Maynard out of FLT20 opener

A shoulder injury has forced Tom Maynard out of the opening FLT20 game of 2012 against Essex tomorrow night, as Chris Adams has named a 13 man squad for the visit of the Eagles.

This will be the first game that the Welshman has missed since his move to South London from Wales in the 2010/11 close season, and it will leave a big whole in our middle order. He has been an integral part of our batting line up in all forms of the game, but T20 is his forte, and the medical staff our working as hard as they can to get him fit for the London Derby at Lord’s on Thursday.

A shock inclusion in the 13 man squad is that of 42 year old Mark Ramprakash, who hasn’t played a limited overs game for Surrey since 2010. This is most likely due to the injury to Tom Maynard, as the batting would look weak otherwise, meaning that Ramps will probably play. Even though he found some form in the second innings against Sussex, I’m not sure if this is the right move or not, with the likes of Burns or Lancefield still waiting for their chance.

RHB, Davies and Roy are the 3 major power hitters in the side, and the 3 most likely to score a match winning innings. However, having them at 1,2,3 in the order may not be the way to go, because as we saw in some games last year, if we lose early wickets, the batsman down the order struggle to clear the ropes when needed. Davies would obviously open, and as he did for the backend of the competition last year, Jason Roy may be his partner, with the skipper floating around 4 or 5 in the order.

Zander de Bruyn has been included, and will no doubt play, even though he has been in poor form this season, and Matt Spriegel will also want to impress in this form of the game to stake a claim for a spot in the LVCC side. Zafar Ansari will play and in my opinion will be an important part of this side. He will bat presumably at 7, and as he showed last year, and in the CB40 game against Durham this year, he has the ability to score quickly and hit big if required. Gary Wilson has also been included, and if he plays he will add vast T20 experience to the line up, and will float up and down the order depending on the situation.

As it did last year, the bowling line up looks very strong, but with the added inclusion of Murali Kartik, and another year’s experience for the likes of Dernbach, Meaker and Ansari, it looks even stronger. Jon Lewis has been left out of the squad, but will be in contention later in the competition when Dernbach is playing for England.

We still bolster the leading wicket taker in T20 cricket, Dirk Nannes with 178, who is fresh of the IPL with Royal Challengers Bangalore, but how he didn’t get a game for them this year is beyond me. However, even if he is a little rusty for the first couple of games, he is fit and raring to go and add to the 20 wickets he took in the competition last season.

Chris Tremlett hasn’t been named in the squad, despite playing for the 2’s in the last couple of weeks. I presume that it won’t be long until we see him back in a Surrey shirt, and with Jade going, that may be his chance to come in.

So, Chris Adams and RHB have decisions on who to leave out, with Gary Wilson possibly being preferred to Gareth Batty due to his batting capabilities, and the fact that there could be up to 8 bowling options even without Batty. However, I do feel that our side is weakened without Batty, as his passion and experience is so valuable in our team. Meaker may be the other play to be left out, with Dernbach and Nannes as the main 2 seamers, and Spriegel, Ansari, Kartik, de Bruyn and RHB backing them up.

Is this the year that we can finally qualify from the group and make the quarter finals, and maybe even finals day? After winning the inaugural competition back in 2003, and reaching finals day the following 2 years, we haven’t qualified out of our group since 2006, even though we have had plenty of chances to do so, notably last year. It’s going to be difficult, as there are some strong teams in the Southern Division this year, with the likes of Shahid Afridi and Scott Styris around and about, but if we can take our form from the CB40 into the T20, then we will most definitely be in with a chance.

The Essex squad looks equally as strong as ours, however, with the new signing of New Zealander James Franklin, and big hitters such as Graham Napier and Ryan ten Doeschate make the batting and bowling line up look impressive. Add to that the wirily David Masters and the extreme pace of Tymal Mills, they have a good outfit and will be tough to beat.

Surrey Squad

Rory Hamillton-Brown (C)

Steve Davies (WK)

Jason Roy

Mark Ramprakash

Zander de Bruyn

Matt Spriegel

Zafar Ansari

Gary Wilson

Gareth Batty

Murali Kartik

Stuart Meaker

Jade Dernbach

Dirk Nannes

Essex Squad

James Foster (C/WK)

James Franklin

Mark Pettini

Tom Westley

Greg Smith

Owais Shah

Ryan ten Doeschate

Adam Wheater

Graham Napier

Tim Phillips

David Masters

Tymal Mills

Maurice Chambers