Well, who'd have thunk it???

Well, they say a picture tells a story better than a thousand words so I just had to pinch this from Rowan. She managed to express pretty much what every Surrey fan was thinking at the end of the first game against Sussex at the Oval. When was the last time Surrey led division one?!? Okay, okay...so what if it is only the first game! Start as you mean to go on!

You do go in to every new season riding on wave of optimism, of hope...perhaps tempered a little by realism. Last season Surrey snuck back in to division one by the skin of their teeth with a last minute flurry of four consecutive wins and the opposition faltering at the hindmost end. But don’t let that blind you to the fact that Surrey deserved to go back up, even if clinging to the skirts of Middlesex isn’t a very glamorous way to do it!

Division one is a different kettle of chips (see what I did there?) and I know a fair few people who reckon Surrey are pretty much nailed on to sink back down into the murky pool of division two. But there’s just something about the look of the team on paper that inspires a little hope. You’ve got experience with the likes of De Bruyn (class), Rudolph (brilliant on his day) and Ramps (who I am praying passes the number of FC centuries as Bradman before he’s done). You’ve got the skipper who as a player is very much a work in progress – but has proved himself as a captain. And that bowling unit doesn’t half make you shake your head in wonderment: Linley (the most underrated bowler in the country?), Dernbach, Meaker, Lewis, Tremlett, Batty, Jordan...goodness, it’s enough to turn a person from a fan into a stats geek!

Sussex weren’t at their best when Surrey went up against them at the Oval but of the two teams Surrey appeared more determined. Or had, to borrow a quote from England’s bard “a lean and hungry look”. Amazing what so long in the wilderness can do to sharpen the mind.

I’m not really going to go into long, rambling match reports anymore because you only see the words, regurgitating second hand observations on a page. And my biased waffling probably isn’t what everyone wants to read anyway! What I will say however is go on Twitter and see a very clever man about a link or two, as the rather incredible @CowCornerCrikey has started up his internet recording sessions once again. It may sound a bit grand to call it a public service but that’s pretty much what it amounts to. Hats off to him because it’s quite a large undertaking to record all the games (not just the Surrey ones) from around the counties. In a way by making these commentaries available to listen to again, it’s almost like a little historic archive of what occurred, available to download.

A mention also for Luke Wells of Sussex, who celebrated a century towards the end of the game, and whose doughty resistance made things seem momentarily tricky for Surrey. Looks like he could be more than a bit useful!

Middlesex are next up. Always tricky; always up for beating their arch-rivals. Surrey go in to the match with a win, and a little bit of confidence about them. Middlesex will face them having been beaten by Somerset but will be itching to put things right.

Bet it ends in a draw!

Obstruction-gate!

I stole this photo from Liz. She won't mind: she's utterly shameless! He he he...




Gloucestershire v Surrey time: a game that had more drama than an episode of I, Claudius. Well, okay. It didn’t have the murders, the plots, the incest or men in short togas, but it pretty much had everything else!

It started off fairly innocuously, with Marilyn delivering a cake and flapjacks to Churchy (one of which I believe was honoured to fall into the clutches of a certain Alec Stewart). The rest of the day was, it appears , taken up snapping photos of the Surrey team as they fielded. At least I think there was more than one team playing, although by the amount of photos of the slip cordon you wouldn’t know that Gloucestershire were there!

Only joking, guys!

The Surrey bowling looked very smart and Arafat recorded his first 5fer of the championship. Linley continued to impress as he had throughout the season. He may not be the world’s most fashionable or stylish bowler, but he’s damned useful and no mistake! Dernbach appeared to struggle slightly in the first innings, but with England duties beckoning it was clear he wanted to leave his club with some wickets to his credit. Gloucestershire were all out for a total of 286.

Day two was the day that Ramps recorded his 114th first class century, leaving him equal with the great Sir Vivian Richards on the list of all time century makers. It also saw him recording his hundredth career hundred-partnership. As the Surrey batsmen came and went it looked as if Mr R was, in time-honoured tradition, running out of partners but then Arafat stepped up to the crease and kept on batting and batting and batting! It was a fabulous partnership between the two of them, and a real pity that Ramps got out just a couple of overs before close of play. Still, the wind had been well and truly taken out of Gloucestershire’s sails.

When the game resumed the next day Surrey managed to add a few more valuable runs. How valuable would become clear later in the game, but Surrey finished their first innings with a splendid 423. Whilst Dent, much like Ramps the day before, was the sole centurian for his side (in fact it was Dent’s first ever hundred) the rest of the team, other than Alec Gidman and Chris Taylor, were unable to contribute any significant runs to the second innings total. Arafat claimed two more victims, the same as Dernbach and Ansari, with Linley taking three and Batty one.

This meant that on day four, once the Gloucestershire side were finally dismissed, Surrey had only to chase down 184 to win the game. A simple enough task you would have thought. To start with it certainly appeared that way, but then Davies perished for 19 and then shortly afterwards RHB for 39. Ramps came in and played his customary steady knock, keeping a cool head whilst Maynard and de Bruyn fell by the wayside without really adding much to the score, but with Jason Roy keeping things ticking along the score began to diminish.

And then we had obstructiongate!

Of course, I have to point out I wasn’t there so I don’t really have anything to base my opinions on. The Gloucestershire players will have their opinions, the Surrey players theirs, as will the umps. Fact is that whether the call was correct or not the umpires’ word is law. But the reason that this will be such an emotive issue with someone who has played for as long in the game as Ramps is that the way he was given out – obstructing the field – is one that the umps can only give if they feel the interference caused was deliberate. And that, of course, is as good as accusing someone of cheating.

You can imagine that, understandably, this did not go down very well with Mr R. I can also imagine that if his discussions on the subject with the umpires were on the ‘expressive’ side that he’s most likely going to be taken to task for it. Bottom line is you can’t feck with the umpires, even if they’ve made a controversial and heavy-handed decision. Still, I can understand the aggrievement in this instance. Who likes to have their professional integrity called into question? It is actually a very big deal at the end of the day.

The upshot of the game was that Jason Roy had to carry the hopes of the Surrey team on his young shoulders, especially as Ansari found himself back in the dressing room within two balls, caught up in the post-obstruction maelstrom! Gloucestershire moved from underdogs to favourites to win when Gareth Batty and Roy went within a few balls of each other. And yet in the face of all the confusion, controversy, and rushes of blood to the head Tim Linley contrived to stroke the winning runs in partnership with the game’s Mr Reliable, Yasir Arafat.

So, a win for Surrey. It was bloody hard work, but it was well scrapped-for and, by the sound of it, deserved. You couldn’t really blame Gloucestershire for appealing for the Ramps wicket because they knew they had to get him out to stand a chance of winning, and it very nearly worked. But the whole thing left me feeling very disgruntled, although delighted that Surrey had taken maximum points, and putting Surrey within a few points of Gloucestershire in the table!

At the time of writing this Middlesex look like they are going to steamroller Northants at the top of the table. The two of them look likely to go up...yet the wheels are starting to fall off Northants a little. There’s still potentially a spot up for grabs. If Surrey shows the same resolve to fight that they did against Gloucestershire then there is always a chance, remote as it may seem.

And so the curtains fell on the drama at Cheltenham. I’m sure we won’t have heard the last of the whole obstruction thing, but nonetheless a satisfying Surrey win and a great return to form from Ramps with his century made for an (over) exciting game! Not bad for a grand old chap with a dodgy knee. After all, in I, Claudius the title character survived everyone else and he also was a grand old chap with a dodgy knee!

Just don’t eat the mushrooms, Ramps...


*Brief addendum to this post. Surrey have signed Gloucestershire bowler Jon Lewis to mentor the young quick bowlers next year, in light of Tremlett, Dernbach and Meaker being spirited away on England duties. It's an interesting move. It's not a bad one: there does need to be some experience amongst the bowling unit, although it's not without issues. As my dad said: "who's this old bloke Surrey have signed, then?"

It's a signing made all the more interesting when you consider it was Mr Lewis who led the appeal to the umps against Ramps in the Cheltenham game...

Hardy Yardy saves Sussex

 
I only managed to hear the last 45 minutes of the game, and by that time it had really come down to a question of whether Michael Yardy was going to reach a century for the first time this season – which he duly did. And it sounds like it was a well deserved hundred, batting out the game so that Surrey were forced to shake hands shortly after the hundred was reached. Curse that missing day! Surrey haven’t really suffered at meteorological hands this year but they may well end up ruing the miserable weather on day two.

Equally Sussex, given the way they were batting latterly, might also feel slightly aggrieved. Yet a draw for the leading division two championship side might keep those sniffing around behind them a little interested.

Even if the end of the match petered out to a rather tame draw the day appears to have started perfectly. From what I gather Chris Tremlett claimed a wicket with the first ball of the day – caught by a certain Mr Ramprakash, no less. Then an annoying little partnership between Goodwin and Joyce sprung up (it becomes very difficult to concentrate on your work when you keep debating the wisdom of looking at the score every five minutes) which ended when Joyce was bowled by Batty for 40. Goodwin reached 23 when Meaker struck – but the partnership had given the impetus to Sussex at this point.

The real damage seems to have been done by Yardy and Ben Brown, who combined to dismiss any hopes Surrey may have had at forcing a result in their favour. Brown finally was caught by Davies off the bowling of Batty for 52, but with Yardy still going strongly too much of a chunk had been taken from the game in order to allow anything other than a draw. Arafat and Yardy got together, played some nice shots, and kept going long enough to allow Yardy to reach his well-deserved ton.

Whilst not especially a Sussex supporter, although I have nothing against them either, you have to say well done to Mr Yardy for his captain’s innings. Sussex does seem a very adaptable side who can cope mostly with whatever gets thrown their way. Having lost Robin Martin-Jenkins to the teaching profession, and now with the news James Kirtley is also to retire at the end of the season; Sussex will feel the loss quite keenly although no doubt they have many talented players to step into those big shoes. There seems little doubt that Sussex will go back up, deservedly so, but the question is – will they stay there? Surrey have spent a goodly amount of time yo-yoing up and down between divisions, or clinging on by their fingernails as a result of losing several key players to retirement at the same time. Hopefully this won’t happen again in the future.

I do hate hearing of retirements, though. Tends to make the Rampants a tad nervous. We all know Mr R can’t go on forever in the game (he has one year left on his contract), and we’ll be mighty sorry when the decision is taken to stop. Still, I hope Surrey allow him to reach that decision for himself and don’t manoeuvre him into it. That would be showing considerable ingratitude towards a player who’s up there with Jack Hobbs in terms of giving so much to his club.

Oh dear...think I might have made a lot of Rampants very miserable for bringing the subject up!

All in the stars

Now I remember why I leave for work at 6.50am each day. Getting on the bus at 9.30am when the bus is full of screaming children being taken to nursery is not pleasant. Not that I have anything against children: I must have done a bit of screaming myself at that age. But it doesn’t make for a peaceful start to the morning! I bypassed the Orks today and went shopping with mum. Unfortunately I broke my promise never to buy a pair of jeggings: I’m pretty sure it’s not a look that suits ladies over size 12. You’d never think I had a diploma in fashion!

I did get back in time to hear most of today’s game, and it was very interesting indeed! Obviously it was a tad disappointing when Ramps was bowled for 21 (most of the Rampants listening were fairly genteel although I shan’t repeat the phrase used by Jan!), but the game has at least moved on now. And I guess it needed to given the loss of the whole of yesterday. Davies played well, riding his luck at times but top scoring with 62. Walters again got his head down and made a timely 45. The rest more or less were similar in terms of scores, with RHB, Ramps, Harinath and Tremlett all hitting 20s. Lancefield hit a well crafted 37, Spriegel a slightly more cameo 1, Batty 19 and Dernbach...a somewhat deflating first ball duck.

Sussex did bowl well, however. Arafat pick up a fivefer and Panesar also claimed 4 scalps. The plan of the day seemed to lie with frustrating and stifling Surrey’s runs, which did work in the morning session, but as with the Sussex first innings the tail began to wag a little in the afternoon. If the pattern repeats itself Surrey will have hopes of bowling Sussex out quickly: time to wheel out South London’s very own Sherman Tank in the shape of Tremlett, methinks!

The chase by Sussex of the Surrey 75 run lead started positively, but Meaker claimed Nash for 22 and night watchman Panesar for a third ball duck, leaving Thornley on 0 and Joyce on 16no at stumps. I bet Meaker was miffed that the game had to stop, as he had got in to a lovely rhythm. I hope he can continue tomorrow, as I am back to work and no doubt up to my eyes in genealogical records again. It’s been a nice mid-week break but much as I love my job, all that it’s achieved is to make me want more time off! Oh well, London in a few weeks. * gulp *

Now for something completely different.

Harinath: Aries
Lancefield: Libra
Ramprakash: Virgo
Davies: Gemini
Hamilton-Brown: Virgo
Walters: Cancer
Spriegel: Pisces
Batty: Libra
Meaker: Aquarius
Tremlett: Virgo
Dernbach: Pisces

This was the composition of today’s squad. Does this prove that Virgos are the star attractions when it comes to cricket?

No play day two

I’ve had enough Ork-dodging at half past three in the afternoon, so I have taken the day off tomorrow. I am venturing up town but mum is tagging along in search of birthday presents, so fingers crossed I’ll be back in time to hear a bit more of the cricket than I normally might expect in the course of a working day. Not keen on crowds but if we head off early enough we’ll probably miss the worst of them.

Instead of the tram service Edinburgh City Council would be better employed creating a go-slow pedestrian area for the elderly, infirm or those who just like crawling at a snails pace along the pavements. It’s one of my chief bugbears, and even although my understanding (and appreciation of how difficult it can get for those no longer in the first flush of youth) has grown over the years, my impatience has not diminished. My arthritic cervical vertebrae tell me to show some sympathy, but I still struggle with the urge to give all dawdlers a kick in the fanlight.

And I used to be such a nice person, once...

As anticipated there was no cricket today in the game against Sussex, which is a real pity because the weather has really let Sussex wriggle off the hook. Typical, really. When weather does disrupt a game you always pray it’s going to happen in your favour. Like being 704 runs behind having followed on, and you are the last batsman in! Not so today, however. This will have eaten into a large chunk of the game and I suppose Surrey will want to bat big in the vain hope they can bowl Sussex out on the last day. Otherwise it’s merely about batting points for Surrey.

It wasn’t a completely wasted day at Guildford, I’m glad to report. Liz went along for the day, took a couple of pics, and felt very happy even despite the lack of play! Rampants are usually a contended bunch. That said, I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the weather improves tomorrow so that the hard work Surrey put in on day one wasn’t entirely in vain.

Hey, ho! Whilst Surrey endeavour to carry on from their good start I shall be doing my utmost to persuade my mother that she shouldn’t stint when it comes to my birthday! I rather think Surrey will have the better of the argument!

Surrey (with the fringe on top)

 
Sorry...been waiting for August to arrive before I used that title!

I personally am not terribly fond of the Edinburgh Fringe festival, but my reasons are selfish and not due to any raging dislike of the many acts on display – of which there are a great variety. They will of course range from the abysmal to the brilliant, but the fact is their presence (although bringing welcome revenue to a city beset by never-ending tram works) is a bleedin’ nuisance to the residents! Three weeks of fighting my way through swarms of people who don’t have any concept of ‘queuing’. Three weeks of waiting for buses that never seem to arrive on time, or seemingly zapped from existence entirely. Three weeks of jostling through persons whose only ambition is to stop you from reaching your bus stop. That more or less sums up what the festival means to me. Add to the fact that my work is just off Princes Street and I’m slap bang in the centre of festival hell!

So, to counteract the less appealing aspects of August, including paying £540 for an annual bus pass (which I did today), and notching up yet another year to my credit (later this week), I had the most wonderful surprise in terms of the score for day one of Surrey v Sussex at Guildford. Following the BBC cards doesn’t really have the same immediacy as listening to the internet commentary although in its own way it can be equally addictive (sneaking on and pressing refresh as often as one can reasonably get away with in working hours). So imagine my delight when I looked in and saw the score was 13-3!

I may have e-mailed Liz to express my astonishment and delight. Two of Sussex’s best batsmen (Joyce and Goodwin) sent back to the pavilion for a splendid nought! And Tremlett picking up all three wickets (Thornley falling for a princely 1)! I know Davies is regarded as a real star for Surrey, and rightly so, but for me it’s Tremlett that has been the main man so far (Ramps excluded).

Nor did it end there. Nash garnered 21 runs when caught by Lancefield off the bowling of Batty. Yardy followed very soon after for 18, and then Brown for the same score some time afterwards. At this point Sussex were looking very shaky. Arafat and Rayner showed some much needed resistance but then after lunch Arafat perished on 23! Surrey must have had dreams of finishing off the tail as quickly as possible, but invariably the puppy kept on wagging away. It took the devil and a stick of dynamite to remove the doughty Rayner who fell three short of a half century, whilst Adkin and Panesar formed the most irritating duet since Rene and Renata! Seriously though, well done to Adkin on his first championship game. I was genuinely sorry he didn’t reach his 50, as it was a stout performance in the face of obdurate Surrey bowling.

Statistics will give the appearance that Surrey let things slide in the afternoon session, and I can’t tell if this was the case or not, as I was trying to elbow my way past a bunch of Orks – sorry, tourists – to get to my bus stop at this time. I can’t think that any team would willingly give away a commanding position however, although admittedly it was disappointing they couldn’t have winkled out Sussex for under two hundred. At lunchtime you would have thought it a formality, but I suppose that’s cricket for you! Panesar gets much kudos for digging in. He’s not exactly renowned for his batting skills but he plagued and frustrated the Surrey bowlers for a good long time, eventually making a more than respectable 20 not out! Collymore was the last Sussex batsman to fall having had his bails rearranged by Dernbach for 2.

The Sussex first innings total amounted to 217. It could and possibly should have been worse for them, but the afternoon session suggested it was favouring the batsmen, with Surrey opening pair Harinath and Lancefield doggedly beginning their run chase. At the end of play both openers were still there with the score on 47; Lancefield on 20no and Harinath on 19no.

I think it’s fair to say Surrey were the happier of the two sides tonight, and will be hoping to press their advantage on a track that has a past history of very large scores. Bat long and bat once? I can only assume this will be what Surrey are hoping will happen, although if the predicted rain falls overnight then who knows how much time will be taken out of what is shaping up to be an exciting game.

Oh well, that’s it for another day. Back to dodging the tourists again...