Surrey Players Abroad: Part 3

Surrey Players Abroad Part 3

While some of the Surrey first team squad are in the UK preparing for the 2013 season, a number of them have travelled abroad, plying their trade for a variety of teams in all formats of the game. Here is the 3^rd instalment of how they have been getting on over the winter months.

 

Zander de Bruyn

Zander and the Highveld Lions didn’t play too many games in the last month or so, but did face the Cape Cobras in the Momentum One Day Cup final. The initial final was abandoned due to rain, so was restarted the following day, but after the rain once again intervened, the two teams had to share the trophy. Just before Christmas, the Lions faced Warriors in a Sunfoil Series 4 day game, but Zander didn’t make an impact with the bat, scoring a combined 11 in the two innings. He did pick up 3 wickets but saw his side lose by 10 wickets. In the following match he didn’t pick up any wickets but scored a first half century of the season, a 144-ball 63 before being caught behind by Johann van der Wath.

Jade Dernbach

I think it’s fair to say Jade didn’t have the best of times of it in the 2 Twenty20 Internationals against India last month. He went wicketless in his 3 expensive overs in India’s 5 wicket win in the first game of the mini-series, before claiming 2 wickets in the final game, once again going at 9 an over. The amount of extras Jade gave away would have disappointed him, as he looked rusty despite playing 3 games in early December for the England Performance Squad. He is part of the ODI squad which faces India this month, but he has been left out of the ODI squad which tours New Zealand in February. Jade will be looking to find some form in the India series, before travelling to New Zealand for the T20’s only.

 

Stuart Meaker

Stuart Meaker also featured in the two Twenty 20’s against India and, like Jade, also looked rusty, even though he also played several games for the England Performance Squad before joining up with the senior squad. He picked up the wicket of Virat Kohli in each of the games, but was rather expensive, especially in the second in which he went for over 10 runs per over in his allotment of 4. He will also be part of the India ODI series and the New Zealand Twenty 20’s, but also like Jade, he has been left out of the New Zealand ODI squad for next month.

Kevin Pietersen

After KP helping his side level the Test Series against India with a superb hundred, he was once again in the runs in the 3^rd match, scoring 54 in the first innings as England won by 7 wickets, holding a 2-1 lead going into the final match of the series. On a poor pitch in Nagpur, Pietersen stood tall in the first innings, scoring a slow, but oh so important, 74, as many around him tried and failed. Despite leaving a ball on his stumps when on 6 in the second innings, England managed to draw the final game of the series, winning for the first time in India since 1985. And with 1 century and 2 fifties, KP certainly played his part. He will join up with the ODI squad in India later this month, but has once again been rested for the Limited overs part of the tour to New Zealand.

Dominic Sibley

Not many people would have heard of Dominic Sibley, but I think that will change over the coming years. At the age of just 17, Sibley was named “One of the greatest at his age” by the Pemberton Greenish Academy director Gareth Townsend, and has a huge future ahead of him. Breaking into the Surrey second team at just 16 and scoring double hundreds in the Surrey Premier Division, there’s no wonder why he has been named in the England Under 19 squad to tour South Africa at the end of this month. He may only be 17, but he could be the long term answer to our opening batsman problems.

Graeme Smith

The Surrey skipper will lead his South Africa side in 2 match test series against New Zealand this month, before playing a 3 match ODI series against the same opposition.