You've been Jigar-ed!

I’ve often wondered what it must be like to evaluate players as the newspapers sometimes do, and score them according to performance, but I think it would be harsh to do this on what unfortunately turned out to be the last day of the game against Leicestershire due to Surrey losing by over an innings. I’m praying fervently that we won’t perform as poorly as a team ever again. Hopefully. She said, crossing fingers, toes and sundry body parts.

In fairness you’ve got to credit the Leicestershire bowling attack and Hoggard’s leadership. The pressure they put the Surrey team under from day one was immense and they thoroughly deserved their win. Naik and Henderson were really on the money both today and yesterday, and following the Surrey first innings capitulation for 236 they must really have fancied their chances of demolishing them for less than their 479 total. And so it proved to be.

I guess what was so disappointing was the fact that having played so well in the previous games leading up to this match, Surrey probably were not expecting to perform so badly. If anything they should have been on a high given their much improved performances in the last three games. The sad thing is that they will now have a loss against their names going in to the T20, although in fairness it’s a different contest, and a fresh slate. That is the way they have to look at it, and I hope they are a hungrier side in the shortest form of the game than they sometimes appear in the county championship. As I have said, it’s not a lack of effort that is proving Surrey’s downfall at the moment, but they look to be missing that vital killer instinct.

If I was going to nominate the best overall performance of the game I would probably give the award to Claude Henderson, just, over Naik. However, although it was in vain I would also highlight Dernbach’s fivefer yesterday and today’s effort with the bat by Younus who managed 77 in the second Surrey innings. Considering his previous tally was a total of 4, I’d say that was more than a pretty decent effort especially given the fact the rest of his team mates had collapsed like a stack of cards around him.

This said my man of the match was actually Mark Ramprakash. Sure, he only got a total of 50 in both innings, and if I were to score him for his performance in the game it would have been a 6 out of 10, but I rounded it up to 9 for just being there. And then I rounded it up to 10 to make up for the one that Craig-Revel Horwood never gave him for the Argentine Tango.

When it comes to standing around on turf all day, Mark Ramprakash is probably the biggest draw in the country. He played well enough but got done by two rather excellent deliveries. But at the end of the day that didn’t really matter, because we are honoured to cheer Mr R and the boys on, no matter how they fare in the game.

Good luck in the T20, Surrey. Get one for the Rampants!

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...

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!