Tuesday 17 July 2012

Spriegel returns to LVCC action



Matthew Spriegel has been included in a 13 man squad for the LVCC Division One match against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge starting tomorrow.

If he makes the final X1, it would be his first Championship appearance for Surrey since August 2010. It is almost certain that he will play, and possibly open with Rory Burns, as the batting would look wafer thin otherwise. I have always thought that Spriegs is a good, solid batsman, and he has shown that in One Day cricket over the last 4 years, but he has never really cemented a place in the 4 day side, and at the age of 25, I think that this is his time to shine.

We have of course lost Kevin Pietersen for this match, and possibly the rest of the season now, as he prepares for the opening test against South Africa, so that leaves a huge whole in our middle order. That means that our other batsman need to stand up and be counted against a strong Nottinghamshire attack. Rory Burns has been in great form for the 2’s this year, but has so far failed to convert that into the First team. Due to the distinct lack of batsman in our squad at the moment, he will be given a few chances in the side, but he still has to take them.

Zafar Ansari is likely to drop down to number 6 in the batting order. He looked solid opening up against Lancashire last week, but I don’t feel that opening the batting suits him, so it will be interesting to see how he gets on lower down. Zander de Bruyn finally managed to find some form against Lancashire last week, and we need his runs and experience in the middle order, with him being the oldest batsman by some 11 years. Steve Davies hasn’t really got going this season, both in First Class and One day cricket, combined with rumours circulating that he may be leaving at the end of the season. Let’s hope that that doesn’t happen.

Once again our bowling attack looks strong, with 5 internationals included. After being rested at the weekend, Chris Tremlett comes back in and will play, presumably alongside our leading wicket taker this year, Stuart Meaker. Jon Lewis worked hard against Lancs last week, but looked rusty, and I may be inclined to give the Viscount Linley a go. However, with the extra batting Lewis gives, I don’t think he will be left out.

Overseas spinner Murali Kartik has once again been named in the squad, but some people across Twitter believe that he should be left out for an extra batsman. I totally agree with them. Kartik offers next to nothing with the bat, and looked extremely ineffective at Guildford last week, and with Batty in much better form with the ball, and Ansari and Spriegel in the team, we have plenty of spin options.

You can’t leave Kartik out for Linley, because he is even worse with the bat, but I would give Chris Jordan a game. Jordan has a point to prove, or he will be seemingly released at the end of the season, and offers an extra batting option down the order. However, I don’t think that Adams has the nerve to leave out his overseas star.

Adams spoke this week about the need of an overseas batsman, and I think that if the right option comes up, then he should take it. We have bowlers coming out of our ears at the moment, with Linley, Jordan, Dunn, Edwards, Jewell etc all waiting for a game, but hardly any batsman. Of course, we have lost a couple of batsman to unforeseen circumstances, but even before the season started we were in need of an opening batsman or two, and If Adams wants to stay in Division One, getting a batsman in is a priority.

As we saw at Guildford at the weekend, we face a star studded Nottinghamshire outfit, with 6 or 7 top class batsman, as well as Andre Adams coming back in alongside Darren Pattinson and Harry Gurney in the bowling ranks. They sit in second place in the table, a massive 50 points above us in 7th place, and will be a tough test for us. We have to hope that their batsman have an off couple of days, and our strong bowling attack can capitalise, as well as our inexperienced batting line up putting on a good show. So far this season we have had poor first days in all of our games, and even though we have fought back a number of times, it is important to get off to a good start against a team like Notts, because if you start slowly, you could be out of the game after Day One.

Surrey Squad:
Gareth Batty (C)
Rory Burns
Matthew Spriegel
Zander de Bruyn
Steve Davies (WK)
Jason Roy
Zafar Ansari
Chris Jordan
Murali Kartik
Stuart Meaker
Jon Lewis
Chris Tremlett
Tim Linley

No comments:

Post a Comment