps not to win it for the umpteenth time.
Talking of the great man, he managed to finish top batsmen for Surrey by some distance. He also managed to be top run scorer in both divisions (a fact that seems to have gone remarkably unreported), although Hildreth topped the averages this year. Whilst not a vintage Ramprakash season by his own standards, nigh on 1600 runs and five centuries including two doubles isn’t to be sneezed at for a spritely 41 year old.
The highlight of my London trip was watching him bat. Sure, it would have been nice to witness him get a half century but just to be able to see the way he went about composing an innings, taking his time to start with and getting himself in before slowly going through the gears, was a real treat for me. I’d heard it oft described, and finally I managed to see it for myself. Fingers crossed he’s back next year for one last hurrah! I guess he doesn’t really owe Surrey any favours but I do hope he sees his contract out next year. I have the feeling the club still desperately needs his experience.
And if he chooses not to, well, how to you go about replacing the irreplaceable? I think Chris Adams already knows the answer to that one. Quite simply: you can’t.
So, Surrey end the season with a touch of deja vu. They end third from bottom, like last year, although with three more games won than last time. Progress of sorts, most certainly. If they had taken the chances that had come their way, or converted those narrow defeats into victories, they may have challenged for promotion at the end. But the team as a whole is still green, still learning their trade, with much still to do before they can climb the Division 2 ladder. However, from a Surrey point of view at least the club can take one positive from the season...
They finished above Middlesex again.
And please, if they get to Samba week, no pink tail-feathers on AW’s costume. I don’t think my mind could take it...
It was lovely to see Surrey sign off with a win, and in such dramatic fashion! They do seem adept at these random last-gasp rescues! That amazingly tense finish to the 2007 championship against Lancashire will live with me forever. I was so pleased to witness it, even although there was a part of me that felt very sad for Lancs. Then that amazing game last year against Middlesex on a very cold day in May 2009, where they turned almost certain defeat into an incredible draw at the last moment. Run-outs, stumpings, you name it: Surrey pulled it out the bag! If I had a favourite piece of commentary by Mark Church it would most likely be this one.
There have been some tight games since but the defeat of Gloucestershire by 10 runs, thanks at the end to an inspired Jade Dernbach who took two wickets in two balls, ranks alongside them. Well played Surrey! I have to say I thought the declaration a tad generous, but it proves what most people no doubt think: when it comes to cricket I know absolutely nothing!
There have been highs and lows throughout the season, most of which I have documented. The highs were so huge they had snow covering them: the glorious 40 over world record against Glamorgan, Ramps’ imperious 1st innings double century & 2nd innings century (although I still think they should have stuck the team in again), Andre Nel’s bravery doing his best on one leg...it takes a skilled man to hop round the wicket and bowl! There have been many others too, such as Jason Roy becoming the first Surrey man in history to score 100 in a T20 game.
And there have been massive lows, too; many of which were just too depressing to name! It was sad to see Michael Brown unable to bat at all this year due to injury/rehabilitation/surgery. His top order stability was much missed this season, and it must have been desperately frustrating for the poor man to sit on the sidelines and watch as his team struggled at times. It was also sad to see Usman Afzaal being released by the club, although the writing appeared to be on the wall for a good few months.
The undoubted successes of the year were Steven Davies and in particular Chris Tremlett. Considering Tremlett had a reputation for disintegrating if you so much as sneezed a mile downwind in his direction, the boy done good! In fact I’d be surprised if he didn’t get Surrey player of the year to be honest, sad as it is for Ramps not to win it for the umpteenth time.
Talking of the great man, he managed to finish top batsmen for Surrey by some distance. He also managed to be top run scorer in both divisions (a fact that seems to have gone remarkably unreported), although Hildreth topped the averages this year. Whilst not a vintage Ramprakash season by his own standards, nigh on 1600 runs and five centuries including two doubles isn’t to be sneezed at for a spritely 41 year old.
The highlight of my London trip was watching him bat. Sure, it would have been nice to witness him get a half century but just to be able to see the way he went about composing an innings, taking his time to start with and getting himself in before slowly going through the gears, was a real treat for me. I’d heard it oft described, and finally I managed to see it for myself. Fingers crossed he’s back next year for one last hurrah! I guess he doesn’t really owe Surrey any favours but I do hope he sees his contract out next year. I have the feeling the club still desperately needs his experience.
And if he chooses not to, well, how to you go about replacing the irreplaceable? I think Chris Adams already knows the answer to that one. Quite simply: you can’t.
So, Surrey end the season with a touch of deja vu. They end third from bottom, like last year, although with three more games won than last time. Progress of sorts, most certainly. If they had taken the chances that had come their way, or converted those narrow defeats into victories, they may have challenged for promotion at the end. But the team as a whole is still green, still learning their trade, with much still to do before they can climb the Division 2 ladder. However, from a Surrey point of view at least the club can take one positive from the season...
They finished above Middlesex again.
Sunday, 5 September 2010
London bound
Okay. So maybe he is the messiah...
On a serious note, well done to KP for his century yesterday. And also well done to Jason Roy for his contribution. Having KP to bat with appears to have helped him build his innings yesterday. That said, my favourite moment was the first team debut of Ansari, who took a wicket with his first ever ball! He must have been well chuffed! Sad to see James Kirtley for the Sharks hanging up his boots, especially with the likes of Robin Martin-Jenkins retiring earlier in the year. The pair of them will be missed in county cricket.
And Churchy must be psychic. He said the game had the makings of a draw, and a draw with Sussex it was!
I won’t be posting on the Glamorgan game; at least not as it happens. I have taken a notebook with me just in case I want to jot anything down that happens, and write it up when I return home the following Monday. Can’t say I’m looking forward to tomorrow as travelling leaves me a nervous wreck for reasons previously explained, but I have Tricia to see me safe this time and I can’t thank her enough as she has gone out of her way to help.
So, off to London tomorrow. I’m looking forward to seeing our three favourite Marks: Ramprakash, Cosgrove and Church! Because of the tube strike on Tuesday, and the forecast of heavy rain that day, it may be that those of us who are coming to London decide to skip day one and search for a nice cake for Churchy and Johnny Barran instead. I think we may be playing this by ear. This has been a really peculiar year for many of the Rampants and sadly there have been a lot of other concerns in our lives that has to an extent put paid to following the cricket, or even attending. I also think my organisation probably screwed things up a tad. Note to everyone: don’t let me arrange anything! I can barely get out of bed in the morning some days let alone anything more complicated!
Anyway, all packed (I think). The cat is very suspicious and he knows the suitcase means I’m going away. He tends to miss me on the rare occasions I leave the house and will probably shed his hair through stress (probably all over my bed)...
Until the next time, then!
On a serious note, well done to KP for his century yesterday. And also well done to Jason Roy for his contribution. Having KP to bat with appears to have helped him build his innings yesterday. That said, my favourite moment was the first team debut of Ansari, who took a wicket with his first ever ball! He must have been well chuffed! Sad to see James Kirtley for the Sharks hanging up his boots, especially with the likes of Robin Martin-Jenkins retiring earlier in the year. The pair of them will be missed in county cricket.
And Churchy must be psychic. He said the game had the makings of a draw, and a draw with Sussex it was!
I won’t be posting on the Glamorgan game; at least not as it happens. I have taken a notebook with me just in case I want to jot anything down that happens, and write it up when I return home the following Monday. Can’t say I’m looking forward to tomorrow as travelling leaves me a nervous wreck for reasons previously explained, but I have Tricia to see me safe this time and I can’t thank her enough as she has gone out of her way to help.
So, off to London tomorrow. I’m looking forward to seeing our three favourite Marks: Ramprakash, Cosgrove and Church! Because of the tube strike on Tuesday, and the forecast of heavy rain that day, it may be that those of us who are coming to London decide to skip day one and search for a nice cake for Churchy and Johnny Barran instead. I think we may be playing this by ear. This has been a really peculiar year for many of the Rampants and sadly there have been a lot of other concerns in our lives that has to an extent put paid to following the cricket, or even attending. I also think my organisation probably screwed things up a tad. Note to everyone: don’t let me arrange anything! I can barely get out of bed in the morning some days let alone anything more complicated!
Anyway, all packed (I think). The cat is very suspicious and he knows the suitcase means I’m going away. He tends to miss me on the rare occasions I leave the house and will probably shed his hair through stress (probably all over my bed)...
Until the next time, then!
Sunday, 29 August 2010
A view of the cockrell's bottom
It was always going to be a tough order to overcome a confident Somerset side, and so it proved to be in today’s CB40 game. The scorecard doesn’t tell the full story, but it does give an indication of the way the game twisted and turned.
Trescothick was potentially a huge threat but one that was surprisingly annulled with only 8 runs to his name, but in his place there came equally explosive and worthy batsmen: Kieswetter (who started like a train but finished like a speeding snail) hit 79 and even more impressively Buttler down the order made a match-winning 87. Du Bruyn has often been a nemesis for Surrey, and he chipped in with 54, contributing to a rather imposing 290 for six!
I looked at the score set by Somerset and mentioned to some of the listening Rampants that I was slightly concerned they were perhaps a batsman light and that:
“With it reduced to 36 overs they really could have done with the extra batting power, because if RHB or Davies go cheaply or Roy has a bad day, there's only Ramps left!”
Who’s a clever girl, then?
Unfortunately, the skipper made 0 today. Davies made 11 and Roy a 0, just to make the score board slightly symmetrical. And Ramps made 73.
That’s not to say that Kennington’s batting maestro was the only one who put in a good performance as Spriegel and Walters both got within touching distance of a half century, but again there was little backing up done by the lower order batters except from a cheeky and explosive 31 from Dernbach at the tail. It seems to me that if the top two fail to lay a reasonable foundation for the middle order Surrey really struggle. There’s an awful lot of pressure on Mark Ramprakash’s shoulders to bat the entire innings, and fair play to him: he gives it a pretty good go most days! But it’s also not fair on him.
I’m not going to say the selection was wrong: I don’t believe it’s my place to do so. However, I think I would have preferred Wilson in the team just to shore up the batting on what is a ground that usually sees runs galore.
Of course, Somerset had the game won pretty much from the moment that sizeable tally was posted. Poor Tremlett had a bit of a shocker with the ball today, leaking over 70 runs. He’s been so stupendous up until now: I really hope this doesn’t knock his new found confidence because he’s been a cracking acquisition for Surrey this season.
Some words of praise here for poor, frozen Mark Church; shivering away in the hut whilst he provided his usual splendid commentary. It was a gallant attempt to give us a flavour of a frustratingly stop-start game affected by the rain, punctuated by the occasional sniffle and creaking of vocal chords. If icicles could speak they would sound like Churchy did this evening. Somebody get him a well deserved shot of brandy! That was a radio performance beyond the call of duty: I was feeling cold just listening!
Trescothick was potentially a huge threat but one that was surprisingly annulled with only 8 runs to his name, but in his place there came equally explosive and worthy batsmen: Kieswetter (who started like a train but finished like a speeding snail) hit 79 and even more impressively Buttler down the order made a match-winning 87. Du Bruyn has often been a nemesis for Surrey, and he chipped in with 54, contributing to a rather imposing 290 for six!
I looked at the score set by Somerset and mentioned to some of the listening Rampants that I was slightly concerned they were perhaps a batsman light and that:
“With it reduced to 36 overs they really could have done with the extra batting power, because if RHB or Davies go cheaply or Roy has a bad day, there's only Ramps left!”
Who’s a clever girl, then?
Unfortunately, the skipper made 0 today. Davies made 11 and Roy a 0, just to make the score board slightly symmetrical. And Ramps made 73.
That’s not to say that Kennington’s batting maestro was the only one who put in a good performance as Spriegel and Walters both got within touching distance of a half century, but again there was little backing up done by the lower order batters except from a cheeky and explosive 31 from Dernbach at the tail. It seems to me that if the top two fail to lay a reasonable foundation for the middle order Surrey really struggle. There’s an awful lot of pressure on Mark Ramprakash’s shoulders to bat the entire innings, and fair play to him: he gives it a pretty good go most days! But it’s also not fair on him.
I’m not going to say the selection was wrong: I don’t believe it’s my place to do so. However, I think I would have preferred Wilson in the team just to shore up the batting on what is a ground that usually sees runs galore.
Of course, Somerset had the game won pretty much from the moment that sizeable tally was posted. Poor Tremlett had a bit of a shocker with the ball today, leaking over 70 runs. He’s been so stupendous up until now: I really hope this doesn’t knock his new found confidence because he’s been a cracking acquisition for Surrey this season.
Some words of praise here for poor, frozen Mark Church; shivering away in the hut whilst he provided his usual splendid commentary. It was a gallant attempt to give us a flavour of a frustratingly stop-start game affected by the rain, punctuated by the occasional sniffle and creaking of vocal chords. If icicles could speak they would sound like Churchy did this evening. Somebody get him a well deserved shot of brandy! That was a radio performance beyond the call of duty: I was feeling cold just listening!
Sunday, 22 August 2010
Iron, like a Lion in...Wormsley! (Sorry, Mr. Marley)
Today the Lions finally went head to head with the Unicorns! It sounded suitably mystical. I dare say the players emerged from the back of a magical wardrobe wearing antlers and goat skins...
No Churchy, though, although he did a sterling job keeping us up to date via Twitter. I guess it must have made quite a nice day, relaxing and watching the cricket, without having to deal with all the technicals that are part of the job. Wormsley looks a rather pretty little ground from the pictures I’ve seen, but I think the lack of tech capability was the reason there was no commentary. There were a number of disappointed Rampants, who find that Churchy helps to get us through the mundane things in life, such as ironing! Still, I think that’s a good excuse to put the ironing to one side!
It may come as an interesting sidenote to remark that the Lion is the symbol of England, and the Unicorn the symbol of Scotland. This being the case, it came as no surprise to see the Lions beating up the Unicorns again. Albeit in a slightly more genteel manner!
It turned out to be a fairly facile win in the end for Surrey. The powerhouse combo of RHB and Steven Davies got the game off to a flyer, with the skipper posting a frisky 52 and Davies a magnificent 101. It was also great to hear that Walters achieved a very handy 78. Jason Roy managed 8 today and whilst he clearly has a huge future ahead of him, he’s still learning on the job, so to speak. I think we have to forgive him any low scores at this stage in his career. Spriegel made a cameo of 4 towards the end, with Ramps contributing a small but nonetheless welcome 7 not out. With 273-4 posted it was always going to be a steep mountain for the Unicorns to climb.
I have to admit that the only players I knew from the Unicorns team were former Surrey team mates Murtagh and Saker! I think I may vaguely recollect Knappet from some place, but I couldn’t swear to it. And for all that the Unicorns are a weaker side in general, if it acts as a shop window for some of their players then their being in the competition is a worthy endeavour. It was lovely to see that Saker made 40 not out today, but ultimately it was in a losing cause as the Unicorns made 207-8.
The win keeps Surrey in third place. Somerset are still in control of the group despite being beaten by second placed Sussex on D/L. I have to confess to being a bit of a Somerset fan on the quiet. In the same way that Surrey had, for so long, forgotten how to win Somerset are a team bursting with quality and confidence. Any losses are usually swept to one side, and the behemoth trundles onwards. One day, hopefully, Surrey will regain that winning feeling.
On a slightly different tack, it’s amazing to see how cricket seems to crop up in so many different places. Being a bit of a closet Dr Who fan, I heard this rather amusing dialog from one of the audio dramas, where the Doctor discovers the Earth has inexplicably become perfect, with not a single disaster, man made or otherwise, to blight its newfound serenity:
"Where are the political scandals? Disasters? Binge-drinking celebrities all over the front page? Can't you see, it's all good news! As for the sports pages...Graeme Swann...100 not out?!?"
You know you’ve made it when you get mentioned in Doctor Who!
No Churchy, though, although he did a sterling job keeping us up to date via Twitter. I guess it must have made quite a nice day, relaxing and watching the cricket, without having to deal with all the technicals that are part of the job. Wormsley looks a rather pretty little ground from the pictures I’ve seen, but I think the lack of tech capability was the reason there was no commentary. There were a number of disappointed Rampants, who find that Churchy helps to get us through the mundane things in life, such as ironing! Still, I think that’s a good excuse to put the ironing to one side!
It may come as an interesting sidenote to remark that the Lion is the symbol of England, and the Unicorn the symbol of Scotland. This being the case, it came as no surprise to see the Lions beating up the Unicorns again. Albeit in a slightly more genteel manner!
It turned out to be a fairly facile win in the end for Surrey. The powerhouse combo of RHB and Steven Davies got the game off to a flyer, with the skipper posting a frisky 52 and Davies a magnificent 101. It was also great to hear that Walters achieved a very handy 78. Jason Roy managed 8 today and whilst he clearly has a huge future ahead of him, he’s still learning on the job, so to speak. I think we have to forgive him any low scores at this stage in his career. Spriegel made a cameo of 4 towards the end, with Ramps contributing a small but nonetheless welcome 7 not out. With 273-4 posted it was always going to be a steep mountain for the Unicorns to climb.
I have to admit that the only players I knew from the Unicorns team were former Surrey team mates Murtagh and Saker! I think I may vaguely recollect Knappet from some place, but I couldn’t swear to it. And for all that the Unicorns are a weaker side in general, if it acts as a shop window for some of their players then their being in the competition is a worthy endeavour. It was lovely to see that Saker made 40 not out today, but ultimately it was in a losing cause as the Unicorns made 207-8.
The win keeps Surrey in third place. Somerset are still in control of the group despite being beaten by second placed Sussex on D/L. I have to confess to being a bit of a Somerset fan on the quiet. In the same way that Surrey had, for so long, forgotten how to win Somerset are a team bursting with quality and confidence. Any losses are usually swept to one side, and the behemoth trundles onwards. One day, hopefully, Surrey will regain that winning feeling.
On a slightly different tack, it’s amazing to see how cricket seems to crop up in so many different places. Being a bit of a closet Dr Who fan, I heard this rather amusing dialog from one of the audio dramas, where the Doctor discovers the Earth has inexplicably become perfect, with not a single disaster, man made or otherwise, to blight its newfound serenity:
"Where are the political scandals? Disasters? Binge-drinking celebrities all over the front page? Can't you see, it's all good news! As for the sports pages...Graeme Swann...100 not out?!?"
You know you’ve made it when you get mentioned in Doctor Who!
Thursday, 29 July 2010
Hurricane Pedro strikes!
Day One: Middlesex v Surrey at Lords
Well, I’m fair-minded enough to give credit where it’s due. I might not like the fact that Surrey have been ground down into the hallowed Lords turf for virtually nothing, but you can’t really argue with the score. And I do like seeing the ex-Surrey lads doing well...I still feel a little sad that the likes of Jon Batty and Scott Newman are gone, even although I can sort of see why the decisions were made. All the same, as a biased Surrey supporter I have to admit I prefer it when they do well against some other team.
We received word from a small Rampant party at the ground that a certain Jean of our acquaintance had her picture taken with Mr Ramprakash this morning! I know this will have made her day totally, so a big thank you to Ramps for taking the time to do that. She’ll be floating on air! I’m not sure we will get her down again in time for the September Oval meet-up!
In terms of the game, I checked the scores at lunch break only to see 80-4 staring me in the face! It was fair to say my jaw dropped a little. I wasn’t expecting a Northants-style massacre and reckoned we might be one or two down, but four??? It took me a few minutes to pluck up the courage to see who had gone, so it was with much relief that I saw Ramps was still in on 21. As usual, you felt that whilst he was still there perhaps there was a chance of pulling something out the bag.
Unfortunately for Surrey, it looks like hurricane Pedro turned up today and uprooted the Surrey batters as if they had been trees caught in the eye of a storm. Ramps perished for 44, although this has taken him to 1281 runs for the season, comfortably ahead of all others at the moment. Fingers crossed Surrey manage to stick around in the second innings, because the way Middlesex are batting the best they might expect is a draw. Ramps is well used to batting a long time to save the day: it may just be tailor-made for him to add a few more to his tally.
The fact Mr R top scored with 44 sort of gives you an idea what the rest of the individual tallies were like for Surrey. Davies, a brilliant opener in the shorter game but perhaps not as effective in this position for the championship, was bowled by former Surrey man Murtagh for 24, whilst Lancefield was lbw for 15 to Pedro Collins. The Surrey rejects have done rather well today! Worse was to follow when the skipper went for a first ball duck, and although I would never dream of criticising a captain’s decisions (which are made at that particular moment) I do wonder if RHB may be regretting the decision to bat first.
Afzaal’s misery with the bat continues: it’s a real shame to see him struggle for runs. Every batsman will hit a sticky patch now and again but his quest to play himself into some form has been somewhat protracted. Today he went for 11. I’m sure various persons will start to call for his head again. It’s a tough life sometimes, being a sportsman. Not that I would know about that. My idea of sport at school was to hide behind the hut during cross-country running for nine circuits and then join in again on the tenth, as fresh as a daisy...
Back to the cricket, although it really doesn’t make for pretty reading. Walters went for 14. No doubt the same people looking for Afzaal’s hide will be gunning for him as well.
Spriegel was the next highest scorer to Ramps with 25. I had hoped he would have come in when Ramps was still there: the two of them seem to work very well together, but it was not to be. Batty made 15, Tremlett 2, Dernbach 12 and Linley was not out for naught (which doesn’t sound right when you say it in your head). It was a somewhat confused performance considering what has gone on in recent weeks, although Dernbach and Linley have to be excused to an extent on account of their recent injuries. It appears that some of the Middlesex bowling was inspired, whilst some of the shots the Surrey batsmen got out to were less so...
With only 167 – yes, that isn’t a typo – on the board it only took until the end of play for Middlesex to surpass it. Two wickets went: Newman for 54, just as he was looking set in concrete, and Simpson for 36. Malan, who I like a lot, has made 35no and Shah is also at the crease, who on his day is a wonderful batsman. If I’m honest he isn’t one of my favourites, but I bet now I’ve typed that he ends up at Surrey replacing Afzaal...
I did enjoy the fivesome (that’s commentary wise before anyone says anything) with Johnny Barran, Mark Church, Dave Townsend, Iain O’Brien and Kevin Hand. I haven’t heard Mr Townsend in an age, so much that I had actually forgotten what he sounded like. I soon remembered, however.
Btw, I meant that in a good way! Anyone who admires Ramps is welcome to share a sponge cake with us, any day. As he quite rightly pointed out he’s pretty darned fit for a man of his age!
That was Ramps, not Mr Townsend.
Ah, now it’s time for Miah’s ‘positivity corner’:
1)Ramps top scored today
2)Ramps passed 34,500 first class runs
3)We might get to hear Andre Nel in the commentary box tomorrow! Nel v Townsend sounds like it might be interesting! My money’s on Andre, btw...
4)Pedro Collins did really well! No, wait...that was a year later than we wanted!
Oh well! Still a lot of cricket to be played and we need Surrey to get their heads down and show the sort of character they have in the last three championship games. I’m looking for the positives as always, and whilst from a Surrey point of view there weren’t many, at least Dave Townsend had something to chortle about at the end!
Best of luck tomorrow Surrey. Give it your best shot, lads!
Sunday, 25 July 2010
Terrific Trescothick tonks again!
Well, that wasn’t quite the performance that Surrey would have looked for on the return to the CB40 championship. Undone by the fast, furious and quickfire innings of one Marcus Trescothick, Surrey seemed unlikely to get near the rather ominous 304 posted by Somerset, although there was a brief passage in the Surrey reply where they were within touching distance.
I shan’t go into the whys and wherefores, except to say that Trescothick was his usual magnificent self with a score of 69. He could quite easily have gone on to have made a hundred the way he was playing, until he holed out to Dernbach. In many ways Mark Ramprakash’s innings mirrored Trescothick’s to a certain degree, in that it was looking quite easy for both batsmen at the time they got out. The greater loss today was Surrey’s, as Ramps’ wicket was pretty much the turning point in the game. Even although Spriegel kept batting carefully and beautifully, the momentum was gone. Ramps has the ability to turn up the heat in a matter of overs and crank it up a gear. Spriegel doesn’t yet have that ability, although he is developing a welcome ‘stickability’ at the wicket these days.
Credit to Hildreth and de Bruyn. Their killer partnership was what made the difference today, with de Bruyn out for 89 and Hildreth for 68. The Surrey bowlers were by and large a tad rusty although far from hopeless, and kept plugging away gamely. But I guess when you are making a return from a lengthy lay-off the last thing you want to see is Trescothick tonking you to all parts. That said, welcome back Dernbach and Linley: I hope you came through today without feeling any further strains or soreness. Kudos also to the Somerset bowlers, in particular Kartik who picked up Ramps, Walters (for a duck) and Schofield (for 8). This little spell of play really was the beginning of the end for Surrey.
Noteworthy performances came from Tremlett with his commendable 31, Spriegel with his hard-fought for 53, and Ramps with his 42. They were missing that huge partnership that Somerset put on. I think with such a big tally to chase they really felt the scoreboard pressure today, with Trescothick winning the toss and batting first, as most people do at the Oval. Then with RHB going early and Davies making only 25, Surrey really were on the back foot. Jason Roy looked like he was settling in when a rather unfortunate incident with Buttler on the boundary rope denied Ramps a 6, got Roy on to strike, and then resulted in him getting out next ball! Buttler swore he’d saved the ball from going over and I guess you have to trust the judgement of the fielder in these situations. It didn’t stop poor Buttler from being booed every time the ball went his way, but from the batsman’s point of view the rope is still there to be cleared. I doubt Roy could have had much room for complaint.
The game ended with the home side all out for 209. This is Surrey’s first loss in this competition but there are still plenty of games to go. I had hoped for a win purely because it would have been nice to go into the Middlesex game at Lords next week on a continued high, but it seems that Middlesex have lost anyway so it’s pretty much even Stevens on that front.
I did feel sorry for Churchy. There he was, commentating away like the star he is, and then at 7.00pm the BBC yet again cut him off mid-sentence! A loss was always on the cards but it would still have been nice to have heard the end of the game. I felt a bit like Tony Hancock did when he read his 'whodunit' book and realised the last page where the killer was revealed was missing!
I shan’t go into the whys and wherefores, except to say that Trescothick was his usual magnificent self with a score of 69. He could quite easily have gone on to have made a hundred the way he was playing, until he holed out to Dernbach. In many ways Mark Ramprakash’s innings mirrored Trescothick’s to a certain degree, in that it was looking quite easy for both batsmen at the time they got out. The greater loss today was Surrey’s, as Ramps’ wicket was pretty much the turning point in the game. Even although Spriegel kept batting carefully and beautifully, the momentum was gone. Ramps has the ability to turn up the heat in a matter of overs and crank it up a gear. Spriegel doesn’t yet have that ability, although he is developing a welcome ‘stickability’ at the wicket these days.
Credit to Hildreth and de Bruyn. Their killer partnership was what made the difference today, with de Bruyn out for 89 and Hildreth for 68. The Surrey bowlers were by and large a tad rusty although far from hopeless, and kept plugging away gamely. But I guess when you are making a return from a lengthy lay-off the last thing you want to see is Trescothick tonking you to all parts. That said, welcome back Dernbach and Linley: I hope you came through today without feeling any further strains or soreness. Kudos also to the Somerset bowlers, in particular Kartik who picked up Ramps, Walters (for a duck) and Schofield (for 8). This little spell of play really was the beginning of the end for Surrey.
Noteworthy performances came from Tremlett with his commendable 31, Spriegel with his hard-fought for 53, and Ramps with his 42. They were missing that huge partnership that Somerset put on. I think with such a big tally to chase they really felt the scoreboard pressure today, with Trescothick winning the toss and batting first, as most people do at the Oval. Then with RHB going early and Davies making only 25, Surrey really were on the back foot. Jason Roy looked like he was settling in when a rather unfortunate incident with Buttler on the boundary rope denied Ramps a 6, got Roy on to strike, and then resulted in him getting out next ball! Buttler swore he’d saved the ball from going over and I guess you have to trust the judgement of the fielder in these situations. It didn’t stop poor Buttler from being booed every time the ball went his way, but from the batsman’s point of view the rope is still there to be cleared. I doubt Roy could have had much room for complaint.
The game ended with the home side all out for 209. This is Surrey’s first loss in this competition but there are still plenty of games to go. I had hoped for a win purely because it would have been nice to go into the Middlesex game at Lords next week on a continued high, but it seems that Middlesex have lost anyway so it’s pretty much even Stevens on that front.
I did feel sorry for Churchy. There he was, commentating away like the star he is, and then at 7.00pm the BBC yet again cut him off mid-sentence! A loss was always on the cards but it would still have been nice to have heard the end of the game. I felt a bit like Tony Hancock did when he read his 'whodunit' book and realised the last page where the killer was revealed was missing!
Thursday, 22 July 2010
One Nelluva day!
Surrey v Northants: Day Three at the Brit Oval
I’m so glad I took a half day from work, even although nothing much actually happened for the majority of it from a Surrey point of view! Okay, I was feeling ill and headachy until after the lunch break, and fell asleep on the fold-down bed (which I managed to break for the second time in the space of a week) but to be honest I don’t think I missed that much by the sound of it. Churchy’s got such a soothing voice that I kept drifting in and out of consciousness. I wonder if he’s considered a sideline career in doing audio books? Get him to read ‘The Hungry Caterpillar’ and ‘Mog The Forgetful Cat’ to the kids: he’d make a fortune!
What I did gather from when I was actually awake was that Surrey had one wicket to get in the Northants first innings. It took a bit of time but you always felt it was a formality, really. Possibly that’s why I kept zedding all the time! I did actually hear Brooks’ departure, with Batty picking up another wicket: his fifth in the game as it turned out. Brooks likes to tonk the ball about a bit looking at the shots he played: four 4s and three 6s are not bad from a tail ender! But at the end of the day all Northants managed to achieve was one solitary batting point, and Surrey were quick to stick them in and have another crack at them.
I was going to use the old simile of ‘three busses turning up at once’, but perhaps I’d better not. In Edinburgh we’re still waiting for our trams to arrive. If Surrey waited for a wicket as long as we will have to wait for the work in the city centre to finish, they could have expected to dismiss Peters sometime in 2013...
As it happens it did seem that was the way it was going to pan out. Cricketers must have incredible patience and concentration. For so long nothing happened, and I was reduced to waking myself up with the sound of my own snoring (which quite disgusted my cat who was sleeping on the chair in the same room), punctuated with pleas to the cricket gods to grant Surrey a wicket or two before the heavens opened again. And then, lo and behold, from out of nowhere Peters was dispatched with typical Günter efficiency for 50. It was as if the cap had been unscrewed on a violently shaken bottle of Diet Pepsi, for no sooner had the pressure been released by the wicket of Peters than Howgego was Howgegone!
Wait...this gets better.
Sales went for a duck, bowled by Tremlett. And then Tremlett also got White, whom he’d almost managed to turn into a eunuch with his previous delivery, for a resounding zero! Four wickets gone with no further runs added! Tremlett and Nel must be one of the bowling duos you’d least like to face on the county circuit at the moment. Even when hobbling like Long John Silver Andre gives it everything, and Tremlett has become increasingly accurate and economical the more he’s played.
And then there’s Stuart Meaker. Gareth Batty had a pretty fine haul of wickets today, but then so did Meaks. With five down you really felt Surrey had a really good chance of finishing the game with a day off for good behaviour. If it wasn’t quite ‘start the coach time’ you were probably thinking that the Northants driver was behind the wheel! And sure enough, another little clump of wickets fell in the same way they had in the first innings: Wakely out for 7 runs to a catch by Nel that sounded as if it was right out the top drawer! Sometimes you feel it’s a bit of a pity that the cameras are static and focussed on the middle in the replays, and I guess this is one of those times! And then shortly afterwards Hall departed for 2, with Meaker taking another. It all seemed a little too good to be true; although Chigumbura tried to show the same stubbornness he had whilst occupying the crease the day before. When he went for 25 it was definitely looking like a Surrey victory was inexorably heading the way of the home team.
There remained the small matter of Murphy, whom Meaker removed for 8, Lucas (brilliantly caught by Afzaal for 14) and Brooks (brilliantly but hilariously not-caught by Afzaal). Poor old Usman has had a mixed game: failing with the bat yet again but always seemingly popping up at a vital moment to claim a wicket, take a catch or turn himself into a two-seater propeller aeroplane. The non-catch, following almost immediately from his sublime take of Murphy, reduced Tremlett (and Mark Church) to tears of laughter. Considering someone once said that Afzaal’s fielding reminded them of ‘a bear doing aerobics’ he’s probably not done too badly!
Brooks and Middlebrook appeared determined to delay the expected outcome, but it was inevitable that the final wicket would fall to Afzaal, and to be caught by man-of-the-match Ramprakash. Did Afzaal run after him for his customary hug? I don’t know, because just as inevitably I was sitting down to tea when the last wicket fell! Grrrrrrrr!
So, there you have it. A win for Surrey by one innings and 175 runs, I kid you not! If it was an episode of a Dynasty-style soap opera, the credits would go up with RHB and Spriegel as the young, dashing brothers, Nel and Tremlett two nightclub bouncers, Batty as the local sheriff, Meaker as his apprentice, M R Ramprakash as the lord of the manner and Afzaal as...er...the one with big shoulder pads. But even if the massive total was built upon Ramps’ hefty 248 the fact is this was a triumph for the whole team: their first at the Oval since back in 2007! Every one of them contributed to the win in some way.
Even the lemon tree on the boundary bowed its branches in respect!
I’m so glad I took a half day from work, even although nothing much actually happened for the majority of it from a Surrey point of view! Okay, I was feeling ill and headachy until after the lunch break, and fell asleep on the fold-down bed (which I managed to break for the second time in the space of a week) but to be honest I don’t think I missed that much by the sound of it. Churchy’s got such a soothing voice that I kept drifting in and out of consciousness. I wonder if he’s considered a sideline career in doing audio books? Get him to read ‘The Hungry Caterpillar’ and ‘Mog The Forgetful Cat’ to the kids: he’d make a fortune!
What I did gather from when I was actually awake was that Surrey had one wicket to get in the Northants first innings. It took a bit of time but you always felt it was a formality, really. Possibly that’s why I kept zedding all the time! I did actually hear Brooks’ departure, with Batty picking up another wicket: his fifth in the game as it turned out. Brooks likes to tonk the ball about a bit looking at the shots he played: four 4s and three 6s are not bad from a tail ender! But at the end of the day all Northants managed to achieve was one solitary batting point, and Surrey were quick to stick them in and have another crack at them.
I was going to use the old simile of ‘three busses turning up at once’, but perhaps I’d better not. In Edinburgh we’re still waiting for our trams to arrive. If Surrey waited for a wicket as long as we will have to wait for the work in the city centre to finish, they could have expected to dismiss Peters sometime in 2013...
As it happens it did seem that was the way it was going to pan out. Cricketers must have incredible patience and concentration. For so long nothing happened, and I was reduced to waking myself up with the sound of my own snoring (which quite disgusted my cat who was sleeping on the chair in the same room), punctuated with pleas to the cricket gods to grant Surrey a wicket or two before the heavens opened again. And then, lo and behold, from out of nowhere Peters was dispatched with typical Günter efficiency for 50. It was as if the cap had been unscrewed on a violently shaken bottle of Diet Pepsi, for no sooner had the pressure been released by the wicket of Peters than Howgego was Howgegone!
Wait...this gets better.
Sales went for a duck, bowled by Tremlett. And then Tremlett also got White, whom he’d almost managed to turn into a eunuch with his previous delivery, for a resounding zero! Four wickets gone with no further runs added! Tremlett and Nel must be one of the bowling duos you’d least like to face on the county circuit at the moment. Even when hobbling like Long John Silver Andre gives it everything, and Tremlett has become increasingly accurate and economical the more he’s played.
And then there’s Stuart Meaker. Gareth Batty had a pretty fine haul of wickets today, but then so did Meaks. With five down you really felt Surrey had a really good chance of finishing the game with a day off for good behaviour. If it wasn’t quite ‘start the coach time’ you were probably thinking that the Northants driver was behind the wheel! And sure enough, another little clump of wickets fell in the same way they had in the first innings: Wakely out for 7 runs to a catch by Nel that sounded as if it was right out the top drawer! Sometimes you feel it’s a bit of a pity that the cameras are static and focussed on the middle in the replays, and I guess this is one of those times! And then shortly afterwards Hall departed for 2, with Meaker taking another. It all seemed a little too good to be true; although Chigumbura tried to show the same stubbornness he had whilst occupying the crease the day before. When he went for 25 it was definitely looking like a Surrey victory was inexorably heading the way of the home team.
There remained the small matter of Murphy, whom Meaker removed for 8, Lucas (brilliantly caught by Afzaal for 14) and Brooks (brilliantly but hilariously not-caught by Afzaal). Poor old Usman has had a mixed game: failing with the bat yet again but always seemingly popping up at a vital moment to claim a wicket, take a catch or turn himself into a two-seater propeller aeroplane. The non-catch, following almost immediately from his sublime take of Murphy, reduced Tremlett (and Mark Church) to tears of laughter. Considering someone once said that Afzaal’s fielding reminded them of ‘a bear doing aerobics’ he’s probably not done too badly!
Brooks and Middlebrook appeared determined to delay the expected outcome, but it was inevitable that the final wicket would fall to Afzaal, and to be caught by man-of-the-match Ramprakash. Did Afzaal run after him for his customary hug? I don’t know, because just as inevitably I was sitting down to tea when the last wicket fell! Grrrrrrrr!
So, there you have it. A win for Surrey by one innings and 175 runs, I kid you not! If it was an episode of a Dynasty-style soap opera, the credits would go up with RHB and Spriegel as the young, dashing brothers, Nel and Tremlett two nightclub bouncers, Batty as the local sheriff, Meaker as his apprentice, M R Ramprakash as the lord of the manner and Afzaal as...er...the one with big shoulder pads. But even if the massive total was built upon Ramps’ hefty 248 the fact is this was a triumph for the whole team: their first at the Oval since back in 2007! Every one of them contributed to the win in some way.
Even the lemon tree on the boundary bowed its branches in respect!
Thursday, 8 July 2010
Finding the positives
I only caught little bits of tonight’s T20 game against Middlesex due to ‘technicals’ (a computer that decides to switch itself off without prompting doesn’t help matters) but I have to say under the circumstances it’s probably for the best. In short, we got thumped.
And in fairness you can’t really argue with the result because we were outplayed in nearly every respect. That we actually made it to 120 in the end came as something of surprise given the rather grisly start Surrey got off to. It was a rather unfortunate game for the Rampants, in that (due to more technicals) when the commentary cut in, Ramps was immediately run out without a score on the board. Not the best start. And when Roy went for 0 as well, it sort of set the tone for the game.
As I’m not really in a position to relay what happened in either innings, and because I prefer to be positive in adversity (following on from half an hour of superstition-led ‘mea culpas’ and banging my head off the desk), let’s just say the better team won on the day, just as Surrey were the better team against Middlesex at Lords. However, make no bones about this: our chances of qualifying for the next round of the T20 has gone from ‘possible but difficult’ to ‘oh look, there’s a whole squadron of Gloucester Old Spot flying over the OCS stand...’
On a personal and selfish level, I am a little disappointed. Not with the fact that we won’t qualify but because I do love the idea of beating Middlesex in London derby’s. Oh, well...there’s a championship game coming up in the near future. *rubs hands*
And I’m sooooooooo not reading any on-line papers for a week, or visiting Oval World or indeed the rather amusing Middlesex forum either. If I want to be depressed I’ll watch the EastEnders omnibus.
I challenged myself to find a positive after tonight’s drubbing and I’ve managed to come up with one: we got to hear Michael Brown in the commentary box again! If there was a T20 for commentary the Surrey boys would win hands down. The Rampants are rather taken with Browny. He fits in very well with Churchy.
He’s honest, loquacious and likes a slice of jam sponge.
*************
Okay, next morning and feeling a little more positive than yesterday. It's Friday, the boss isn't in, and I've made a few decisions regarding the trip to the Oval in September that were weighing on me a little. Feeling much happier than before and can only attribute last night's uncharacteristc angst and gnashing of teeth to the uncertainty of this past month. Going to just chill out and listen to the game tonight. Qualification is a virtual no-no, but as one of the Rampants said "the fat lady ain't singing yet."
She is frantically polishing her trident before she goes on stage, however!
And in fairness you can’t really argue with the result because we were outplayed in nearly every respect. That we actually made it to 120 in the end came as something of surprise given the rather grisly start Surrey got off to. It was a rather unfortunate game for the Rampants, in that (due to more technicals) when the commentary cut in, Ramps was immediately run out without a score on the board. Not the best start. And when Roy went for 0 as well, it sort of set the tone for the game.
As I’m not really in a position to relay what happened in either innings, and because I prefer to be positive in adversity (following on from half an hour of superstition-led ‘mea culpas’ and banging my head off the desk), let’s just say the better team won on the day, just as Surrey were the better team against Middlesex at Lords. However, make no bones about this: our chances of qualifying for the next round of the T20 has gone from ‘possible but difficult’ to ‘oh look, there’s a whole squadron of Gloucester Old Spot flying over the OCS stand...’
On a personal and selfish level, I am a little disappointed. Not with the fact that we won’t qualify but because I do love the idea of beating Middlesex in London derby’s. Oh, well...there’s a championship game coming up in the near future. *rubs hands*
And I’m sooooooooo not reading any on-line papers for a week, or visiting Oval World or indeed the rather amusing Middlesex forum either. If I want to be depressed I’ll watch the EastEnders omnibus.
I challenged myself to find a positive after tonight’s drubbing and I’ve managed to come up with one: we got to hear Michael Brown in the commentary box again! If there was a T20 for commentary the Surrey boys would win hands down. The Rampants are rather taken with Browny. He fits in very well with Churchy.
He’s honest, loquacious and likes a slice of jam sponge.
*************
Okay, next morning and feeling a little more positive than yesterday. It's Friday, the boss isn't in, and I've made a few decisions regarding the trip to the Oval in September that were weighing on me a little. Feeling much happier than before and can only attribute last night's uncharacteristc angst and gnashing of teeth to the uncertainty of this past month. Going to just chill out and listen to the game tonight. Qualification is a virtual no-no, but as one of the Rampants said "the fat lady ain't singing yet."
She is frantically polishing her trident before she goes on stage, however!
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