So, it would be safe to say that the pre-season team re-jigging has well and truly begun! We have already:
Released Usman Afzaal
Presumably lost Andre Nel
Gained Kevin Pietersen permanently
Gained Zander de Bruyn
Gained Tom Maynard
Gained Yasir Arafat
Signed up Rory Burns, Zafar Ansari, Tom Lancefield and Tom Jewell from the lower ranks.
Actually, if you have all of the team (or at least most of it) firing at once you are in danger of having a cohesive little unit for what seems like the first time in an age. You have a wealth of youngsters who the skipper knows very well, you have older heads like de Bruyn (who I shall hitherto refer to as Zander because I’m struggling with typing his surname in repeatedly) and Ramps (when/if fit) and the occasional appearance of Pietersen. From a Surrey point of view it’s a real shame to lose Tremlett to England although understandable - and well deserved – but I do think that the signing of Arafat has been a canny one, especially as he will be available all season. Of course, most of the Rampants were very pleased by the fact Yasir’s rather easy on the eye as well, but that of course didn’t come into my line of thinking at all.
I’m guessing Liz is shaking her head at me now. Hehehehehe...
Tom Maynard’s an interesting acquisition. He had a lot to prove and left his beloved Glamorgan in unfortunate circumstances, but he certainly has the ability to be a very destructive batsman and I could see him making a mark in the one day games in particular. The young Surrey lads are all potential stars waiting in the wings to make an impression, much as Jason Roy has already done.
The loss of Andre Nel is a difficult one to quantify. Perhaps he hasn’t done as much with the ball on those flat, beautiful Oval wickets as you would hope, yet there’s just something about Andre that made him a box office draw. That wonderful stand with Dernbach last year will stick in my memory for many years to come. As for Afzaal, I wish him well at Derbyshire. I’ll miss him running over to Ramps every time he took a wicket with an improbably slow ball, and hearing how Mr R kept running out the way!
We have new sponsors. Brit Insurance have gone after a solid amount of years supporting the team, which means unfortunately my Surrey drinking mug is out of date! Does this mean I have to buy a new one or do I just pretend that nothing’s changed, as the ignorant so-and-sos at work won’t know any different (except perhaps Ian, who strikes me as the sort of person who would know that kind of thing)? Kia is now the official sponsor at the Oval. I keep wanting to say ‘IKEA’ but that of course is another kettle of flat pack self-assembly furniture...
And last but certainly not least, Bill Gordon is no longer head groundsman, although he is still there in an assistant/advisory capacity. If the new fella that’s come in has understudied Bill he will no doubt be very successful (and I want to point out again that I was not the Rampant who made reference to Scott Patterson being extremely ‘fit’). I mean, honestly! Also, a big thanks to whomever it was who agreed that we could have Deirdre’s ashes scattered at the Oval. I’m sure the idea would have tickled her, and it will give every future trip to Kennington a certain poignancy.
Whilst players come and players go, Dominic Cork continues to wobble and weave his magic on the ice every Sunday night (although for how long remains to be seen). I don’t think he’s going to win Dancing on Ice. I’m not even sure he’s going to be there next week, but fair play to him for having a go at what is an extremely tough sport.
You should’ve done Strictly, Corky!
Showing posts with label Usman Afzaal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Usman Afzaal. Show all posts
Sunday, 30 January 2011
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!
Tuesday, 20 July 2010
Twisting the knife
Surrey v Northamptonshire: Day one at the Brit Oval
Okay: I admit it. I did have a few concerns as to how Surrey would handle the return to championship cricket.
So many times in the past good teams in both the first and second divisions have come back to the four day game once the T20 – or ‘happy slapping’ – season is over and feverishly continued to play shots as if they were suffering from ‘St Vitus’ dance!’ With this in mind, I left for work feeling optimistic if cautious. And I’m glad to say I was a good girl. I didn’t peek at the BBC cards once during the day other than to confirm that Surrey was batting first.
My curtailed listening to the commentaries means that I have no idea of the circumstances surrounding the Surrey wickets that fell. I have no idea if they played like trees, or if they were unlucky, or indeed thought “hang on a moment, I’ll just give this a bit of a bash towards the Peter May stand and...oh, b*gger. I’m out!” So if any of the team were in T20 mode, I missed it!
One batsman was definitely not playing a round of ‘crash bang wallop’: Mark Ramprakash constructed a beautifully crafted innings (from the point where I heard it, which was around 91 not out), full of his trademark shots, making sure he was there at the other end whilst rotating the strike to let the other batsmen set about the Northants bowlers. And how RHB set about them, and no mistake! The two deadly assassins formulated their own way of neutralising the opposition: the skipper bludgeoning them cudgel-like with a barrage of fours and sixes, whilst the maestro Ramprakash preferred to slowly twist the knife into the wounded Northants beast.
It’s a flowery description, but I like it!
Let’s start at the beginning. Surrey decided to give young Lancefield a go, which I liked the idea of, and he formed one half of the opening partnership with Steven Davies. Unfortunately it appears that Davies went for 5, bringing Mr R on to the field of play pretty early in the morning. Lancefield seems to have played nicely for his 31, but when he was dispatched by the wonderfully named Chigumbura, the skipper decided to make his own mark on the game. Having survived one or two dodgy sounding moments, he and Mr R formed a two-pronged, stylistically and diametrically opposed partnership that flourished after lunch. Content to give the captain free reign, the maestro continued to do his own thing whilst RHB became almost frenzied in his approach!
In the end the skipper reached what appears to have been a breathtaking century at a run a ball, but then finally his luck ran out on 102 when Chigumbura struck again to end a powerful and frenetic innings.
This brought Afzaal to the crease, but it seems he only made 7 today. It’s just not going right for Usman at the moment.
Stewart Walters played a jaunty cameo and made 31, the same as Lancefield, with six 4s and one 6 for just 20 balls, another victim of the dreaded Chigumbura, to whom I apologise for making him sound like some kind of tropical disease. At this stage the game could have gone either way. Sure, the master was still there but with most of the batting back in the hutch it would only have taken one more wicket for Surrey to potentially kick-start one of their famous collapses.
And then young Mr Spriegel stepped up to the plate, the perfect foil for Ramps, as both men took their turn to face the strike and kept the game ticking along. Neither man seemed troubled overly, with Mr R (having hit his 1000th run earlier that morning, for the 20th time in his career and the ninth time in a row) bringing up century number 112. The cricket gods we often refer to must have decided to redress the balance for the terrible thing that happened in the last game, where they deprived poor Ramps of a nailed-on century following a faulty scoreboard tally! Today should have been his fifth century of the season; instead it was his fourth, but it was no less magnificent for all that.
Both batsmen are there at the end of the day, with Spriegel on 85 not out, hopefully set to become Surrey’s third centurion of the game, and Ramps on 137 not out. The plan would appear to be to bat long and hard – and hopefully once. They will need to rack up a few more runs yet and hope to get Peters out for a ridiculously low score when Northants wield the willow, but with these two at the crease, anything seems possible. Definitely Surrey’s day today.
Let’s hope the boys got plenty of ice at the close of play...along with maybe a celebratory diet Coke for Mr R!
Okay: I admit it. I did have a few concerns as to how Surrey would handle the return to championship cricket.
So many times in the past good teams in both the first and second divisions have come back to the four day game once the T20 – or ‘happy slapping’ – season is over and feverishly continued to play shots as if they were suffering from ‘St Vitus’ dance!’ With this in mind, I left for work feeling optimistic if cautious. And I’m glad to say I was a good girl. I didn’t peek at the BBC cards once during the day other than to confirm that Surrey was batting first.
My curtailed listening to the commentaries means that I have no idea of the circumstances surrounding the Surrey wickets that fell. I have no idea if they played like trees, or if they were unlucky, or indeed thought “hang on a moment, I’ll just give this a bit of a bash towards the Peter May stand and...oh, b*gger. I’m out!” So if any of the team were in T20 mode, I missed it!
One batsman was definitely not playing a round of ‘crash bang wallop’: Mark Ramprakash constructed a beautifully crafted innings (from the point where I heard it, which was around 91 not out), full of his trademark shots, making sure he was there at the other end whilst rotating the strike to let the other batsmen set about the Northants bowlers. And how RHB set about them, and no mistake! The two deadly assassins formulated their own way of neutralising the opposition: the skipper bludgeoning them cudgel-like with a barrage of fours and sixes, whilst the maestro Ramprakash preferred to slowly twist the knife into the wounded Northants beast.
It’s a flowery description, but I like it!
Let’s start at the beginning. Surrey decided to give young Lancefield a go, which I liked the idea of, and he formed one half of the opening partnership with Steven Davies. Unfortunately it appears that Davies went for 5, bringing Mr R on to the field of play pretty early in the morning. Lancefield seems to have played nicely for his 31, but when he was dispatched by the wonderfully named Chigumbura, the skipper decided to make his own mark on the game. Having survived one or two dodgy sounding moments, he and Mr R formed a two-pronged, stylistically and diametrically opposed partnership that flourished after lunch. Content to give the captain free reign, the maestro continued to do his own thing whilst RHB became almost frenzied in his approach!
In the end the skipper reached what appears to have been a breathtaking century at a run a ball, but then finally his luck ran out on 102 when Chigumbura struck again to end a powerful and frenetic innings.
This brought Afzaal to the crease, but it seems he only made 7 today. It’s just not going right for Usman at the moment.
Stewart Walters played a jaunty cameo and made 31, the same as Lancefield, with six 4s and one 6 for just 20 balls, another victim of the dreaded Chigumbura, to whom I apologise for making him sound like some kind of tropical disease. At this stage the game could have gone either way. Sure, the master was still there but with most of the batting back in the hutch it would only have taken one more wicket for Surrey to potentially kick-start one of their famous collapses.
And then young Mr Spriegel stepped up to the plate, the perfect foil for Ramps, as both men took their turn to face the strike and kept the game ticking along. Neither man seemed troubled overly, with Mr R (having hit his 1000th run earlier that morning, for the 20th time in his career and the ninth time in a row) bringing up century number 112. The cricket gods we often refer to must have decided to redress the balance for the terrible thing that happened in the last game, where they deprived poor Ramps of a nailed-on century following a faulty scoreboard tally! Today should have been his fifth century of the season; instead it was his fourth, but it was no less magnificent for all that.
Both batsmen are there at the end of the day, with Spriegel on 85 not out, hopefully set to become Surrey’s third centurion of the game, and Ramps on 137 not out. The plan would appear to be to bat long and hard – and hopefully once. They will need to rack up a few more runs yet and hope to get Peters out for a ridiculously low score when Northants wield the willow, but with these two at the crease, anything seems possible. Definitely Surrey’s day today.
Let’s hope the boys got plenty of ice at the close of play...along with maybe a celebratory diet Coke for Mr R!
Monday, 28 June 2010
Ninety-nine is the new hundred!
It seems like an age since the last championship game. I’m sure it’s probably been a matter of weeks but somehow it feels longer than that. Today saw the start of a four day knock against Derbyshire at Chesterfield. I would just like to start the entry in this blog by saying that fate, so often a first class meddler in the game of cricket, needs a good old fashioned kick in the knee caps.
I gathered three things from my surreptitious glances at the BBC card during the day. Firstly, Usman Afzaal was back in the squad, something I was quite glad about. His form has been all over the place this year but the bottom line is he’s far too good a batsman to be left out the team, and his experience is sorely missed. Secondly, still no sign of Jade Dernbach. I fear his side strain may well keep him out for a little while yet. And thirdly, Ramps was not out on 40 something!
I caught some of the game as I managed to sneak home from work slightly earlier than usual (it can be a blessing to have too much flexi time). Earlier in the day we lost RHB for 24 and Harinath for 16. Not the most auspicious of starts, but at least they took the shine off the ball! From there on in, Younus Khan and Ramps set about steadying the ship and managed to hang on together for a while, which left me trying to count on my fingers working out how much flexi I had to play with.
You see, I was convinced this game was going to bring another century for Mr R. I could feel it in my fingers...feel it in my toes, as The Troggs once sang. And so I headed home, not at all surprised to find the man himself still in and going well on 81, this time with Usman Afzaal batting with him (Younus having gone for 45) at the crease and going equally well. As it turned out, Afzaal went for a well made 73, totally justifying his inclusion in the squad. It would be nice to think he will have taken a lot of heart from this innings. He and Mr Ramprakash always seem to bat well together. Walters came in, settled down and looked positive from the beginning. And then...
Do you ever get this terrible sense of foreboding? One that tells you that because it’s the most unlikely thing to happen, it almost certainly will? Because as the score ticked around from 93, then upwards to 99, I couldn’t help but cross my fingers...
Note to self: crossing fingers doesn’t work with cricket.
The fact that Mr R was bowled one short of his 112th century when the scoreboard at the ground had erroneously indicated that the landmark had already been reached – even although the man himself and most of the spectators would have realised this was not the case – was certainly ironic. It so upset poor Jean that she declared that she was “going off for a sulk, and maybe do something irrational - like hoovering or somesuch!”
You can always tell an upset Rampant if they have a Hoover in their hands.
Celebrating 99 is unusual, although if it’s any consolation, it sounds as if it was a very good one! And an important one in the context of the game, where a familiar semi-collapse occurred when Ramps got out. Wilson, deputising with the gloves for Steven Davies who was on Lions duty, made 6 with the willow whilst Batty was bowled for 4. Nel went for a third ball duck with Walters showing a certain authority at the crease until departing for 53. At stumps, Tremlett had managed 15 not out and Linley 2 not out. I should however mention the rather smart fivefer that Groenewald took today which, along with the three from Jones, was extremely impressive.
If Linley can work the strike and get Tremlett to face as many balls as possible we may yet manage to garner some runs before the whole team is out, but I suppose this moves the game along apace. The main fear is that Rogers will once again inflict a lot of damage on Surrey’s bowling attack. The south London outfit will be hoping that Nel and Tremlett get him out early tomorrow morning, or else their target of 364 may soon be swallowed up.
As for Mr R, he currently leads the chase to be the first to 1000 runs this season, five ahead of Adam Lyth in Division One. At the time of typing the pack looks like this:
Ramps: 959
Lyth: 953
Peters: 883
Rodgers: 865
Rudolph: 739
Best of luck, sir! Only 41 required in the next innings!
Now. Where did I put that hoover...
I gathered three things from my surreptitious glances at the BBC card during the day. Firstly, Usman Afzaal was back in the squad, something I was quite glad about. His form has been all over the place this year but the bottom line is he’s far too good a batsman to be left out the team, and his experience is sorely missed. Secondly, still no sign of Jade Dernbach. I fear his side strain may well keep him out for a little while yet. And thirdly, Ramps was not out on 40 something!
I caught some of the game as I managed to sneak home from work slightly earlier than usual (it can be a blessing to have too much flexi time). Earlier in the day we lost RHB for 24 and Harinath for 16. Not the most auspicious of starts, but at least they took the shine off the ball! From there on in, Younus Khan and Ramps set about steadying the ship and managed to hang on together for a while, which left me trying to count on my fingers working out how much flexi I had to play with.
You see, I was convinced this game was going to bring another century for Mr R. I could feel it in my fingers...feel it in my toes, as The Troggs once sang. And so I headed home, not at all surprised to find the man himself still in and going well on 81, this time with Usman Afzaal batting with him (Younus having gone for 45) at the crease and going equally well. As it turned out, Afzaal went for a well made 73, totally justifying his inclusion in the squad. It would be nice to think he will have taken a lot of heart from this innings. He and Mr Ramprakash always seem to bat well together. Walters came in, settled down and looked positive from the beginning. And then...
Do you ever get this terrible sense of foreboding? One that tells you that because it’s the most unlikely thing to happen, it almost certainly will? Because as the score ticked around from 93, then upwards to 99, I couldn’t help but cross my fingers...
Note to self: crossing fingers doesn’t work with cricket.
The fact that Mr R was bowled one short of his 112th century when the scoreboard at the ground had erroneously indicated that the landmark had already been reached – even although the man himself and most of the spectators would have realised this was not the case – was certainly ironic. It so upset poor Jean that she declared that she was “going off for a sulk, and maybe do something irrational - like hoovering or somesuch!”
You can always tell an upset Rampant if they have a Hoover in their hands.
Celebrating 99 is unusual, although if it’s any consolation, it sounds as if it was a very good one! And an important one in the context of the game, where a familiar semi-collapse occurred when Ramps got out. Wilson, deputising with the gloves for Steven Davies who was on Lions duty, made 6 with the willow whilst Batty was bowled for 4. Nel went for a third ball duck with Walters showing a certain authority at the crease until departing for 53. At stumps, Tremlett had managed 15 not out and Linley 2 not out. I should however mention the rather smart fivefer that Groenewald took today which, along with the three from Jones, was extremely impressive.
If Linley can work the strike and get Tremlett to face as many balls as possible we may yet manage to garner some runs before the whole team is out, but I suppose this moves the game along apace. The main fear is that Rogers will once again inflict a lot of damage on Surrey’s bowling attack. The south London outfit will be hoping that Nel and Tremlett get him out early tomorrow morning, or else their target of 364 may soon be swallowed up.
As for Mr R, he currently leads the chase to be the first to 1000 runs this season, five ahead of Adam Lyth in Division One. At the time of typing the pack looks like this:
Ramps: 959
Lyth: 953
Peters: 883
Rodgers: 865
Rudolph: 739
Best of luck, sir! Only 41 required in the next innings!
Now. Where did I put that hoover...
Thursday, 10 June 2010
Solid as a rock
Over the last few years I’ve heard Mark Ramprakash described as ‘The Rock of Kennington’. Which may sound a little bit pompous, but I guess when (in the case of 2007) you score a record 30% of your teams runs you begin to see that as descriptions go, it’s shockingly accurate!
So. How do you move the seemingly unmoveable? An age old question that many a county bowler has asked themselves over the years! And the answer?
Get his team mate to run him out!
That’s a little bit harsh on Usman Afzaal, but as I mused earlier in this blog it is unfortunately true that he has does tend to be involved in a lot of run-outs, be they of his making or otherwise. Some players just happen to have that knack, I guess: Trott, Bopara and Shah in particular seem to have cornered that niche market!
Tonight, in the T20 game against the Essex Eagles, Surrey had performed rather well up to that point. Okay...well-ish. The first thing they did correctly was win the toss, and the skipper stuck Essex in to bat, which looked on the face of it a very good choice. Key wickets fell at the right time with Pettini going for 3, Bopara for 12 and Ten Doschate for 10. Resistance was shown by Flower (24) and Styris (17), but by the end of the Essex innings it was 121 for 8. Hardly a massive total to chase down, you’d have thought.
No doubt Surrey really fancied their chances of doing so. RHB showed some aggression but went early doors for 5, whilst Davies was dropped twice before he eventually went for 15. All the time Ramps looked untroubled whilst all those around him perished. Symonds struck 7, and Younus went to the very first ball. Ramps and Afzaal looked like they would settle into a rhythm until a moment of madness saw the latter accidentally run his team mate out when on 24, with Ramps slipping and not able to make the necessary ground in time. Having viewed the incident later on the highlights it didn't look too bad on Afzaal's part, but the commentary suggested he'd "absolutely stuffed him", and I get the feeling Mr R wasn’t terribly impressed. I can only hope when Afzaal made his way back to the dugout, having committed cricket suicide whilst on 12, that he had cotton wool in his ears to block out a few choice words!
But, as I said the other day, that’s cricket!
Up until that point the running between the wickets had actually been very impressive. There was always a good chance of picking up the necessary runs whilst Schofield was there, with Spriegel playing the accumulator at the other end, but when Schoey went it was pretty much game over, with two sixes needed from the last two balls. It unfortunately proved just too much.
The highlight of the game sounds like it might have been that neat litle breakdance move Mr R pulled whilst on the ground! It was a better performance from Surrey, whose bowling was vastly improved, but they will be dreadfully disappointed not to have been able to chase down a relatively small total with all of their specialist batsmen getting out cheaply.
Three things are clear from this innings, however. Firstly, if Surrey want to do well in the T20 the opening two batsmen are going to have to fire in tandem! I said that I believed Davies and RHB could potentially be an exciting live-wire pair, and I still maintain this, but you have to be in it to win it. Davies had two lives before he was eventually bowled, and the skipper sometimes gives the appearance of being stuck in warp-drive! I'm not going to tell these young men how to ply their trade, or which shots to pull out the locker. That would be a bit like telling Renée Fleming how to sing a Mozart aria! But although there's no real chance to build an innings as there is in the county championship, perhaps they should watch the old man batting at three to see how it is done. Minus the slip, that is.
Secondly, perhaps try to find a way to discourage run-outs when there is absolutely no pressure on the team at that point. There was time enough in the game to - not exactly take it easy, because you can never do that in T20 - but to just lightly keep the foot on the excellerator without burning serious rubber.
And thirdly, Surrey had better make the most of Ramps whilst they still have him, because they are going to find life even more difficult when he eventually hangs up the bat!
So. How do you move the seemingly unmoveable? An age old question that many a county bowler has asked themselves over the years! And the answer?
Get his team mate to run him out!
That’s a little bit harsh on Usman Afzaal, but as I mused earlier in this blog it is unfortunately true that he has does tend to be involved in a lot of run-outs, be they of his making or otherwise. Some players just happen to have that knack, I guess: Trott, Bopara and Shah in particular seem to have cornered that niche market!
Tonight, in the T20 game against the Essex Eagles, Surrey had performed rather well up to that point. Okay...well-ish. The first thing they did correctly was win the toss, and the skipper stuck Essex in to bat, which looked on the face of it a very good choice. Key wickets fell at the right time with Pettini going for 3, Bopara for 12 and Ten Doschate for 10. Resistance was shown by Flower (24) and Styris (17), but by the end of the Essex innings it was 121 for 8. Hardly a massive total to chase down, you’d have thought.
No doubt Surrey really fancied their chances of doing so. RHB showed some aggression but went early doors for 5, whilst Davies was dropped twice before he eventually went for 15. All the time Ramps looked untroubled whilst all those around him perished. Symonds struck 7, and Younus went to the very first ball. Ramps and Afzaal looked like they would settle into a rhythm until a moment of madness saw the latter accidentally run his team mate out when on 24, with Ramps slipping and not able to make the necessary ground in time. Having viewed the incident later on the highlights it didn't look too bad on Afzaal's part, but the commentary suggested he'd "absolutely stuffed him", and I get the feeling Mr R wasn’t terribly impressed. I can only hope when Afzaal made his way back to the dugout, having committed cricket suicide whilst on 12, that he had cotton wool in his ears to block out a few choice words!
But, as I said the other day, that’s cricket!
Up until that point the running between the wickets had actually been very impressive. There was always a good chance of picking up the necessary runs whilst Schofield was there, with Spriegel playing the accumulator at the other end, but when Schoey went it was pretty much game over, with two sixes needed from the last two balls. It unfortunately proved just too much.
The highlight of the game sounds like it might have been that neat litle breakdance move Mr R pulled whilst on the ground! It was a better performance from Surrey, whose bowling was vastly improved, but they will be dreadfully disappointed not to have been able to chase down a relatively small total with all of their specialist batsmen getting out cheaply.
Three things are clear from this innings, however. Firstly, if Surrey want to do well in the T20 the opening two batsmen are going to have to fire in tandem! I said that I believed Davies and RHB could potentially be an exciting live-wire pair, and I still maintain this, but you have to be in it to win it. Davies had two lives before he was eventually bowled, and the skipper sometimes gives the appearance of being stuck in warp-drive! I'm not going to tell these young men how to ply their trade, or which shots to pull out the locker. That would be a bit like telling Renée Fleming how to sing a Mozart aria! But although there's no real chance to build an innings as there is in the county championship, perhaps they should watch the old man batting at three to see how it is done. Minus the slip, that is.
Secondly, perhaps try to find a way to discourage run-outs when there is absolutely no pressure on the team at that point. There was time enough in the game to - not exactly take it easy, because you can never do that in T20 - but to just lightly keep the foot on the excellerator without burning serious rubber.
And thirdly, Surrey had better make the most of Ramps whilst they still have him, because they are going to find life even more difficult when he eventually hangs up the bat!
Saturday, 5 June 2010
The Force ‘aint with us!
Day Two: Surrey v Leicestershire, The Oval
The force isn't with us. Or so it seemed by close of play.
Nothing’s ever simple with Surrey. After an almost fruitless morning of plugging away, it took an inspired spell from Jade Dernbach to mop up the Leicestershire tail, like Luke Skywalker homing in on the Death Star, delivering the final deadly blow. The final four wickets fell for just 8 runs with Dernbach and Batty causing all the trouble but, for all that, the Leics total stood at 479, with Surrey claiming 1 bowling point and the opposition gaining 4 batting points.
Fielding in the heat isn’t very pleasant, I’d have thought. Fielding in the heat for the best part of two days must be even less pleasant. So, coming in to bat after two days of fielding in the heat must be extremely unpleasant for even the fittest of persons. I reckon Leicestershire will be glad to have won the toss because I think this was a major factor in what followed.
Basically, Surrey never really got going. I’m sure Ramps was hoping for a little more time to put his feet up, just as I suppose Harinath was expecting a little more time at the crease, but sadly for both neither happened and young Arun was dismissed for 4. Ramps seemed to settle in and play his usual game whilst Davies played a more assertive role, and for as long as the pair of them were at the crease things looked fairly settled. And then an incredible over from Claude Henderson saw the removal of both Steven Davies (69) and Mark Ramprakash (30), which sparked an all too familiar Surrey collapse.
Captain Rory, whose gung-ho bravado I admit I rather like, knows how he wants to play the game. Usually this involves being extremely positive, and indeed why not? Davies also likes to score quickly, which is why I think in the shorter game they makes such an impressive, watchable opening pair. However, there has been the odd occasion where that positivity has managed to get him out when possibly a little more circumspection might have been beneficial. He finished today with a score of 13 (unlucky for him). And now I feel a total rat for saying it! At the end of the day I guess the players know rather more about the game than I do. The most impressive thing I can do is play Queen’s ‘Somebody to Love’ on the kazoo...
Only Davies and Ramps really sounded remotely relaxed at the crease, which considering the menacing, dark side like presence of Henderson says a lot. Actually, Surrey could have benefitted from having some stormtroopers bowling at them because as all Star Wars aficionados will tell you, they couldn’t hit the target if it was stood a foot in front of them with a big red cross and ‘please shoot here’ above it.
To make matters worse, Younus Khan stuck around for three balls. In two innings the poor man has made three runs. I do feel sorry for him! All that expectation and it just hasn’t happened for him. As anticipated Pakistan have now rescinded their sentence of a life ban. What that means for Surrey I don’t know, but as he hasn’t exactly found his legs at the Oval I imagine he will be quite keen to try and rekindle his international career, if he wasn’t already.
If this were to happen, any chance of getting Symonds full time?
Batty managed to get out for a duck late on in proceedings, just as Nathan Buck had earlier. Buck for a duck! I did laugh at that one. Somewhat childishly, I know.
Simply, Leicestershire played better than Surrey. There is a tiny flicker of hope in that Afzaal is still at the crease on 24, with Chris Schofield who we all know can stick around longer than a dose of shingles (with apologies for the unflattering comparison) not out on 3. But even with a Surrey tail that can on occasions - such as against Northants – provide some substance you have to say that this time the chances of surviving the follow on is as likely as Jabba the Hutt winning gold on the asymmetric bars.
As Han Solo might have said, I have a baaaaad feeling about this...
Monday, 31 May 2010
The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
Day Three, Glamorgan v Surrey, Swalec
The Good:
Mark Ramprakash passed the 34,000 run mark. When I say that, I don’t mean he got 34,000 runs today. He’s good, but unless he changes his name to Clark Kent it’s probably beyond even his superhuman powers. All the same 34,000 runs is something to be proud of, because when you think of it that’s an awful lot of shoe leather. The wonderfully named Cyril Washbrook is immediately ahead of him on the list with 34101 runs, so we’re keeping our collective Rampant fingers crossed he soon overtakes him.
Steven Davies making 83 was also pretty darned good, as was a comfy looking 73 from Ramps.
The still Good:
Chris Tremlett thundering in to claim two very early wickets this morning and finish off the Glamorgan innings with them adding something in the region of only 8 more runs. I acknowledge that if you are reading this as a Glamorgan fan you are probably less likely to see this as ‘good’. But then again, you are also probably thinking ‘I don’t care, we have a lead of 76 going in to tomorrow,’ so it evens things up a touch.
The Fairly Good:
The unexpected declaration by Surrey’s very own Captain Marvel, Rory Hamilton Brown. It was a good idea, probably based on the fact that Glamorgan might have expected an overnight declaration, that there was little point in keeping batting with the last wicket partnership on the field and with no more batting points realistically attainable, and with a chance of dismissing Cosgrove for very little. Unfortunately it gets downgraded to ‘fairly’ good because Cosgrove was still there at the end of play, as was Rees.
The Not Exactly Bad, but Not Good:
Usman Afzaal falling one short of a rather good fifty. My fault, Usman. Just as Churchy said you were one short I heard a little voice in my head say that you weren’t going to get it, and lo and behold two seconds later you were gone for 49! Must try to restrain spooky witchy stuff in future.
Yonus Khan getting his first bat for Surrey was definitely good. Falling fifth ball without scoring: unfortunate.
The Bad:
I was studying a particularly unfortunate branch of my family tree today. Five children wiped out by Scarlatina. Three of those children, including a set of twins, all died within a space of two weeks. It put me in mind of the tail end of the Surrey batting line-up as within 10 overs Afzaal, Batty, Meaker and Dernbach all perished for not very many at all.
Again, from a Surrey point of view, Harris ripping through the top order after tea was extremely unhelpful. He got rid of Davies, then Ramps with a beautiful ball (which doesn’t endear him to us because we don’t take kindly to people dismissing the King of Kennington), and then both Younus and the young pretender RHB for quackers! Obviously, if you are Harris or one of the Glamorgan team you probably are feeling a little bit better about it than the Rampants do.
The Ugly:
My mood when the aforementioned Harris got rid of Ramps just when I was settling in to listen to the commentary! You couldn’t have even waited 5 minutes, could you James???
Thursday, 27 May 2010
Still celebrating!
Okay...I’ve calmed down now.
But yippee! A win in the CC! Something that hasn’t happened to Surrey since, well, last year against the very same team! Cue little dancing Ewoks playing celebratory jungle drums! Does this mean we can only win against Northants? Or, as we are all hoping and praying, will it lead to a renewed energy and confidence to take into the Glamorgan game? It will be a tough act considering that Glamorgan are at the top of Division 2, but the fact that Surrey are only a few points behind Leicestershire now, although still at the bottom, suggests that any team on a good day is capable of beating any of the others.
It really is going to come down to those little ‘moments’. The catches taken and those dropped. The boundaries successfully cut off, and decisions going your way. Surrey’s fielding, so often castigated in the past, has improved so much since the beginning of the season. It’s going to have to be tip-top at Cardiff on Saturday.
Other than the win though, which was the major achievement of the Northants game, there were some good individual performances. Nel and Dernbach’s batting extravaganza was mentioned yesterday, but this morning they both managed to inflict a lot of damage with the ball as well. Linley claimed the early scalp of Boje, and Sales (who had sadly been off the field of play with a rather nasty sounding migraine for much of the game) was run out shortly after for a duck. Hall managed 32 before Nel removed him, and he also got rid of Middlebrook for 5. Vaas hung around for a little while, putting on 17 before falling to Dernbach, and yesterday’s hero also accounted for Dagget, who made 2 runs. It left Willey not out on 18 and Northants with a total of 241 for Surrey to chase in two sessions.
The target looked fairly doable, and so it proved. Davies opened with Harinath and hit a quickfire 25 until caught by Willey. Ramps steadied the Surrey ship in his own inimitable style, quietly accumulating runs whilst Harinath made a solid 48 before being dismissed. RHB, playing in his usual positive and aggressive fashion, lived dangerously at various stages in the innings, finally removed for 45 coming down the track to smash the ball and then being stumped by O’Brien. Afzaal however played a much more studious and sedate innings and contrived with Mark Ramprakash to see the game to its conclusion – and a Surrey victory.
The South London team finally claimed a well deserved 7 wicket win over Northants, with Afzaal 33 not out and Ramps 79 not out. It’s a rich seam of form that Mr R has hit in the last few games. A double ton and a single hundred in the Middlesex game, plus a 70 and 79 not out in the Northants game. He currently sits third in the combined division batting figures with a very healthy average into the 70s, better than both the batsman ahead of him in terms of runs. I imagine the briefing of Saturday’s Glamorgan team will have ‘get Ramps early’ at the top of their agenda, followed by ‘don’t drop him, for god’s sake’ as bullet point number two. Of course, this brings my old favourite Mr Cosgrove back into the frame come Saturday. It’s the battle of the two Marks: and both are right bang in form. Who is going to come out on top?
I’m guessing the Surrey song was echoing throughout the dressing room at Wantage Road this evening. I hope they kept the lyrics clean, or poor Younis Khan, newly arrived from Pakistan, will be wondering exactly what he’s landed himself in! Yes, that’s right: the invisible batsman is no longer invisible.
Hopefully he’ll be given the chance to sing along with the team on many occasions to come!
But yippee! A win in the CC! Something that hasn’t happened to Surrey since, well, last year against the very same team! Cue little dancing Ewoks playing celebratory jungle drums! Does this mean we can only win against Northants? Or, as we are all hoping and praying, will it lead to a renewed energy and confidence to take into the Glamorgan game? It will be a tough act considering that Glamorgan are at the top of Division 2, but the fact that Surrey are only a few points behind Leicestershire now, although still at the bottom, suggests that any team on a good day is capable of beating any of the others.
It really is going to come down to those little ‘moments’. The catches taken and those dropped. The boundaries successfully cut off, and decisions going your way. Surrey’s fielding, so often castigated in the past, has improved so much since the beginning of the season. It’s going to have to be tip-top at Cardiff on Saturday.
Other than the win though, which was the major achievement of the Northants game, there were some good individual performances. Nel and Dernbach’s batting extravaganza was mentioned yesterday, but this morning they both managed to inflict a lot of damage with the ball as well. Linley claimed the early scalp of Boje, and Sales (who had sadly been off the field of play with a rather nasty sounding migraine for much of the game) was run out shortly after for a duck. Hall managed 32 before Nel removed him, and he also got rid of Middlebrook for 5. Vaas hung around for a little while, putting on 17 before falling to Dernbach, and yesterday’s hero also accounted for Dagget, who made 2 runs. It left Willey not out on 18 and Northants with a total of 241 for Surrey to chase in two sessions.
The target looked fairly doable, and so it proved. Davies opened with Harinath and hit a quickfire 25 until caught by Willey. Ramps steadied the Surrey ship in his own inimitable style, quietly accumulating runs whilst Harinath made a solid 48 before being dismissed. RHB, playing in his usual positive and aggressive fashion, lived dangerously at various stages in the innings, finally removed for 45 coming down the track to smash the ball and then being stumped by O’Brien. Afzaal however played a much more studious and sedate innings and contrived with Mark Ramprakash to see the game to its conclusion – and a Surrey victory.
The South London team finally claimed a well deserved 7 wicket win over Northants, with Afzaal 33 not out and Ramps 79 not out. It’s a rich seam of form that Mr R has hit in the last few games. A double ton and a single hundred in the Middlesex game, plus a 70 and 79 not out in the Northants game. He currently sits third in the combined division batting figures with a very healthy average into the 70s, better than both the batsman ahead of him in terms of runs. I imagine the briefing of Saturday’s Glamorgan team will have ‘get Ramps early’ at the top of their agenda, followed by ‘don’t drop him, for god’s sake’ as bullet point number two. Of course, this brings my old favourite Mr Cosgrove back into the frame come Saturday. It’s the battle of the two Marks: and both are right bang in form. Who is going to come out on top?
I’m guessing the Surrey song was echoing throughout the dressing room at Wantage Road this evening. I hope they kept the lyrics clean, or poor Younis Khan, newly arrived from Pakistan, will be wondering exactly what he’s landed himself in! Yes, that’s right: the invisible batsman is no longer invisible.
Hopefully he’ll be given the chance to sing along with the team on many occasions to come!
Tuesday, 25 May 2010
Looking down the barrel
I think Chris Adams must be a little fed up trying to give his honest opinion as to what’s gone wrong in the latest Surrey match. At the end of the day’s play Surrey close on 210-7, and it’s a bit difficult to pinpoint what the malady is with the team. Okay, now some wag is sure to say something about not scoring enough runs or taking enough wickets! The skills are all there, but it’s a very young team (only Nel, Ramps and Afzaal are especially experienced). Whether that is a contributing factor or not for the continuing woes in the championship games, who can say? It’s certainly not a lack of effort. I know the fans feel the lack of wins keenly, but I bet they don’t feel it half as badly as the team.
As so often happens, if you took Mr Ramprakash’s first innings total away from an otherwise poor score, Surrey would be in all heaps of trouble. As it is they are already staring down the barrel. None of the other batsmen were able to get any significant partnerships going, which rather puts that sizeable effort from Boje and Loye into context yesterday. Davies and Harinath opened, with the latter going for a duck, poor fellow, whilst Davies made 33 (which for him was an unusually small total). Only Davies will know if he minds opening in the championship as he does in the shorter game, where he is so effective – Jon Batty seemed to love opening - but it does on paper make sense until Brown is back from his injury problem.
RHB made 30; Afzaal sadly reverted back to his previous bad run of form and made only 12, although there was still a glimmer of hope whilst Ramps and Spriegel were together at the crease. Unfortunately Mr R went whilst looking set on 70, and Chris Schofield took his place at the crease but was sadly unable to replicate his heroics of the previous week, going for 29. Tom Jewell made his championship debut with the bat, but it turned out to be a baptism of fire as he scored 1 run before being given lbw. Andre Nel found himself coming to the crease in the last over of the day, and remains not out on 0 with Spriegel not out on 25.
You have to feel a bit sorry for Jewell, coming in when he did and then getting out with a few balls left. If he’d managed to survive he might well have dug in tomorrow, as he and Spriegel know each other very well and could possibly have made a good partnership. As it is the follow on looms large, and Surrey will be hoping to at least salvage their pride, even if a draw is almost as bad as a loss these days.
One nice, noteworthy occurrence was the first 5fer of Tim Linley’s first class career. Well played, the Viscount! At least something went Surrey’s way!
A note on the injury front: Mr Tremlett apparently has a slight shoulder niggle and is not surprisingly being looked after. I guess there’s no point in potentially making the problem any worse. Still no definite word on when Khan is coming to Surrey either: I’m beginning to wonder if the club is hexed. First we had the invisible bowler and now we have the invisible batsman! He’s not exactly a like for like replacement for Chawla but he could be a pretty decent signing for Surrey – if he ever gets here! I think we’ve been told somewhere in the next week, so fingers crossed.
This blog’s got a bit serious in the last few weeks with all the match reporting, and whilst I can do serious, years of taking the mickey out of myself to counteract sundry personal defects such as galloping agoraphobia tend to make me view most things with a comedic eye. I couldn’t help but wonder if the players actually like ice baths, or are they a necessary evil? Do they dread them the same way as the bleep tests? What would happen if ice baths were in fact installed as punishment chambers, where batsmen are sent if they don’t score runs?
To this end, looking at the amount of runs scored to number of innings, only Ramprakash, Davies and Harinath would really be able to avoid spending any significant time in there. The others would range from being very cold to having their assets well and truly frozen!
As so often happens, if you took Mr Ramprakash’s first innings total away from an otherwise poor score, Surrey would be in all heaps of trouble. As it is they are already staring down the barrel. None of the other batsmen were able to get any significant partnerships going, which rather puts that sizeable effort from Boje and Loye into context yesterday. Davies and Harinath opened, with the latter going for a duck, poor fellow, whilst Davies made 33 (which for him was an unusually small total). Only Davies will know if he minds opening in the championship as he does in the shorter game, where he is so effective – Jon Batty seemed to love opening - but it does on paper make sense until Brown is back from his injury problem.
RHB made 30; Afzaal sadly reverted back to his previous bad run of form and made only 12, although there was still a glimmer of hope whilst Ramps and Spriegel were together at the crease. Unfortunately Mr R went whilst looking set on 70, and Chris Schofield took his place at the crease but was sadly unable to replicate his heroics of the previous week, going for 29. Tom Jewell made his championship debut with the bat, but it turned out to be a baptism of fire as he scored 1 run before being given lbw. Andre Nel found himself coming to the crease in the last over of the day, and remains not out on 0 with Spriegel not out on 25.
You have to feel a bit sorry for Jewell, coming in when he did and then getting out with a few balls left. If he’d managed to survive he might well have dug in tomorrow, as he and Spriegel know each other very well and could possibly have made a good partnership. As it is the follow on looms large, and Surrey will be hoping to at least salvage their pride, even if a draw is almost as bad as a loss these days.
One nice, noteworthy occurrence was the first 5fer of Tim Linley’s first class career. Well played, the Viscount! At least something went Surrey’s way!
A note on the injury front: Mr Tremlett apparently has a slight shoulder niggle and is not surprisingly being looked after. I guess there’s no point in potentially making the problem any worse. Still no definite word on when Khan is coming to Surrey either: I’m beginning to wonder if the club is hexed. First we had the invisible bowler and now we have the invisible batsman! He’s not exactly a like for like replacement for Chawla but he could be a pretty decent signing for Surrey – if he ever gets here! I think we’ve been told somewhere in the next week, so fingers crossed.
This blog’s got a bit serious in the last few weeks with all the match reporting, and whilst I can do serious, years of taking the mickey out of myself to counteract sundry personal defects such as galloping agoraphobia tend to make me view most things with a comedic eye. I couldn’t help but wonder if the players actually like ice baths, or are they a necessary evil? Do they dread them the same way as the bleep tests? What would happen if ice baths were in fact installed as punishment chambers, where batsmen are sent if they don’t score runs?
To this end, looking at the amount of runs scored to number of innings, only Ramprakash, Davies and Harinath would really be able to avoid spending any significant time in there. The others would range from being very cold to having their assets well and truly frozen!
Sunday, 23 May 2010
I love it when a plan comes together...
Not that there’s much resemblance between the skipper and the A-Team’s Hannibal Smith, but I bet he was thinking much the same thing as Surrey walked off the field of play at the end of the CB40 game against Lancashire. Whilst Surrey have not been doing terribly well in the championship - a current tally of zero wins so far this season, a whole zero more than last season - their form in the CB40 games has been rather splendid! If Friday’s contest showed Surrey could dig themselves out of any fix (like BA Baracus creating an armoured tank from a garage full of paint pots and a few sheets of corrugated iron), today’s display was as silky smooth as one of Dirk Benedict’s shirts.
There the A-Team similarities end, unless Gary Wilson needs his cheese burger doped before they get him onto a plane...
Yesterday I complained that Surrey had a tendency to collapse when Ramps got out, but the problem didn’t arise at all today as the main man was rested (or according to Bumble because he had a slight groin strain). On paper – and with Jimmy Anderson back to bolster an already fine Lancashire side – you’d have thought Surrey would have had their work cut out. Even as an annoying optimist I found myself settling down to listen to what I anticipated would be an enormous drubbing.
I do love being wrong sometimes!
But for a large partnership in the middle of the Lancashire innings care of Sutton and Chilton, Surrey’s opponents never really got going, and this wasn’t so much the batsmen playing badly but the Surrey bowlers repeatedly hitting their mark again and again. Each one of them had a fantastic game but by and large I would just give the nod to Dernbach as pick of the bunch. If he can keep this consistency up in the championship games he is going to be a real handful. In total he claimed three wickets, as did Andre Nel, with two for Tremlett as well. Lancashire were all bowled out for 165, a total that was never going to be enough barring a huge collapse.
Mind you, Surrey has been prone to the odd collapse. Fortunately there was none of that today, as the opening partnership of RHB and Steven Davies came in, kept their heads down and then slowly upped the tempo, with Davies in particular sounding very relaxed and majestic with the bat. It’s not often that Surrey and their fans can sit back and tick the overs away, safe in the knowledge that it was almost impossible to lose the game. It was all finished by the time 23.5 overs had been reached: little short of an absolute massacre! RHB had made 65, and Davies was 85 not out at the close, with Evans out for a rather uncomfortable 3 runs. Afzaal was also not out on 7 at the end of the game.
So, today’s spectacularly uncomplicated, almost clinical victory keeps Surrey second at the top of the table one point behind Somerset. The Unicorns appear to have beaten Sussex as well, which is useful from a Surrey point of view. However, just when you would expect to be able to take all that momentum and energy into the next CB40 game, a quick look at the schedule tells you that Surrey don’t have another game in the competition until July! Is it wrong to scratch my head in bewilderment at this point?
What the schedule does reveal is:
Surrey have a lot of travelling to do.
Surrey have a lot of championship games to play.
Surrey are going to be absolutely knackered by the time they next play a CB40 game, as they have to play for 18 out of the next 22 days!
Hopefully at least the two wins in the CB40 will at least inspire Surrey in terms of confidence. Schoey can do a job with bat and ball, Davies is in tip-top form with the bat as well as tidy behind the stumps, RHB can score quickly, and Ramps and Afzaal have both regained their form in the last few games. With the bowlers beginning to fire, it will surely all come together for Surrey.
Will tomorrow be the day?
There the A-Team similarities end, unless Gary Wilson needs his cheese burger doped before they get him onto a plane...
Yesterday I complained that Surrey had a tendency to collapse when Ramps got out, but the problem didn’t arise at all today as the main man was rested (or according to Bumble because he had a slight groin strain). On paper – and with Jimmy Anderson back to bolster an already fine Lancashire side – you’d have thought Surrey would have had their work cut out. Even as an annoying optimist I found myself settling down to listen to what I anticipated would be an enormous drubbing.
I do love being wrong sometimes!
But for a large partnership in the middle of the Lancashire innings care of Sutton and Chilton, Surrey’s opponents never really got going, and this wasn’t so much the batsmen playing badly but the Surrey bowlers repeatedly hitting their mark again and again. Each one of them had a fantastic game but by and large I would just give the nod to Dernbach as pick of the bunch. If he can keep this consistency up in the championship games he is going to be a real handful. In total he claimed three wickets, as did Andre Nel, with two for Tremlett as well. Lancashire were all bowled out for 165, a total that was never going to be enough barring a huge collapse.
Mind you, Surrey has been prone to the odd collapse. Fortunately there was none of that today, as the opening partnership of RHB and Steven Davies came in, kept their heads down and then slowly upped the tempo, with Davies in particular sounding very relaxed and majestic with the bat. It’s not often that Surrey and their fans can sit back and tick the overs away, safe in the knowledge that it was almost impossible to lose the game. It was all finished by the time 23.5 overs had been reached: little short of an absolute massacre! RHB had made 65, and Davies was 85 not out at the close, with Evans out for a rather uncomfortable 3 runs. Afzaal was also not out on 7 at the end of the game.
So, today’s spectacularly uncomplicated, almost clinical victory keeps Surrey second at the top of the table one point behind Somerset. The Unicorns appear to have beaten Sussex as well, which is useful from a Surrey point of view. However, just when you would expect to be able to take all that momentum and energy into the next CB40 game, a quick look at the schedule tells you that Surrey don’t have another game in the competition until July! Is it wrong to scratch my head in bewilderment at this point?
What the schedule does reveal is:
Surrey have a lot of travelling to do.
Surrey have a lot of championship games to play.
Surrey are going to be absolutely knackered by the time they next play a CB40 game, as they have to play for 18 out of the next 22 days!
Hopefully at least the two wins in the CB40 will at least inspire Surrey in terms of confidence. Schoey can do a job with bat and ball, Davies is in tip-top form with the bat as well as tidy behind the stumps, RHB can score quickly, and Ramps and Afzaal have both regained their form in the last few games. With the bowlers beginning to fire, it will surely all come together for Surrey.
Will tomorrow be the day?
Saturday, 22 May 2010
Schofield: A man for all seasons
I have a guilty secret. My teddy bear is called ‘Cosgrove’.
The last time I had the pleasure of being at the Oval was at the back end of last year, to watch a Ramps-less Surrey take on Glamorgan. The obligatory foray into the Oval shop ensued with the result that Annabel and I purchased a Surrey teddy each. Being a fan of the newly retired club skipper, Annabel called hers ‘Butch’. I on the other hand decided to find a name that seemed a little more appropriate and found inspiration on the field of play in the formidable shape of Glamorgan’s Mark Cosgrove.
Well, there is a definite resemblance in terms of physique, you have to admit!
But there remains the inescapable truth that, for all his lack of sveltness, Cosgrove is one heck of a player on his day. And sure enough the CB40 match between Glamorgan and Surrey turned into a humdinger of a game! With Surrey having lost the toss Glamorgan opted to bat first which meant that the Lions reply would be mostly under the lights. Cosgrove scored a robust 61 before Gareth Batty bowled him, and received some strong support from the mighty T Maynard along the way. Little scores from the rest of the dragons’ team contributed to a total of 223 which, it must be said, looked a bit light and Surrey must really have fancied their chances at chasing it down.
Now, I’m not one for picking performances apart as that is a job for the analysts, who know a bit more about it than I do. Additionally, if someone such as me can spot a flaw in an individual’s innings then the chances are that person has already noticed it themselves. Suffice it to say therefore that Surrey has a bit of a problem when Ramps is out of the equation. That’s not idle hero-worship either. The captain kicked things off nicely at the top of the order before dismissed by Waters for 21. With Steven Davies still absent, his place was given to Stewart Walters who has an amazing amount of skill but somehow it just hasn’t seemed to come good for him overall. Walters was eventually given out LBW for 18.
Ramps and Afzaal, batting together as so often happens put on a nice little partnership. It’s a sort of Thaw and Waterman ‘good cop/bad cop’ double act at the crease. Afzaal unfortunately bailed out on 23 and left Ramps to keep ticking along with Spriegel for company. Mr R made a solid 40 before Owen removed him. At this point I’m pretty sure the boys back on the Surrey balcony must have been holding their heads in their hands a touch, for what had seemed like a simple run chase was beginning to resemble a slow motion wrestling match in pink custard...
But cometh the hour, cometh the man. King for a day and Rampant favourite Chris Schofield, who took to the field following what must have been one of the most embarrassing moments of Gary Wilson’s fledgling career when he ran himself out for a fourth ball duck (and with the TV cameras capturing the moment in its humiliating gruesomeness) proceeded to bed in with first Spriegel, and then Gareth Batty. The latter played a brave Butcheresque innings on one leg, having suffered from what appeared to be a particularly unpleasant bout of cramp, with Stewart Walters acting as runner. I have to admit I had my fingers crossed at this point as I think I remember Butch being ‘run-out’ when Walters was acting as runner for him on one occasion.
Hats off to Batty though, as he managed 22 before he was caught, and with he and Schofield getting their heads down it gave Surrey the advantage once again. Tremlett came in for a small but steady 6 run cameo, and with Andre Nel, playing with a finger that had been dislocated only the day before, they nudged their noses in front on the line, winning by two wickets.
There was no doubt that Schoey’s 64 not out would win him man of the match. Quite possibly it was his best innings for Surrey. Special commendation also for Batty in that heroic stand, for Nel in helping to see them over the line, and a mention for Ramps for the 40 runs he contributed when he must have been fairly exhausted following his titanic 300 plus effort in the Middlesex game. I hadn’t expected to see him play in the Glamorgan match. These county cricketers are tough lads!
Surrey currently fill second place in their group table and have won every game played so far. Things are fortunately going much better for them in the shorter format of the game than in the championship. There have been one or two well known, dare I say respected, people who have had a go at Surrey’s lack of togetherness as a unit, and that they are filled with ‘individuals’, big egos and non-team players. I can’t comment on this, as I am not part of the dressing room (I imagine letting Rampants into the dressing room would be considered unwise anyway), but then again neither are these gentlemen either. I would however like to make one tiny point in Surrey’s defence.
Look at the four players I commended in winning the game for Surrey, and tell me if being an ‘individual’ is such a bad thing!
Monday, 17 May 2010
Kash’in In
Day one Surrey v Middlesex at the Oval
Oh, you’ve got to allow me that title. I’ve been waiting since April to use it!
I do love Surrey v Middlesex games. I love them because, whilst I feel no animosity towards Middlesex at all, I just love a good old-fashioned Derby. A set-to, a ding-dong, a barney...call it what you will, only more civilised. And with balls. There’s something special about these Middlesex v Surrey games, and I have spent the last three or so years trying to work out what it is.
Is it the atmosphere of those two monumental bastions, the Oval and Lords? Is it the centuries of history, built up layer upon layer, year upon year? Is it the romance of a contest between two once mighty teams struggling to recapture their best?
Well, actually no it isn’t. The answer is far simpler. It’s because usually Ramps tends to give his former club a real doing over!
It has to be said that the exceptional Mr R hasn’t quite found his dancing feet early this season, for many reasons, although there have been a couple of fairly effortless performances amidst a series of, shall we say, bijou scores, but you always feel with Ramps that a shed load of runs are usually lurking round the corner. And lo and behold, the Middlesex posse moseyed into Kennington and worked their usual magic. Fingers crossed this will kick-start his season and propel him towards a nice purple patch of form. At the close of play, he sits 125 not out after a hard fought century from 261 balls.
Having momentarily dispensed with the waving of flags and hanging of Rampant bunting (or in Jean’s case pushing pineapples and shaking trees), now is possibly a time to reflect on the game overall. Harinath and Evans, subjected to some pretty decent bowling (you see, I’m quite unbiased when I put my mind to it!) began to tick slowly along, although you felt Evans was just getting into his stride when he was bowled by former Surrey player Murtagh. In came former Middlesex player Ramprakash, who played very watchfully throughout the first session, whilst former Surrey players Scot ‘Pandora’ Newman and Pedro ‘Mr Whippy’ Collins looked on, probably knowing only too well that Ramps likes scoring hundreds against the St John’s Wood contingent.
In the meantime Udal, not formerly of Surrey, managed to remove young Harinath for 39. It turned out to be a rather productive day for Udal, if an unintentionally dramatic one, as it appears that the poor fellow managed to half-concuss himself trying to dive for a ball. Fingers crossed he’s okay: I may want Surrey to thrash Middlesex but I don’t want the opposition maimed in the process. In the absence of Steven Davies, away on England Lions duty, captain RHB came in at four, scoring rapidly just as the Surrey effort looked to be crawling almost to a stop, and smacked a relatively quick fire 55 from 60 balls, exactly what the innings needed. However, Udal struck again, bringing in Afzaal.
Now, the Rampants love Afzaal. We may have mentioned this earlier in the blog. And he got a nice little partnership going with his buddy Ramps at the crease, sticking with him all the way as Mr R stuttered through the extremely nervous nineties towards a century that he must have wanted very much indeed. Middlesex were doing their darndest to restrict Surrey by making sure that singles were hard to come by, hoping to induce the fault. And after that landmark was reached – the 110th first class century of his career and 5th against Middlesex – Afzaal and Ramps began to play some lovely shots and relax. Unfortunately for Afzaal he relaxed too much and was dismissed by Udal with the very last ball of the day.
We still love Usman, though. Even if the initial thought of the O’Rampant contingent was “Afzaal, you PLANK!”
Honours pretty much even at close of play then. Surrey end the day with MR Ramprakash not out, and with the new batsman yet to face a ball. If Middlesex get Ramps quickly tomorrow they will be feeling it is very much their game to lose, but if they can’t...well, let’s just say Gus Fraser must be sick of the sight of Ramps. It occurred to me to wonder what Ramps averages against Middlesex at the moment (it must surely be over 100), and a witty reply from friend-of-the-Rampants Harold informed me that the qualitative answer was, "He averages full throttle".
So, another century to be added to the wall of the hundred hundreds bar. The Surrey fans will be delighted that the great man saw fit to once more take his ire out on his former club. I imagine that the sane majority of Middlesex supporters will shrug their shoulders and think “oh well, here we go again,” and marvel at a skilled and naturally gifted batsman going about his work.
To the tiny minority of rather angry people out there who seem to have a little bit of trouble letting the past go, I suggest a lie-down in a dark room and some essential oils might help a little...
Tuesday, 11 May 2010
It's...a draw!
Now, there’s a surprise. If it wasn’t for the fact that there was some rather good cricket being played I would have taken the unpopular view that a three day game at the Oval was a complete waste of time (in terms of a positive outcome). I do feel a four day game would have been better for both parties because the tame way in which the match tottered towards its inexorable conclusion left me feeling a tad deflated.
That said, a splendiferous 150 plus innings from Afzaal (Hah! Take that, moany people!) showed that he can still swing the bat, and time was all he needed to sort himself out. I’m hoping he will kick on now: Surrey needs both he and Ramps to bat at their best. It’s harsh, but true. Mr R has almost singlehandedly carried Surrey on his broad back for years, and it isn’t fair that so much pressure is put on him – and indeed Afzaal as the other noted specialist batsman – but it’s because they are on their day very fine players.
Has Evans done enough to get a recall to the first team? Has Spriegel earned a middle order berth? It’s all fascinating stuff. Lancefield is still learning his trade, one feels, and has time ahead of him. I’d personally be tempted to have Evans open the batting until Michael Brown makes a reappearance. His ninety eight was finely accumulated over the course of the day. It was so, so close to one hundred that you just felt something cruel was going to happen, just like it did to Meaker, and sure enough he was run-out just two short. Cricket can be a real barsteward of a game sometimes.
Now, Afzaal doesn’t seem remotely to blame in the Evans run out from what I can gather, but there remains the fact that certain players do seem to be involved in run outs more than others. Afzaal is one of that unhappy band, whether it is his fault, his partner’s fault or simply down to lack of luck. I get the impression, from what I have seen of him in the field and batting in the middle, that he isn’t Spring-heeled Jack. I suppose it’s difficult for an Airbus to do a half-turn...
And so on to Middlesex next week, who seem to be finding their mojo a little just when a non-neutral wouldn’t want them to. Newman and Murtagh against their old club, and Ramps against his. If their last encounter at the Oval was anything to go by, it could be a very interesting game...
That said, a splendiferous 150 plus innings from Afzaal (Hah! Take that, moany people!) showed that he can still swing the bat, and time was all he needed to sort himself out. I’m hoping he will kick on now: Surrey needs both he and Ramps to bat at their best. It’s harsh, but true. Mr R has almost singlehandedly carried Surrey on his broad back for years, and it isn’t fair that so much pressure is put on him – and indeed Afzaal as the other noted specialist batsman – but it’s because they are on their day very fine players.
Has Evans done enough to get a recall to the first team? Has Spriegel earned a middle order berth? It’s all fascinating stuff. Lancefield is still learning his trade, one feels, and has time ahead of him. I’d personally be tempted to have Evans open the batting until Michael Brown makes a reappearance. His ninety eight was finely accumulated over the course of the day. It was so, so close to one hundred that you just felt something cruel was going to happen, just like it did to Meaker, and sure enough he was run-out just two short. Cricket can be a real barsteward of a game sometimes.
Now, Afzaal doesn’t seem remotely to blame in the Evans run out from what I can gather, but there remains the fact that certain players do seem to be involved in run outs more than others. Afzaal is one of that unhappy band, whether it is his fault, his partner’s fault or simply down to lack of luck. I get the impression, from what I have seen of him in the field and batting in the middle, that he isn’t Spring-heeled Jack. I suppose it’s difficult for an Airbus to do a half-turn...
And so on to Middlesex next week, who seem to be finding their mojo a little just when a non-neutral wouldn’t want them to. Newman and Murtagh against their old club, and Ramps against his. If their last encounter at the Oval was anything to go by, it could be a very interesting game...
Monday, 10 May 2010
Dunn Roamin'
Short match report, day two: Surrey v Bangladesh at the Oval
It’s impossible to write anything with Michael Vaughan laughing in the background. I don’t know why, but it’s true, so I have switched him off.
This is an abridged report, because I only heard the last quarter of the game. Work seems to be interfering with my cricket life at the moment. Ironically, it appears I can now access the live commentary at work via the internet, which is good except for two reasons: firstly I take my lunch at 13.20, which coincides with the break in play, and secondly because the IT security people would ask me to justify listening to the commentary out-with lunch. I would give them my answer; they would smile and nod, and then give me the sack. So frustrating! It’s like dangling a dark Magnum ice lolly in front of a chocoholic for several hours, just out of reach!
Highlights of today appear to have included several masterful displays by the Bangladesh batsmen, especially the 158 made by Mr Islam, and an equally worthy 89 from Ashraful. There were wickets for Evans, King and Jewell, but the story of the day was really the late success of Matthew Dunn who proceeded to take three first class wickets, including the scalp of Naeem with a very cheeky last ball of the day! I’m sure it will be a moment that young Mr Dunn will cherish. It’s also fantastic to see the home grown talent getting a go, and I applaud Chris Adams for giving them their chance in this game.
Again, it wasn’t the best of days for Usman Afzaal in the field, as he dropped an absolute dolly by the sound of it. I’m beginning to feel sorry for him a touch, because you can be sure that nameless, shadowy looking Surrey members will be spluttering into their pimms, demanding he be dropped. And it must be difficult to play your best cricket when you know your jacket’s on a shoogly peg, as we say north of the border.
Despite the wonderful batting and the breakthrough bowling, the undoubted highlight for me was when Alec Stewart took to the field once again for Surrey, temporarily replacing Afzaal. As a come-lately to cricket I didn’t have the honour of seeing Mr Stewart play for Surrey, or indeed England, so the five minute cameo rather tickled me! What can I say; I’m a sentimentalist when it comes to sport.
I’m assuming that if a result is going to come then it will most likely be Bangladesh’s victory. That’s not me being pessimistic for once, but more in the line of common sense. David may have slain Goliath, but he didn’t do it with a googly...
It’s impossible to write anything with Michael Vaughan laughing in the background. I don’t know why, but it’s true, so I have switched him off.
This is an abridged report, because I only heard the last quarter of the game. Work seems to be interfering with my cricket life at the moment. Ironically, it appears I can now access the live commentary at work via the internet, which is good except for two reasons: firstly I take my lunch at 13.20, which coincides with the break in play, and secondly because the IT security people would ask me to justify listening to the commentary out-with lunch. I would give them my answer; they would smile and nod, and then give me the sack. So frustrating! It’s like dangling a dark Magnum ice lolly in front of a chocoholic for several hours, just out of reach!
Highlights of today appear to have included several masterful displays by the Bangladesh batsmen, especially the 158 made by Mr Islam, and an equally worthy 89 from Ashraful. There were wickets for Evans, King and Jewell, but the story of the day was really the late success of Matthew Dunn who proceeded to take three first class wickets, including the scalp of Naeem with a very cheeky last ball of the day! I’m sure it will be a moment that young Mr Dunn will cherish. It’s also fantastic to see the home grown talent getting a go, and I applaud Chris Adams for giving them their chance in this game.
Again, it wasn’t the best of days for Usman Afzaal in the field, as he dropped an absolute dolly by the sound of it. I’m beginning to feel sorry for him a touch, because you can be sure that nameless, shadowy looking Surrey members will be spluttering into their pimms, demanding he be dropped. And it must be difficult to play your best cricket when you know your jacket’s on a shoogly peg, as we say north of the border.
Despite the wonderful batting and the breakthrough bowling, the undoubted highlight for me was when Alec Stewart took to the field once again for Surrey, temporarily replacing Afzaal. As a come-lately to cricket I didn’t have the honour of seeing Mr Stewart play for Surrey, or indeed England, so the five minute cameo rather tickled me! What can I say; I’m a sentimentalist when it comes to sport.
I’m assuming that if a result is going to come then it will most likely be Bangladesh’s victory. That’s not me being pessimistic for once, but more in the line of common sense. David may have slain Goliath, but he didn’t do it with a googly...
Sunday, 9 May 2010
Young At Heart
Short match report, day one: Surrey v Bangladesh at the Oval
I personally found day one of this game rather interesting, for a number of reasons. From a Surrey perspective it was more curiosity, as the team was stacked full of promising youngsters that I had heard many good things about, but never actually seen. Or rather heard, as it’s difficult to see someone via the radio. I know Churchy’s good, but that would exceed even his abilities. If RHB had actually been captaining the average age of the squad would have reached 15.3, all of which has left me feeling extremely old. And it’s not a feeling I much care for either!
Where was I? There were one or two familiar faces: Chris Schofield standing in as captain as RHB probably had homework to do. Sorry, the age gag is getting a bit old (although it's the only thing that is). Usman Afzaal, probably missing the chance to leap Total Wipeout-style on his buddy Ramps, was also in the squad – presumably to get significant, confidence boosting time at the crease. Additionally it was great to see the return to Matthew Spriegel, who was in the first team a fair amount last year, with the result that I think everyone sees him as a seasoned pro rather than the young man he still is.
Lancefield interests me, in that he’s a possible to make a first team championship debut at some point. You get the feeling that he’s almost knocking at the door...just reaching for the handle, in fact. And Laurie Evans really deserves another chance. Perhaps with Michael Brown still on the sick-list he’ll get the chance to open with Harinath?
Young Mr H has actually impressed me over-all. He’s not afraid to take it slow, and quietly accumulate whilst his partner does his own thing. The Rampants like him so much; in fact, we gave him the nickname ‘Turtle’. He may be slow, but he always gets where he wants to in the end! And we shouldn’t forget our other first-class debutant, young Mr Dunn. I’m looking forward to seeing what he can do against a side that fairly bristles with experience and international class players.
A quick word, then, about Bangladesh. I really like their team, and I found their enthusiastic supporters to be lots of fun. Usually, these kinds of matches can be played as glorified county games to an audience of one man and a Pekinese called Trixie, but they had a nice little atmosphere building throughout the day, reaching to a crescendo as the mighty Ashraful came into the attack. I’m sort of torn between wanting Surrey to do well and hoping to see Bangladesh at their best, taking the fight to the boys.
Firstly, the brilliant: Matthew Spriegel scored his highest ever total with the bat for the first team and finished 108 not out. If he doesn’t get to slot back in at, say, six in a team that looks at least one batsman light then it will be a shame. The equally brilliant Meaker also showed how good he could be with the bat, coming agonisingly close to a maiden hundred and falling a mere six short in the end. Again, this was Meaker’s highest first class score, following on from his best haul with the ball in the Gloucestershire game.
The, er, not so brilliant: I’m afraid poor Afzaal didn’t really get going as we hoped he would. A few dramatic shots, one very nice stroke for four, and then out for a total of six runs. Probably not what either Usman or Chris Adams was hoping for. Captain Schoey managed one run less, but made five more than chirpy Gary Wilson who had a nice stroll to the crease, faced two balls, and had a less pleasant stroll back to the pavilion...
Evans looked quite comfy, and it was a surprise when he got out on twenty two as it appeared that he was going quite well. Harinath was playing his usual game, although the shot he got out on didn’t sound the best, and in the end he went for n-n-n-n-nineteen, as Rory Bremner might have said.
The real pleasant surprise was Lancefield, who scored an impressive forty seven. He must have been kicking himself when Spriegel and Meaker scored so heavily. I keep thinking of Geoff Boycott saying “them’s my runs”, but Lancefield made a good impression on his debut, and it won’t have done him any harm.
A surprise declaration made by Schoey on the fall of Meaker’s wicket meant that Surrey had posted 318, mostly scored by M&S. I’m not suggesting Meaker and Spriegel start their own food and clothing empire, but if they do I would like to complain that I can never get my size of bra without having to get under wiring. Maybe I should just shove two Tiflex balls into a small hammock and sling it underneath my arms for the same effect...
Ahem.
So much for day one: some good, some indifferent. All of which leaves me a bit puzzled. I love trying to second-guess Chris Adams and I am curious as to what he will do in terms of the championship games. Do you dare drop Afzaal, and give him a chance in the second team to re-discover his form? Do you, perish the thought, drop Ramps in similar fashion, who hasn’t looked out of touch as such but has only managed two competitive totals in his games so far? By the way, that was just me thinking out loud because if Mr Adams dares to drop Ramps I will come down to the Oval and ping him with a lot of large rubber bands. It may not sound like a deterrent but I am an extremely good shot...
On another note, Mr Meaker (I always think of Rentaghost when I hear that name) managed to hit a pigeon that got in the way of his shot. I was just thinking that the Kennington Pigeon Murderer had reappeared, but thankfully for the birdie in question it managed to stagger away minus some feathers. The search for a nickname for Stuart Meaker continues, as I am not calling him the Kennington Pigeon Plucker...
Oh, and on a completely different note, my spellcheck wants Arun Harinath to be known as Arran Hairnet. Spellcheck Cricket: maybe it'll catch on!
I personally found day one of this game rather interesting, for a number of reasons. From a Surrey perspective it was more curiosity, as the team was stacked full of promising youngsters that I had heard many good things about, but never actually seen. Or rather heard, as it’s difficult to see someone via the radio. I know Churchy’s good, but that would exceed even his abilities. If RHB had actually been captaining the average age of the squad would have reached 15.3, all of which has left me feeling extremely old. And it’s not a feeling I much care for either!
Where was I? There were one or two familiar faces: Chris Schofield standing in as captain as RHB probably had homework to do. Sorry, the age gag is getting a bit old (although it's the only thing that is). Usman Afzaal, probably missing the chance to leap Total Wipeout-style on his buddy Ramps, was also in the squad – presumably to get significant, confidence boosting time at the crease. Additionally it was great to see the return to Matthew Spriegel, who was in the first team a fair amount last year, with the result that I think everyone sees him as a seasoned pro rather than the young man he still is.
Lancefield interests me, in that he’s a possible to make a first team championship debut at some point. You get the feeling that he’s almost knocking at the door...just reaching for the handle, in fact. And Laurie Evans really deserves another chance. Perhaps with Michael Brown still on the sick-list he’ll get the chance to open with Harinath?
Young Mr H has actually impressed me over-all. He’s not afraid to take it slow, and quietly accumulate whilst his partner does his own thing. The Rampants like him so much; in fact, we gave him the nickname ‘Turtle’. He may be slow, but he always gets where he wants to in the end! And we shouldn’t forget our other first-class debutant, young Mr Dunn. I’m looking forward to seeing what he can do against a side that fairly bristles with experience and international class players.
A quick word, then, about Bangladesh. I really like their team, and I found their enthusiastic supporters to be lots of fun. Usually, these kinds of matches can be played as glorified county games to an audience of one man and a Pekinese called Trixie, but they had a nice little atmosphere building throughout the day, reaching to a crescendo as the mighty Ashraful came into the attack. I’m sort of torn between wanting Surrey to do well and hoping to see Bangladesh at their best, taking the fight to the boys.
Firstly, the brilliant: Matthew Spriegel scored his highest ever total with the bat for the first team and finished 108 not out. If he doesn’t get to slot back in at, say, six in a team that looks at least one batsman light then it will be a shame. The equally brilliant Meaker also showed how good he could be with the bat, coming agonisingly close to a maiden hundred and falling a mere six short in the end. Again, this was Meaker’s highest first class score, following on from his best haul with the ball in the Gloucestershire game.
The, er, not so brilliant: I’m afraid poor Afzaal didn’t really get going as we hoped he would. A few dramatic shots, one very nice stroke for four, and then out for a total of six runs. Probably not what either Usman or Chris Adams was hoping for. Captain Schoey managed one run less, but made five more than chirpy Gary Wilson who had a nice stroll to the crease, faced two balls, and had a less pleasant stroll back to the pavilion...
Evans looked quite comfy, and it was a surprise when he got out on twenty two as it appeared that he was going quite well. Harinath was playing his usual game, although the shot he got out on didn’t sound the best, and in the end he went for n-n-n-n-nineteen, as Rory Bremner might have said.
The real pleasant surprise was Lancefield, who scored an impressive forty seven. He must have been kicking himself when Spriegel and Meaker scored so heavily. I keep thinking of Geoff Boycott saying “them’s my runs”, but Lancefield made a good impression on his debut, and it won’t have done him any harm.
A surprise declaration made by Schoey on the fall of Meaker’s wicket meant that Surrey had posted 318, mostly scored by M&S. I’m not suggesting Meaker and Spriegel start their own food and clothing empire, but if they do I would like to complain that I can never get my size of bra without having to get under wiring. Maybe I should just shove two Tiflex balls into a small hammock and sling it underneath my arms for the same effect...
Ahem.
So much for day one: some good, some indifferent. All of which leaves me a bit puzzled. I love trying to second-guess Chris Adams and I am curious as to what he will do in terms of the championship games. Do you dare drop Afzaal, and give him a chance in the second team to re-discover his form? Do you, perish the thought, drop Ramps in similar fashion, who hasn’t looked out of touch as such but has only managed two competitive totals in his games so far? By the way, that was just me thinking out loud because if Mr Adams dares to drop Ramps I will come down to the Oval and ping him with a lot of large rubber bands. It may not sound like a deterrent but I am an extremely good shot...
On another note, Mr Meaker (I always think of Rentaghost when I hear that name) managed to hit a pigeon that got in the way of his shot. I was just thinking that the Kennington Pigeon Murderer had reappeared, but thankfully for the birdie in question it managed to stagger away minus some feathers. The search for a nickname for Stuart Meaker continues, as I am not calling him the Kennington Pigeon Plucker...
Oh, and on a completely different note, my spellcheck wants Arun Harinath to be known as Arran Hairnet. Spellcheck Cricket: maybe it'll catch on!
Saturday, 1 May 2010
Why the Rampants Like Usman Afzaal
This is a new feature I’m introducing to the blog. As discussed earlier, the Rampants come from all over the UK, support many teams, and enthuse over various players. There may well be a subtle Surrey bias (if there isn’t then I’m not doing my job correctly as it’s my blog). And having admitted that, I’m starting off with Usman Afzaal.
You might think that an interesting choice, because I know in the past Mr Afzaal’s fielding has come in for a little bit of a pasting. Fair enough: we can’t all be Ussain Bolt. However, not only is the Surrey batsman a very handy extra bowler of spin, rapidly approaching 100 first class wickets, but he has a special talent. You see, Usman Afzaal is half man, half airplane.
It’s become apparent that on the occasions Mr Afzaal get’s a wicket, he dusts off his best ‘Jimbo’ impersonation. The arms transform themselves into wings, the landing gear comes up, and then ‘chocks away’ – he’s tearing up the ground and straight towards poor Mr Ramprakash (probably still hiding on the Gasometer) for a hug. No doubt fearing for his rib cage, Mr Ramprakash more often than not is forced to find something to hide behind or take evasive action.
As a big fan of bromance and buddy movies, the whole Rafzaal interaction is extremely amusing. It’s like Brokeback Mountain, but minus the romance. Or the cowboys. Or even the mountains. One can hardly criticise anyone for running away from an oncoming Boeing 747, but at least Ramps should be safe enough until Mr A perfects his ‘Budgie the Little Helicopter’ impression.
In the T20 competition, the players get to choose their own music. I really want to hear Usman Afzaal walk onto the pitch to the strains of ‘Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines’.
Let's hear it for Usman Afzaal!
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