Surrey beaten but not without a fight

Sussex have beaten Surrey by 10 wickets in the LVCC Division One match at Horsham, after dismissing the visitors for 248, and knocking off the runs required, despite a dogged innings from the Surrey skipper.

Ramprakash and Meaker started the morning knowing that runs weren’t the most important thing today, and that they had to just try and bat as long as possible. The pair started well, and they managed to stave off the opening spell of Anyon and Magoffin. The cricket was very attritional and runs were hard to come by, but they were doing their job. However, after 50 minutes of play, Sussex got their first wicket of the day when Meaker looked to leave a ball from Magoffin and played on for 8.

De Bruyn joined Ramps and it was the elder of the two who started to up the run rate, finding the boundary with a more regular occurrence and started to finally find some form. Ramps was looking comfortable at the crease, and went past his previous best this season of 24.

However, just after he had started to look at ease at the crease, he attempted to sweep Monty and was trapped LBW for 37. A disappointing way to get out, but at least he has got some runs and spent some time in the middle, but just as he has found some form, there will now be a month until his next first team game.

Davies joined de Bruyn and started typically attackingly, overtaking the South African in half the balls faced. The pair took Surrey to lunch on 129-3, still trailing by 98 runs, but it wasn’t chanceless, as de Bruyn was dropped twice off Magoffin, including once in the last over before the break, and Surrey knew that they had a tough afternoon in front of them.

However, we weren’t up for the fight, as we lost 4 wickets in the session to all but hand the game to the hosts. de Bruyn’s poor form continued, as he was the first man to go after the break, LBW to Panesar for 21, and he was followed soon after by Davies for 35, Panesar’s 3^rd victim.

Fresh after his minor car accident a couple of days ago, Maynard struggled at the crease, and when Chris Nash was brought into the attack, he trapped him LBW for 5. And to cap off a woeful session, Batty set off for a single, but was sent back by the skipper, and was run out for 2. The most terrible way to get out in this situation. We stumbled our way to tea at 183-7, still trailing by 44.

Straight after tea, Magoffin bowled Kartik as he looked for a drive through the off side for 11, and Sussex required just 2 wickets to win with a long time still left in the session. Lewis joined his skipper and he had to hold back from his usual aggressive manner. He did that, and with RHB they took Surrey to within 12 overs of a draw, but on 12 Lewis was caught behind off part-timer Nash. He wasn’t happy with the decision, and had words with both Peter Willey and a Sussex supporter on his way off.

Dernbach was the last man at the crease, and he and the skipper took us to within 8 overs of a draw, but Anyon managed to bowl Hamilton-Brown with a good delivery for 47. All out for 248, a lead of just 21, and Sussex had 6 overs to complete a much deserved victory. And they did it quite easily, without losing any wickets, and we had been beaten comprehensively by 10 wickets.

A very disappointing result, in a game that we really had to win, as Sussex are one of the teams near us towards the bottom of Division One. But once again, our first day performance has let us down, as it is nigh on impossible to come back in a game where you are bowled out for 124 in your first innings. However, we did have our chances, reducing Sussex to 87-6, before allowing them put on a further 250 odd for the last 4 wickets.

You can’t fault the bowlers in some aspects of the game, reducing a team to 87-6 is fantastic, but the inability to finish off an innings is something which has been around for years, and something that Adams needs to eradicate quickly. The batsman have to have a look at themselves over the next few weeks, especially de Bruyn who hasn’t been anywhere near the form he showed last season, and players such as Burns, Lancefield and Spriegel may be in with a chance if he has a bad T20 campaign.

We now have a month until our next game in the Championship, and looking at our position in the table, relegation is a real possibility. That would be the worst possible thing to happen to this group of players, so all we have to do is hope that we have a good T20 campaign over the next 4 weeks, and take some confidence into Guildford Festival as the Champions Lancashire make the visit.