Ford names first Championship Squad

Where have the last 6 months gone? It’s that time of the year again where we prepare ourselves for the highs and lows of a county cricket season, as the first squad for the opening game against Glamorgan has been named.

There are no real shocks in the 12 that have been chosen to lead our charge for promotion to Division One after relegation last term, with the non-inclusion of Gareth Batty the main talking point. For the man who was captain for a large part of last season he will be hugely disappointed, but now that Zafar Ansari is available from the start of the season, having two spinners at this time of the year would be a poor decision.

Here is the full squad and my predicted starting X1:

Graeme Smith (C)

Rory Burns

Dominic Sibley

Steve Davies (WK)

Gary Wilson

Jason Roy

Zafar Ansari

Stuart Meaker

Tom Curran

Tim Linley

Chris Tremlett

Matthew Dunn

That isn’t the team I would choose, as I would select Dunn ahead of Tremlett, just for the fact that Dunn seems hungrier than Trem and he really needs to show what he is made of this season. Tremlett had a poor season in 2013 and it looks like he can only go downhill from now on, but it does seem likely that he will get the nod tomorrow.

It looks as if Tom Curran will make a Championship debut after making his First Class debut against Cambridge, and that is great to see. He is a great prospect and while the Easter break is in full flight, we should take advantage of his availability before he has to return to school. Known as a bowling all-rounder, he is yet to showcase any ability with the bat in the few games he has played, so it’s likely he will bat down at 9 in a rather long looking tail.

That will put a lot of pressure on the top 7 to get the bulk of the runs, but they have all shown reasonable form in pre-season. Smith comes in at the top, meaning Sibley will drop down to 3 which is no big headache to be honest, and hopefully he can continue from his last Championship performance from which he scored that memorable double hundred. Solanki continues to not be available with private family issues, which means an injury or two early on would create some problems for new coach Graham Ford.

Jade Dernbach misses out after being made to rest by the ECB after the ICC World T20, and even though I don’t think he would have been selected even if he was available, he will be a key player for us this year, as he needs to prove his many doubters wrong.

Overall it looks positive heading into the opening game tomorrow as Surrey embark on a new era under Ford. Question marks do remain in some areas though, with Smith’s form for South Africa earlier this year worrying to say the least, and as already mentioned Tremlett’s lack of pace and hunger currently. But I believe that this season will be far better than last’s (well, it couldn’t get much worse!) and if the youngsters are given a decent chance to showcase their ability, we will be in a fine place come the end of the campaign.

Dominic Sibley: Record Breaker

At the age of just 18 years and 21 days, Ashtead CC opener and still-schoolboy Dominic Sibley has broken all sorts of records on his way to an unbeaten 220 on a remarkable day at the KIA Oval.

Starting the morning unbeaten on 81, after Surrey’s highest opening partnership of the season between him and Rory Burns (82) yesterday, Sibley, understandably nervous, took almost 100 minutes of the opening session to register the 19 runs he needed to become Surrey’s youngest ever centurion in First Class cricket. But when the moment finally happened, a full toss from former England spinner Adil Rashid in which he swept to the deep backward square boundary, emotions of the highest order exploded out of the young man’s body as he realised what he had done.

What is most impressive though is that not once did he lose concentration, or if he did he did well to hide it, immediately focussing back on his job by hitting Rashid for another boundary the ball after he went to his ton. He was batting at the time with the world’s number 1 Test and ODI batsmen Hashim Amla after nightwatchman Tim Linley had been dismissed, which is a distant dream of most 18 year old’s who aspire to play First Class cricket. Amla was determined to catch Sibley up, with the pair putting on 236 for the 3^rd wicket; a record against Yorkshire. Despite Sibley being on 85 when the South African walked to the crease, he only just managed to reach his 150 before his partner, who did it remarkably quicker than the 18 year old. It was Amla’s first century for Surrey after previously recording 4 half centuries, and he raced to 150 off just 151 balls compared to Sibley’s 394.

Amla fell for 151 and because of Sibley he will hardly get a look in in tomorrow’s press, but don’t underestimate the impact he most likely had on Sibley’s innings today. Sibley remained at the same tempo as he had done for the previous day and a half, determined to make a double hundred, whilst Vikram Solanki played as fluent as ever. He blasted 51 off 54 balls with 3 sixes, before he was caught on the fence looking to pass 1000 Championship runs in the season with a six, meaning he fell just 5 runs short of the feat.

Sibley kept going and moved more fluently than he had done earlier in the day to reach his 100 and when he danced down the track to Kane Williamson and hit him through the leg side for 4 when on 199, he created all sorts of records for himself. He has become the youngest batsmen to hit a double century in the County Championship since its inception in 1890. He is the second youngest batsmen to hit a double century in First Class cricket in England after the little known WG Grace. And he is also the 13^th youngest batsmen in the history of the game to hit a double century in First Class cricket.

Just let those records sink in for a moment. Records for a boy who was only playing because Whitgift School gave him permission to miss four days of his A-Levels. Imagine when he goes back and all his mates ask him, “Dom, why were you not here this week?” and he can give them the answer that anyone would dream of. But no doubt they will all know of his wonderful achievement, as it has quite rightly been plastered all over media outlets across the web and most likely tomorrow’s newspapers.

I first became aware of Sibley when he was just 15, as he hit a double hundred for Ashtead in the Surrey Premier League against bowlers such as Jimmy Ormond. It was obvious he had an incredible talent, and he hit yet another double hundred for the Surrey academy last year, showing that when he bats big, he certainly bats big!

He played for the England Under 19’s earlier this year, hitting a century in one of the games, but a deep cut in his leg suffered on his YB40 debut kept him out of the Under 19 games against Pakistan this summer that he surely would have played in. He only made his First Class debut a couple of weeks ago, just after he turned 18, scoring 12 and 10 against Somerset before registering a duck at Edgbaston last week.

No one would have seen an innings of this magnitude coming so soon and with Surrey 572-4, a lead of 138, he will most likely try and add to his 220* tomorrow morning and try and add to the 9 hours and 41 minutes that he has spent at the crease.

All that is left to say is, Dom Sibley: remember the name.

Bears victory confirms Surrey's relegation

After giving Warwickshire a generous target on the final day, the inevitable has finally happened as Surrey have been beaten and therefore relegated to Division Two of the County Championship.

Two wickets last night kept us in the game, but our inability to produce the goods when opportunities arise has once again condemned us to defeat and a place in the bottom two of Division One. We could only manage 2 more wickets today, as a century from Ateeq Javid and half century from Chris Woakes meant that the hosts won the game by 6 wickets.

When Rikki Clarke played on to Tim Linley, after Stuart Meaker had earlier had Laurie Evans caught, with the score on 126-4, there was still a big chance that we could force home the victory that we needed desperately. But, as I’ve said, we failed to take any chances we’ve had. The pitch was still good to bat on today, but to only claim 2 further wickets is a poor showing, especially as a couple more would have got us into a rather long tail with Jeetan Patel at number 8.

However, that wasn’t to be and to be honest, we do deserve to go down. We haven’t been good enough when it matters this season and have had far too many disastrous sessions, which, in Division One cricket, you will struggle to get away with. The batting has failed all too often, with plenty of innings where not one batsman took on the mantle and scored big. Our bowling attack looks good on paper, but realistically in 4 day cricket it isn’t as potent as many think. Tremlett has been poor, Meaker missed most of the season due to inury, Linley has done what Linley does well but nothing too dramatic and Jade has been really inconsistent when selected.

So, where do we go from here? I will discuss this in more detail when I do an end of season review, but I might as well touch on it now. Many think that Division Two will do us good as it will allow us to play our youngsters, the likes of Sibley, Curran, Edwards, Dunn etc in an environment which doesn’t have the pressure of relegation. It will hopefully allow them to learn more about their own game, develop it and become better cricketers in the long term, rather than having that pressure constantly on their backs every time they step on the field.

I believe this squad is undoubtedly better than when we last went down in 2008, but there is a lot to be worked on. The opening partnership between Burns and Smith didn’t last long this year and Burns and Harinath personally faded away quite considerably towards the end of the year after good starts for them both. I would still stick with Burns at the top, but Harinath is one who has been given plenty of chances over the last few years, so I do wonder what will happen with him.

It was announced today that Zander de Bruyn has been released, so even though he didn’t perform this season, he needs to be replaced as well as bringing in at least two more batsmen/batting all-rounders to bolster that side of the game. That does of course come down to whether Jason Roy stays at the club. I personally would give him chance at number 5 or 6 in Division Two and allow him to learn how to play 4 day cricket, because he has the talent without question.

It was also announced today that Chris Tremlett and Gareth Batty had been given 1 and 2 year contract extensions respectively. That was a surprise to me to be honest, as both have been poor this season and I would much rather see our young bowlers be given a go ahead of them both when it comes to Division Two cricket and trying to rebuild a squad. Graeme Smith looks like he will be available for most of the 2014 season, so Batty won’t be needed as captain as much, meaning his place in the side won’t be definite anyway.

There are lots of things to discuss and as I said, I will do so more in a couple of weeks or so. But, the bottom line of it is that, despite the fight and commitment put in by the squad, we just weren’t up to the standard of Division One cricket.

Solanki and Davies give Surrey a sniff

It has taken until the 15^th game of a long LV County Championship season for Surrey to put in a dominant batting performance, to give themselves a slight chance of pulling off one of the greatest relegation escapes of recent time.

Going into the game we knew that we had to win at all costs or we were (not mathematically) down and after the first day was decimated due to the weather, a sumptuous century from Vikram Solanki has given us a slim chance of pulling off an unlikely victory.

A wet outfield delayed the start of play even more and with us continuing on a precarious 59-2, Solanki and Amla had to bat positively once play got underway at 12:40. Bat positively is exactly what they did, as they built a superb 166 run partnership in just over 40 overs together to take us towards our first batting point in a couple of matches. The pair couldn’t quite see us through to 200, as Amla yet again fell short of a century, flashing at a Barker delivery when on 77.

Davies joined Solanki and once he got himself in, he began to play an array of shots that we have been accustomed with since his arrival from Worcestershire in 2010. It was clear that the target was to get as many batting points as we could before pulling the plug, and just after collecting our first, Solanki brought up his century in 155 balls.

The pair started to kick on even further but still batted sensibly, as Davies moved past his half century and Solanki quickly reached 150 for the first time in a Surrey shirt. 300 was soon 350 as we picked up a 4^th batting point and Davies was in full flow, racing towards his second Championship century of the summer. However, with the partnership on 182 and Davies unbeaten on 99, Solanki was bowled for by Chris Woakes for 162. Davies’ century came up in the next over, off just 135 balls with 14 boundaries, and it was great to see him back to his best.

He was out next ball but he had already done a great job and Zafar Ansari and Gary Wilson got together to hit the remaining runs needed for maximum batting points, as we closed on 400-5.

I fully expect a declaration first thing tomorrow morning to give us a chance of bowling Warwickshire out twice, but the weather forecast isn’t the best, so it might be more like the afternoon than the morning. That could prevent us from pulling off the unlikely, but at least we have given ourselves a chance of doing it and let’s hope our bowlers can motivate themselves and put in a strong performance. 

Another must win awaits at Edgbaston

Any sane person would say that Surrey’s Division One status is gone now, but I am still holding onto the slim hope that if we can somehow collect two big victories in our final two games we can stay up.

In all seriousness, I do agree with the majority that it does look very unlikely, but let’s not give the players an easy way out. They have put us in this position, not down to lack of quality in most cases, but down to periods of brainless cricket, lapses in concentration and failure to take control of opportunities that arise. It is their responsibility to put in their upmost to pull us out of the desperate position we find ourselves in, right until we our officially relegated to the second tier.

The first of the two sides we must beat is current champions Warwickshire at their home ground of Edgbaston and the same 14 man squad which was named for Taunton last week has been named today.

Here is the squad and predicted line up:

Rory Burns

Dom Sibley

Hashim Amla

Vikram Solanki

Zander de Bruyn

Steve Davies (WK)

Gary Wilson

Gareth Batty (C)

Tim Linley

Chris Tremlett

Jade Dernbach

Zafar Ansari

Stuart Meaker

Gary Keedy

That might be what I think the team will be, but isn’t exactly what I would go with. The top 3 would be same, despite either of them scoring a big score at the start of an innings of late. I’ve spoken so much about Zander de Bruyn over the season that I think I will be wasting my breath banging on about him again, because you know my opinion on him. I would go with Solanki 5, Wilson 6, Davies 7. Some would say that 7 is too low for Davies, but he has struggled for runs in this format for a good few months now and is far too inconsistent at the current time to be in the top 5 or 6.

Some of you may have noticed I have missed out number 4 and I would give that role to Zafar Ansari. You can argue that he hasn’t posted any score of note at all this season, so why does he deserve a place in the top 4 of our championship side? Well, whenever he has come in at number 7 we have always been in some sort of crisis. He then turns into ultra-block mode, doesn’t try to score runs and then gets out when batting with the tail. There has been lots of talk about Zafar on how much potential he has, with Chris Adams saying he will be captain of Surrey one day, but he is yet to make a big contribution, like a century or taking a 5 wicket haul. There is undoubted talent there but we are yet to really see it in the 4 day game apart from a couple of innings opening last season, so he should be given the chance up the order to prove to the fans what he can do.

When it comes to the makeup of the rest of the side, I would consider dropping Batty as he doesn’t offer much apart from captaincy at the moment, being very reluctant to bowl himself at Taunton last week. If he didn’t play however, that would leave our tail very long with Meaker at 8, even if he did find some form with the bat last week, but even he has been understandably rusty in the games that he has been back.

Anyway, it’s probably too late to be discussing team selections as the damage has already been done this season. I will always hold hope with Surrey, and we have proved miracles over the last couple of seasons, but I have to admit it looks a far tougher task than 2012. 

Lower order gives Somerset the edge

Somerset have taken a first innings lead of 65 to put themselves on top after Day Two of the vital County Championship match at Taunton. 3 wickets from Jade Dernbach and Zafar Ansari helped dismiss the hosts after Surrey’s poor display with the bat on the first day.

The first port of call this morning was to reach 200 and a first batting point, however that wasn’t to be as both Tremlett and Dernbach fell without a run added to succumb us to what seemed like a below par 195. I know it’s not the role of the last 2 batsmen to get runs, but it would be nice for once if they could help us out a bit.

But Jade and Trem did give us the perfect start with the ball, as the former made Trescothick play on without scoring and the latter had fellow opener Chris Jones caught behind an over later. Tremlett was keeping it tight from one end, but just like against Middlesex, the other bowlers were leaking runs left, right and centre with Nick Compton especially looking fluent. Meaker had gone for 11 in his first 5 balls but with his final ball of his opening over had James Hildreth LBW to reduce Somerset to 46-3.

The runs didn’t stop there though, as Kieswetter played in his usual manner, scoring well over a run a ball, punishing some wayward bowling. But de Bruyn got his wicket just before the lunch break to keep us within touching distance in the first innings. Compton was still looking good, until he played on to Dernbach for 66 and five balls later Dernbach had Alex Barrow LBW as Surrey scented a first innings lead.

But Somerset bat deep and Peter Trego and Craig Meschede put on a partnership of 68 to take their side into the lead, before Zafar Ansari removed them both in the space of 3 deliveries just before tea and a spot of bad light. It wasn’t over yet for Surrey though, as they still had to comprehend bowling at a number 10 in Piyush Chawla who has a First Class average of over 30 with 4 hundreds and he started to hit his side into a great position and really put Surrey to the mill. Once again a lower order partnership was troubling us after we had managed to get ourselves back into a good position.

Batty and Ansari finally managed to see off Chawla and Gregory, but not before the lead had reached a level that could prove plenty in the context of this game. Bad light delayed our start to the innings, but in the play that we did get, Burns and Sibley saw it off to close on 13-0.

If you would have asked me at the beginning of the day if I would have taken today’s outcome I would have probably said yes, but we had opportunities when they were 6 and 8 down to have a firmer hold on the game, but as usual we failed to take them. There is still two days left to play, so no need for the batsmen to try and do anything stupid, but there is a high possibility that rain will play a part tomorrow, which could scupper a chance of victory for either side.

Batty and Meaker add respectability

A 9^th wicket partnership of 64 between Gareth Batty and Stuart Meaker has added some respectability to Surrey’s Day one exploits at Taunton, after the batsmen failed once again.

It’s about time our tail gave us some runs and even though we shouldn’t have to rely on them, today Batty (39) and Meaker (30*) produced the goods just at the right time to keep us in Day One.

Rory Burns and debutant Dom Sibley gave us a slow, but solid, start to the game after we chose to bat first, but an hour into the day’s play our top order collapsed. Losing a few wickets for not so many runs has been an all too frequent occurrence this season and today we fell from 31-0 to 31-3 in the space of a couple of overs, with Sibley (10), Amla (0) and Burns (21) losing their wickets to Meschede and Thomas. Sibley will take some solace that he scored more than the world’s best batsmen in his opening First Class knock, but it was very disappointing that none of the top 3 could score big.

And when Solanki went to Chawla in the last over before lunch for 14, it capped off a terrible session for Surrey at 61-4, and showed why we are scratching away at the bottom of the first division with only one win to our name in 13 matches. Zander de Bruyn once again got a start and moved onto 30 after the lunch break, before he was trapped LBW to give Meschede his 3^rd wicket. For a man of the age of de Bruyn to keep getting starts and not converting is a worry and is why he shouldn’t be picked in the side ahead of Wilson, for example.

Then followed a strange period of cricket, where Steve Davies was joined by Zafar Ansari and they batted extremely slowly. Ansari especially had turned into extreme-block mode, as it took him 42 balls to get off the mark. I don’t mind it too much if Ansari took his time and then converted his start into a big score, but he was removed by Trego for a 70 ball 8 shortly after. In a game that we need to win Ansari was playing particularly negative and he didn’t seem to look to score runs. He has played like that whenever he has got a chance in this format this season and that needs to change if he is to become a firm fixture in our line up.

We lost our 7^th wicket just after the tea interval when Davies was caught for 38, as it continued to look bleak for us on the first day of a County Championship match yet again. However, Batty and Meaker decided to play more positively than the previous batsmen and it paid off with 11 boundaries coming up in the stand between the pair, including one six by Batty off Chawla. The captain went just before bad light brought a premature end to the day’s play, but he did a good job.

Somerset will without doubt be the happier of the two sides to keep us to 195-8 after we chose to bat first, but we could easily have been bowled out for under 150 if our tail had been up to their usual standards. The batsmen will be disappointed with their efforts, but as always you don’t know how good the pitch is until both batsmen bat on it, but Batty and Meaker both showed that run scoring is certainly possible.

Surrey head to Taunton for crunch game

Surrey can’t be officially relegated this week, but they can go a long way to doing so if they don’t collect a victory at fellow relegation rivals Somerset in the crunch LV County Championship match starting tomorrow.

Many Surrey fans believe that relegation may suit us and allow the younger players to learn their trade in the first X1 without the pressure of the possibility of relegation, but that doesn’t mean we don’t want them to win, as I will be over the moon if we can somehow get out of the mire we currently find ourselves at the foot of the table. Presently, there are only really 3 teams in the fight to stay in Division One; Derbyshire, Somerset and ourselves, but a good win this week for us could pull Nottinghamshire into the situation if they fail to beat Middlesex at Lord’s, which would help our chances of staying up.

But we have to win our game first before worrying about other sides and to do that we need our best players at our disposal. Back into the squad comes Chris Tremlett after being rested last week in the demoralising defeat to Middlesex, Zafar Ansari is available after his thumb injury and Gary Wilson is back from international duty.

Here is the squad in full and predicted line up:

Rory Burns

Dom Sibley

Hashim Amla

Vikram Solanki

Zander de Bruyn

Steve Davies

Gary Wilson

Gareth Batty (C)

Tim Linley

Chris Tremlett

Gary Keedy

Stuart Meaker

Zafar Ansari

Jade Dernbach

18 year old batsman Dom Sibley will make his First Class debut and will open the batting alongside Rory Burns in place of the out of form Arun Harinath. It’s a great opportunity for him but straight away there is lots of pressure as this is a massively important fixture, so let’s hope he can thrive on such an occasion.

Even though Ansari is back in the squad I can’t see him being picked, with Gary Wilson likely to accommodate that number 7 role. If it was down to me I would drop Gareth Batty and have Ansari as the second spinner alongside Gary Keedy, but even though Batty hasn’t been in the greatest form, he is the captain and gives a different option to Keedy’s left arm spin which performed against Middlesex. It will no doubt be a turning pitch as Somerset have once Surrey-bound leg spinner Piyush Chawla in the ranks, who almost took them to victory over Derbyshire last week.

Another option I would consider is picking Ansari ahead of Zander de Bruyn and having Davies, Wilson and Ansari occupying 5,6 and 7 in whatever order, but that would then only leave two seamers in the side and with Trem being one of them, that’s unlikely. That means that Mr Undroppable will keep his place in the side unless a third seamer is selected ahead of either Batty or Keedy.

When it comes to the bowlers, I don’t think Tremlett will be left out after the form he has shown recently, despite his position at the club looking doubtful for next year. And Linley has performed better than Dernbach and the returning Meaker of late, so if they were to go with a 2 man seam attach plus Zander, Trem and the Viscount will probably get the nod.

But whatever side Stuart Barnes and Gareth Batty pick, they need to make sure they start the game off well. Make sure you are still in the game after Day One, because too many times this year we have been out of games before we know it and it is then too late to pull things back.

If we can win this game I believe we have a good chance of staying up, but anything other than a win then I’m afraid to say we will probably go down. Good luck over the next four days lads and bring back the points.

13 named for must win game

If Surrey are going to have any realistic chance of staying in Division One of the County Championship, then they must beat one of their rivals for the drop, Derbyshire at the Kia Oval starting tomorrow.

However, that is going to be a far from easy task, as Derbyshire have won their last two Championship games and are “buzzing” according to coach Karl Krikken. Surrey fans know well that when a team start stringing results together (end of 2011 and 2012 seasons), they are very hard to beat, so we will have to be at the top of our game this week to overcome a rejuvenated Derby side.

Here is our squad and probable line up for tomorrow:

Rory Burns

Arun Harinath

Hashim Amla

Vikram Solanki

Zander de Bruyn

Steve Davies

Zafar Ansari

Tom Curran

Gareth Batty

Chris Tremlett

Tim Linley

Dominic Sibley

George Edwards

There are a couple of omissions from the squad that travelled to Durham last week. Jon Lewis hasn’t been selected and will play for the Second X1, alongside Gary Keedy. Gary Wilson will also play for the Second X1 before he heads off on international duty and Jade Dernbach is playing for England in the T20 tomorrow evening, hence his unavailability.

Jason Roy has once again been left out which points to the opinion that he may be allowed to leave at the end of the season. Don’t get me wrong, I love Jason Roy and would be disgusted if the club let him leave, but he isn’t getting any sort of game time in the Championship and he doesn’t seemed to have progressed over the last 2 years. And with his contract running out this winter, who knows what will happen, but I really hope he stays.

There are a couple of new faces in the squad, with tall fast bowler George Edwards and batsman Dominic Sibley being named in the party. I’ve always liked the look of Edwards but injuries have hampered his chances of being selected any earlier. When he picked up 5 wickets on his Championship debut against Worcestershire last year, I thought we had a very good bowler on our hands, but we haven’t seen much of him since. I don’t think he will get a game though, as 18 year old Tom Curran is likely to make his First Class debut. He has impressed in the YB40 this past month, and would have played earlier in the season according to Chris Adams on Twitter if he didn’t have a “bout of serious illness.”

However much I would like him to, Sibley probably won’t make a First Class debut tomorrow, with the old head of Zander de Bruyn amazingly keeping his place in the side. If de Bruyn’s averages were round the other way (He is averaging over 60 this season with the ball and 25 with the bat), then I could see why he is being picked, but by looking at those figures, surely it is worth giving someone else a crack.

It’s a blow that Jade isn’t available for such a big game, especially as Linley had a particularly poor return at Durham last week. However, we have to fight through it and with the help of an in form Chris Tremlett try and claim 20 wickets for only the second time this season, and the first at the Oval. If the pitch we are going to play on tomorrow is anything like the test match strip, then it may be hard for either side to force a result, but hopefully whatever the England players did to it on Sunday night spiced it up for us!

If we win this game then we would probably go above Derbyshire and possibly above Somerset, depending on how they get on against Middlesex, and we would still then have a game in hand over both teams. That may prove vital come the end of the season as there isn’t many points between the 3 sides, and victories do really help the cause dramatically at this point in the campaign.

Derbyshire have been depleted slightly, with both Chesney Hughes and Tim Groenewald missing the game due to the birth of their first child and the likes of Dan Redfern injured, so maybe this is a good time to be playing them.

However, as I said before, they are on the up at the moment and if we want to maintain our position in the First Division, we must produce a performance that warrants that status, by beating our rivals. 

Finals Day awaits for Surrey

Finals Day is almost upon us and a 14 man squad has been named for our Semi Final against the Hampshire Royals, with Glenn Maxwell returning to the fold.

We are overwhelming underdogs heading into tomorrow as we come up against winners of two of the last 3 English T20 competitions and a side who have only lost once so far in this year’s competition. However, anything can happen in Twenty20, and we could well find ourselves champions come 10pm tomorrow evening.

Here is the squad that has been selected and probable line up:

Jason Roy

Steve Davies

Vikram Solanki (C)

Glenn Maxwell

Gary Wilson

Azhar Mahmood

Zafar Ansari

Zander de Bruyn

Jon Lewis

Chris Tremlett

Jade Dernbach

Tim Linley

Tom Curran

Rory Burns

That is how I see the team shaping up and it is probably what I, and many Surrey fans, would select. Some would argue that after Rory Burns’ recent performances with the bat in List A cricket and Tom Curran’s effort with the ball that they should be selected, but to pick such inexperienced T20 players for a massive game like a Semi Final is a big gamble, and something that won’t happen unless an injury occurs.

I sound like a broken record when I say that the batting hasn’t really fired in the competition, but it really hasn’t. Our top scorer, Jason Roy, has 272 runs in the tournament, well over 200 less than Hampshire’s top scorer Michael Carberry (496). Hampshire have hit 8 half centuries and 1 century compared to our 5 50’s and zero 100’s in the 11 matches so far. But there is the argument that Hampshire are over reliant on Carberry at the top of the order and if he doesn’t fire, they may struggle.

In some regards that is the case. He has hit 4 of their half centuries and of course that superb hundred against Lancashire last week in the quarter final, so if you get him out early you have a far better chance of victory. Don’t underestimate their other batsmen though. James Vince, who has played a couple of explosive innings Live on Sky of recent weeks, has had a relatively poor competition from his standards with just 256 runs, but we all know what he can do. Neil McKenzie has quietly gone about his business this year, hitting 296 runs in just 7 innings, showing that he has still got what it takes and Sean Ervine and Liam Dawson showed what they could do last night.

Whatever happens, Hampshire will have quality batsmen for our bowlers to deal with and will be able to post a competitive score or chase a competitive total if required. Therefore our batsmen need to step up and produce the goods. Despite being our top scorer, only 1 50 from Roy is not good enough in 11 matches, so surely he is due a big one tomorrow. Davies has hit a couple of typical Davies innings but has all too frequently got out early playing innocuous shots, almost throwing his wickets away. Whatever people say about how well Wilson and co have done getting us out of trouble in those middle overs, Davies and Roy are our quickest scorers and if either of those bat 15+ overs, then we are in for a great score. If not, then we may struggle to set up a score, or chase what Hampshire put in front of us.

There is the million dollar man though, who has found some form for Australia A over the last few weeks. He hit 155 in a First Class game before a 145* off 79 balls and 93 off 56 balls in a couple of One day games. After only scoring 87 from his 6 innings for us in the group stage, let’s hope that he can continue in that vein and pull off an innings against his old team tomorrow.

When it comes to the bowlers, I don’t think that there are many better attacks than ours in the country. However, without Batty we are seriously depleted as he fires the team up when they are having a bad few overs and gets his fair share of wickets too. Our other spinners, Ansari and Maxwell, don’t pick up wickets as regular and go for far more runs per over than Batty. However, with Jade, Azhar, Trem and Lewis, we have 4 very experienced bowlers who will be trying their upmost to lead us to victory, as it is unlikely that 3 of them will play at Finals Day again in their careers.

A key battle will be between Carberry and Dernbach, but I would be inclined to open with spin against Carberry to try and prize him out early. Another interesting battle will be between Roy and Dimi Mascarenhas, with Roy hitting him to all parts at the Oval a few weeks ago before Dimi bowled him with a slower delivery.

Whatever happens, we have done extremely well to get to Finals Day, but we can’t head into tomorrow with that attitude or we will come away with nothing. We have to use our underdog status to our advantage, with most of the pressure on the Royals, and put in a performance to make themselves and our travelling support proud.

Good lucks lads, and bring home the trophy.

Surrey aim for Finals Day

This is the first time we have been in a Twenty20 quarter final since 2006, so it is without doubt our biggest game in the competition since then. On that occasion we heavily beat Gloucestershire at Bristol before falling at the Semi Final stage against Notts. In fact, we have never lost a T20 quarter final in the 4 times we have managed to reach one, qualifying for Finals Day on each occasion. That must be a good omen, yes?

Well let’s hope so and with the squad of players that we have, I believe we have the ability to produce a performance to beat any opposition on their day. How often that performance comes around though is the big question. In 2 of our last 3 games we demolished both Middlesex and Essex by posting a decent score before allowing our bowlers to roll the opposition over. Oh how much I would love that again tonight!

Here is our squad to play Somerset:

Gareth Batty (C)

Steve Davies

Jason Roy

Vikram Solanki

Gary Wilson

Zafar Ansari

Azhar Mahmood

Zander de Bruyn

Jon Lewis

Chris Tremlett

Jade Dernbach

Rory Burns

Tom Curran

Tim Linley

Coincidently there is only player in the squad for tonight who played in our last quarter final, Azhar Mahmood, and he could be a key man with both bat and ball as he has shown over the years. This could be his last game for us if we lose, I don’t know the arrangements of whether he will stay for the YB40 of next year’s T20, so he will want to make sure that isn’t the case and put in a starring role tonight. In this year’s competition he has either bowled or batted well in each match but has struggled to put the two together, so hopefully tonight is the night.

 

I think it is about time we had a big score from a batsman, an 80 or a 90 to set up a large total, and hopefully that can come from either Jason Roy or Steve Davies. If either of those two bat the majority of an innings then Surrey fans know that we would be in a great position to win the game, but that has been an all too infrequent occurrence this season. Davies has a

couple of half centuries, with Roy getting just 1 from 10 innings, and as a pair they haven’t batted long periods of time together with at least one of them getting out in the early stages. If that can change then we have a great chance tonight.

However, if they fail then once again we have to rely on the likes of Gary Wilson and Zafar Ansari, who have done a splendid job at times in the competition. Wilson is such an experienced T20 player and is very much underrated by some Surrey fans and county followers. Also Ansari’s partnership with Azhar at Kent was so vital, because we may not be in this situation if that didn’t occur.

I don’t worry about our bowlers anywhere near like I do with the batsmen, because they have shown that when given a reasonable total defend, they can do it. Jade, Trem, Azhar and Lewis have wealth’s of

experience and T20 nous, supported by de Bruyn who has had a good competition and Batty and Ansari in the spin attack. I doubt that there are many better bowling attacks than ours in the competition.

However, it’s not just bowling where you win T20 games, with our opposition tonight looking frighteningly good in all facets. They have a possible top 6 of Trescothick, Kieswetter, Trego, Petersen, Hildreth, Buttler who are all capable of producing innings of the most explosive kind. If we bat first we must score a total of at least over 160, because anything lower will be knocked off by Somerset, as at least one or two of that top 6 will produce.

So then, just a few hours to wait for this huge game. We’ve done well to get this far and let’s hope we can put in a performance that the guys and fans will be proud of. If we put in a strong performance and still lose it will be disappointing, but there would be plenty of positives to take than if we lost heavily.

Good luck guys and show us what you’ve got. Come on the Rey!!!

Where do we go now in the T20?

With just 3 games remaining (hopefully not!) in this year’s Friends Life T20, I thought that I would write a blogpost on where we are at the moment, and how we should rediscover the form we showed pre-Nottinghamshire game.

With 4 wins out of 5, we certainly looked in a great position to qualify for the quarter finals for the first time since 2006, with 3 wins needed to all but seal our place. However, 2 games later we still sit on 8 points, now requiring a victory in our final 3 games to have a realistic chance of going through.

So what’s been going wrong in the last couple of games? Well, I don’t think you can look too far past the batting efforts that we have put in those games. We haven’t performed with the bat at all in the competition so far, but I felt the Essex and Hampshire defeats this week were particularly poor. Before the mid-competition break, which I personally feel didn’t help at all, the bowlers won us the game in at least 3 of the 4 victories we acquired, with Kent the one exception, but we cannot keep relying on them to pull us out of the mire.

Hampshire and Essex both have very strong batting line ups, both better than their bowling in my opinion, and will chase down modest totals which we set them. In both of the games last week the bowlers didn’t do a bad job, but were not helped by inept performances from most of the batsmen. Ponting did well in the Essex game, but apart from that there was no one who hit a score of substance in either of the games.

As has been mentioned previously we rely a lot on our openers, usually Jason Roy and Steve Davies, in limited overs cricket and if they don’t fire, then we struggle to post decent scores. You can’t really argue with that in my opinion as the one time one of those two really fired in this year’s competition was when Davies hit an unbeaten 90-odd against Kent, our highest team total in the tournament. However, apart from that innings, Davies has been very disappointing in the games that he has played, often getting out in an innocuous fashion and not even making a decent start, let alone a big innings.

Jason Roy at times has looked the world’s best batsmen at the crease, especially with shots such as the reverse sweep for 6 off Dimi Mascarenhas, but he has also failed to make a large impact. He has had a  better time of it than Davies, but he would be annoyed at the way he gets out sometimes, especially after he took 10 off of Mascarenhas’ first two balls in an over before being bowled looking for another big hit next ball. Alec Stewart and most Surrey fans will know that Davies and Roy are our two gun players in this competition, and if they don’t find form, we will struggle.

We shouldn’t have to rely on two players however, but the others have failed to apply themselves to the situation in front of them. Ponting has had one good game, Maxwell didn’t really have any, Mahmood has been a real disappointment after the form he showed in the IPL and Ansari has also been a tad frustrating at times. Gary Wilson obviously has been invaluable at times, and got us to competitive totals, but he won’t blast you to victory with his style of batting I don’t think.

So what’s got to change? I would make several changes to the team/ batting order. I would stick with the top 3 because they are our best 3 and should stay there. Azhar shouldn’t really be batting in the top 7 I don’t think, and either Burns or Solanki should be brought into the middle order to firm it up. De Bruyn should be taken out of the side because I don’t think his bowling warrants a place in the team, and either Tom Jewell or Tom Curran should be given a go down at 8. Jon Lewis shouldn’t be playing as his little medium pace dobbers have been played relatively easily of recent times, and Tremlett should be backed to perform in this format.

Other than that, there aren’t many other changes I would make to the team because there aren’t many other options pure and simply! I knew at the beginning of the season we were a batsmen or two light, and when the ones you do have hit a bad run of form, it puts you in a spot of bother.

So, overall, to win our final 3 games we must post better scores. Two of our 3 games are away from the Oval, at Lord’s and Chelmsford where the boundaries are relatively small, so hopefully we can use that as an advantage and produce the goods when it matters.

Can we go back to playing T20, please?

I never thought that I would say this, but I would much prefer us to be playing T20 than the County Championship at the moment, after another very poor day for us.

Despite half centuries from Rory Burns and Steve Davies, we were knocked over for just 198 and then failed to pick up a wicket with Notts closing day one on 50-0.

With the sun beating down and without a cloud in the sky, Gareth Batty had no hesitation in batting first when he won the flip of the coin. Team news was that Rory Burns was fit enough to play, which meant that, alongside Tim Linley, Dominic Sibley missed out.

Burns started positively as he worked Harry Gurney for 4 in the first over, but lost his opening partner when Arun Harinath edged to Samit Patel at slip. Burns continued to play an array of stunning shots, especially straight down the ground, but the other batsmen weren't as comfortable as the Banstead 'keeper, as Vikram Solanki fell to an in-swinging Andre Adams delivery for 7.

That wicket brought Ricky Ponting to the crease on his final first class game, and he and Burns had a rebuilding job to do. Burns moved to another Championship half century with a flick off Gurney, but in yet again the last over of a session we lost a wicket, when Burns could only tickle a leg side ball to Read behind the stumps. A disappointing way to end a very good 57 from Burns, and Notts were very happy with us going to lunch 3 down for 93.

And they would have been cock-a-hoop when Ponting edged onto his pad and into the hands of short leg on 29 just after the break. Zander De Bruyn managed to work his way to 16 until he flashed at Shahzad and was caught behind, leaving Steven Davies and Zafar Ansari with a big job on their hands. Davies played in his typically fluent manner, but Ansari struggled to tick the score along and in the penultimate over before tea (!) he firmly pushed Graeme White to Rikki Wessels at short leg and he held on at the second attempt. 175-6 read a very poor picture after choosing to bat.

It didn't get much better after tea as the last 4 wickets fell for just 23 runs, with the last 4 batsmen all registering ducks. Davies was the only one to put up a fight, as he was stranded on a very well made 65. 18 fruitless overs were to follow, where Wessels and Steven Mullaney made batting look far easier than we did, as the closed less than 150 behind with all their first innings wickets still intact. 

So after the joys of the last week or so in the T20, any thoughts of transferring that form and confidence into the Championship seem to have been distinguished. It often happens after some T20's that a side gets rolled over easily when they return to 4 day cricket, but the way the batsmen performed today, they can have no excuses.

Burns and Davies were the only two who seemed to adjust to the apparent very good conditions to bat in, with the others getting out to some rather poor shots or some very good bowling and fielding from Notts. Burns' wicket was key as he was looking better than ever today, but the others need to take a look at themselves.

We won an important toss but failed to capitalise, and if we can't find some wickets in the morning session tomorrow, we could be in for a very long couple of days indeed. 

Sibley may make debut in Ponting's last game

As one of the great batsmen of all time plays his final First Class game, a 17 year old prodigy has a chance of making his debut in the County Championship match against Nottinghamshire this week.

Ricky Ponting first played a First Class game back in 1992, 3 years before Dominic Sibley was born, and after 288 games, with almost 24,000 runs, Punter is bowing out of the game. Sibley, born in 1995, was just 3 months old when Ponting made his test match debut and now has the chance to play with a batsman that he grew up watching.

Here is the squad in full:

Gareth Batty (C)

Arun Harinath

Rory Burns

Vikram Solanki

Ricky Ponting

Zander de Bruyn

Steve Davies

Zafar Ansari

Dominic Sibley

Chris Tremlett

Jade Dernbach

Tim Linley

Gary Keedy

It’s not a certainty that Sibley will get a debut, however, as that rests on the shoulders of whether Rory Burns is fit enough after a hamstring injury he sustained in a second X1 match last week. Burns retired hurt and later wrote in his column for the Surrey Mirror that he had torn his hamstring, but I think if that was the case he would be out for a while, so hopefully he only tweaked it. We obviously need a win in the Championship and we want our best players available for the game, but if Burns wasn’t to make it, then it will be some occasion for Sibley.

The Ashtead CC opener is a graduate of the Pemberton Greenish Academy and doesn’t turn 18 until the 5^th of September, the same birthday as a certain Mark Ramprakash, and has been talked about for a while. I first head of Sibley a couple of years ago when, at 15, he struck a double century in a Surrey Premier Division match against bowlers such as Jimmy Ormond, and since then I have been waiting to see him come into the side. It would be great to see him play tomorrow, but if he doesn’t, the experience for him would be vital for when he eventually does get a go.

What can I say about a man who is 21 years older than Sibley? Ponting will go down as one of the greats and it is a privilege that his last First Class match will be for Surrey at the Oval. He hasn’t had the best of times at our ground, obviously losing the Ashes in both 2005 and 2009 there, but hopefully he will bow out by providing us with one more superb innings. He will carry on to play in the T20 for us and in the Caribbean T20 in August, but this is the format that made Ponting who he is today.

When it comes to the bowlers named in the squad, there is a bit of a selection headache for Stewart and Barnes. 3 seamers plus de Bruyn have been named in the squad and two spinners plus Ansari, so there are plenty of options. Notts’ attack is much reliant on their seamers so I would presume that the groundsman would be told to try and produce a turning wicket, which may mean that Keedy, who took a 7-fer in his last game, will play alongside Batty. Another option is to not play Keedy and have Ansari and Batty as the two spinners and therefore play Trem, Jade and the Viscount. I’m not sure which way they are going to go.

So this is a massive game for us as we still look for our first win of the season. However, we have won 4 in a row in the FLT20 which could only prove beneficial for us when it comes to the Championship, because when you get that winning feeling, you don’t want to give it up easily.

Batty returns for T20 opener

Gareth Batty has been named in a 13 man squad to take on the reigning champions Hampshire Royals in the opening FLT20 game of the summer tomorrow at the Ageas Bowl.

After missing for over 3 weeks due to a side strain, it is great to have Batty back in the squad and he will take over the captaincy from Vikram Solanki.

Here is the squad in full:

Gareth Batty (C)

Jason Roy

Steve Davies

Vikram Solanki

Ricky Ponting

Azhar Mahmood

Glenn Maxwell

Zander de Bruyn

Zafar Ansari

Gary Wilson

Jon Lewis

Chris Tremlett

Matthew Dunn

It’s obviously not just his captaincy that we have missed over the last few weeks, with his bowling proving vital at times, and he had a successful Twenty 20 campaign last season which led him to being named in England’s provisional squad for the World T20 in Sri Lanka. Alongside Batty’s off spin is Ansari’s slow left arm and Maxwell’s off breaks, so it looks like we will field 3 spinners in most of the games this campaign, but Gary Keedy is left out of the party probably due to the fact he isn’t particularly quick in the field and is not the best with the bat shall we say.

When it comes to the seam bowlers, there are 5 named in the squad, including Matthew Dunn. It’s great to see Dunn named in a first team squad for two consecutive games but I don’t think he will make the final X1. It’s a massive blow that both Dernbach and Meaker are unavailable for the start of the competition due to different reasons, as it means that we will most likely field Jon Lewis as well as Tremlett which, along with Azhar Mahmood, means that there are 3 fielders who are less fleet-footed in the field than the younger players.

When it comes to the batsmen, it looks like the most explosive line up we have had in years. I presume the top 6 will be something like this: Roy, Davies, Ponting, Solanki, Azhar, Maxwell, all of whom can score at a rapid tempo and clear the ropes at regular intervals. That is something we have missed over the last few seasons of T20. We usually have a top 4 who can smash the ball out of the park, but it now looks like we have 6 who can do that role, and with 2 of Wilson, de Bruyn and Ansari at number 7 and 8, it is a very long batting line up. I personally would play Wilson ahead of de Bruyn as he had a superb time in the T20 last year and I don’t think Zander’s medium pace is required after his showing at Guildford against Lancashire.

A special mention for Jason Roy who had a difficult time of it in the Championship when he played, but since the Guildford festival he has worked hard and found some form. In his last 9 innings for Surrey second X1 and Reigate Priory he has scored: 127*, 124, 48, 13, 90, 6, 32, 78, 79. Some may say that the standard is nothing like first team professional cricket, but at least he has scored the runs. He could have easily gone back to the second X1 and Reigate and not put in 100% and not got many runs, but he didn’t do that, he put the effort in and hopefully he can have a good T20 campaign.

So, it all starts tomorrow against a strong looking Hampshire side. It’s important to get off to a good start and with 3 away games this week we must register a win as soon as possible, because as we have seen over the 7 years since we have qualified for the quarter finals, once you get off to a poor start, it’s very hard to produce that winning formula.

Surrey's greatest T20 X1

With it being 10 years since we lifted the inaugural Twenty20 Cup, I felt that it was a fitting time to look back at Surrey’s performance over the last decade in the razzmatazz of the shortest form of the game. Some players I have selected in Surrey’s best Twenty20 X1 were an easy pick, whereas others were more difficult to choose and more debatable. So, here is my X1:

1. ALISTAIR BROWN:

Runs:  1170

Average: 23.40

Strike Rate: 156.00

Highest Score: 83

Being one of only 3 players to have passed 1000 runs for us in history, not many will argue with the selection of Ali Brown at the top of the order. Perhaps T20 came a few years late for Brown to really be at his destructive best, because in his pomp in One Day cricket he was unstoppable at times, but he still managed to hit the ball out of the park at a consistent basis in the early years of the format. It was a surprise that he never made a century, registering just 7 half centuries for us in 6 years, but he often got the innings off to a flyer and hit an unbeaten 55 to guide us to glory against Warwickshire in 2003. Brown has also claimed the most catches for us with 34, 13 more than next highest Stewart Walters.

2. STEVE DAVIES (WK):

Runs: 938

Average: 27.58

Strike Rate: 155.29

Highest Score: 99*

With 3 of the top 5 scores for us in T20 cricket being scored by Steve Davies, the former Worcestershire wicket keeper was an easy choice to open the batting with Brown. One of the most elegant batsman to play for our club for years, stroking the ball to the boundary in an effortless manner, it is a wonder why he hasn’t played more international cricket. On his day there are no better than Davo and he was undoubtedly the best signing in the Chris Adams era.

3. JASON ROY:

Runs: 729

Average: 22.78

Strike Rate: 137.03

Highest Score: 101*

One of the main reasons Jason Roy is in the team is purely because of the fact that he is the only Surrey player to have hit a T20 hundred. It was in 2010 against Kent at Beckenham and at the time he was a relative unknown around the county circuit, but he has since grown a reputation as one of the bigger hitters in the country. Don’t forget that he is still young and will, in my opinion, grow into the greatest T20 batsman in the club’s history.

4. JAMES BENNING:

Runs: 1032

Average: 22.43

Strike Rate: 130.79

Highest Score: 88

Ok, so James Benning was an opener and not someone who would bat at number 4, but I had to fit him in somewhere. Tipped for an England career for many years, Benning was an explosive batsman for us in the first few years of the competition and along with Ali Brown produced one of the best partnerships in the history of T20 cricket in England. It’s a shame that his time with us ended as it did and that his career has gone downhill, because at the age of just 30, he still could have had plenty of years left in him.

5. MARK RAMPRAKASH:

Runs: 1719

Average: 32.43

Strike Rate: 125.01

Highest Score: 85*

Probably my easiest choice to have in the team is the legend that is Ramps, who is our leading T20 run scorer by almost 600 runs. Perhaps not the format most suited to his style of batting, but he showed on many occasions that he was more than capable to put together an aggressive innings. He hit 13 half centuries, 6 more than the next highest Ali Brown, including a memorable unbeaten 85 to beat his old side Middlesex. Only 19 players have scored more runs than him in the English T20 game, with most of them playing far more games than Ramps did.

6. ADAM HOLLIOAKE (C):

Runs: 257

Wickets: 36

Highest Score: 65*

Best Figures: 5-21

He may have only played two seasons of T20 cricket for us before he retired, but I don’t think there is anyone who can question my choice of having Adam Hollioake in the side as captain. Leading us to glory in the first year of the format, where most of the players admitted that they didn’t know what to do and what to expect from it, Hollioake spearheaded the attack with his, unplayable at times, medium pace. He didn’t captain the side the following year but he still performed, and considering there were far fewer games in the tournament than there is now, to claim 36 wickets in 2 seasons was a remarkable achievement. He remains the only Surrey bowler to claim 2 five wicket hauls in Twenty 20 and will long be remembered as a Surrey legend.

7. AZHAR MAHMOOD:

Runs: 665

Wickets: 33

Highest Score: 65*

Best Figures: 4-20

At his best, Azhar was the perfect T20 player. With the ability to hit the ball to all parts in double quick time and be very effective with the ball at both the start and end of an innings. Ok, maybe he was never the quickest mover in the field, but he could make up for that by keeping it tight with the ball. He played a key part in our early success in the competition and always came back to haunt us when we played against him for Kent, and hopefully the leading wicket taker in Domestic T20 cricket with 103 can bring us some much awaited success this year.

8. CHRIS SCHOFIELD:

Runs: 203

Wickets: 53

Highest Score: 30*

Best Figures: 4-12

Schoey was very much hit and miss with the ball with us, but in T20 cricket you could always rely on him getting you a wicket. He is the joint leading wicket taker for us and took his 53 inside just 4 years. He may go around the park every now and then, but that happens to the best of leg spinners, and his batting was more than useful at times. Personally, I feel that he often batted too low down in the side and he should have batted higher to exploit his ability to hit the ball into strange areas.

9. TIM MURTAGH:

Wickets: 37

Best Figures: 6-24

Strike Rate: 15.60

This maybe a controversial choice because he is now at Middlesex, but Tim Murtagh is the joint leading wicket taking seamer in T20 cricket for Surrey. His strike rate shows that he would regularly pick up wickets and his figures of 6-24 against his current club at Lord’s in 2005 are still to be beaten by a Surrey bowler 8 years on.

10. CHRIS TREMLETT:

Wickets: 37

Best Figures: 4-16

Strike Rate: 14.20

The selection of the big man may surprise many people but by looking at his stats alone it is clear that he can be a fine bowler in the shortest format of the game. He has taken the same amount of wickets as Murtagh in 4 less matches and his economy rate of 7.02 is very rare in this day and age. A fit and firing Tremlett will be vital if we are going to succeed in this year’s competition.

11. NAYAN DOSHI:

Wickets: 53

Best Figures: 4-22

Strike Rate: 12.5

Last but certainly not least is mercurial talent that is Nayan Doshi. He never really impressed in First Class or List A cricket, but when it came to T20 it was a different story. He destroyed the myth that spinners would be played with ease in this format by going at just 7 runs per over and picking up a wickets every 12 balls he bowled. He tailed off in his last couple of years at the club but still remains the joint wicket taker for us with 53, which made him a dead cert for selection in my team.

Who came close?

There were quite a few players who came close to getting into the team when I was deliberating. Batsman such as Rory Hamilton-Brown, Tom Maynard and Scott Newman as well as all-rounders such as Matthew Spriegel. Bowlers who could have been included are those such as Jade Dernbach, but with 37 wickets from over 40 matches I chose not to select him, and Jimmy Ormond who tore Warwickshire’s top order apart in the final in 2003.

So, that’s my team. As you would have noticed, over 50% of the side is from the years when we were successful in Twenty 20. Would that team win the Twenty 20 competition in this day and age? Possibly, but the game has changed since then. I feel that X1 has the perfect weighting of big hitting batsman, those who accumulate runs quickly, bowlers who keep it tight and claim wickets at regular intervals in a 4 over spell.

If you have any queries or objections to the team I’ve chose, then I would be happy to hear them, so tweet to @SurreyFanBlog.