Unchanged squad named before Rudolph departs

Chris Adams has named the same 13 man squad from last week’s draw against Somerset, for the visit of the LVCC Division One leaders Warwickshire to the Kia Oval.

Jacques Rudolph will be looking to go out with a bang, as it will be his last game in a Surrey shirt. The South African opener hasn’t impressed as much as he, and Surrey fans, would have wanted since the start of the season. He has scored 188 runs at an average of less than 23 in the Championship, and has only gone past the 50 mark once. He did register a fifty in his only CB40 game, a 69 in tough conditions up in Edinburgh. I would like to wish Jacques all the best for the future, and lets hope he can get a score of substance this week.

George Edwards has once again been named in the squad, but it is likely that he will be left out of the starting X1, with Jade Dernbach the man replacing him. Tim Linley is vying for a starting place, after playing just 2 games so far this season, and he may come in for Jon Lewis, who at 36, must be tired after being the only seamer to play every game this season. However, it’s a massive game, and Lewis has bowled, and batted, superbly in the Championship this season, so I would expect to see him in the starting X1.

Chris Jordan has once again been named in the squad, even though he has been in poor form with both bat and ball. Linley may come in for him, which means Batty, Meaker, Lewis would bat at 7,8,9, which wouldn’t be a bad thing, as Batty looked in good nick last week, and Jordan is lacking confidence with his batting, and at the moment, isn’t adding anything at number 7.

Stuart Meaker will look to carry on his wonderful form, after picking up 11 wickets against Somerset, including a career best 8-52. Johnny Barran described Meaker’s second innings performance as the best he had seen by a seamer in the 5 years he has been commentating for the BBC. England selectors would have noted what Meaker has done, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him in the ODI squads again this summer.

Jason Roy will once again bat at 3, as Mark Ramprakash is playing for the second X1 this week in Wimbledon. Ramps hit a half century at the weekend for Stanmore CC, and I feel any time in the middle for him is vital. Roy will be looking to cement a place in the side, to stop Ramps from coming back in. However, he hasn’t been in the greatest form this season, getting starts, but failing to register a half century in any competition so far. With Rudolph leaving, that may leave a space for Ramps to come back in if he can find some form for the 2’s, with the next Championship game in a couple of weeks down at Horsham.

Zander de Bruyn’s all round abilities have once again kept him in the squad, as he hasn’t been himself this season. He is averaging just 18 this season, with 2 half centuries, and has been a shadow of how he performed in his debut season last year.

Maynard and RHB have been in exceptional form this season, but rarely in the same innings. Apart from the great partnership at New Road, they have hardly batted together, as either one or both have got out cheaply. The skipper will want to continue his remarkable record of scoring at least a 50 in every second innings this season, but it would be nice if he could score a few in the first as well! He has scored just 56 runs at 11.2 in the first innings, compared to 413 at 103.25 in the second.

Surrey haven’t played Warwickshire in the Championship since we were last in Division One in September 2007, where we won by 9 wickets at Edgbaston, largely thanks to a big hundred from Ramps in the first innings. The last time the Bears were at the Oval for a Championship match was April 2007, where a rain affected match ended in a draw, where Ramps also struck a century. In fact, Ramps has hit a century in his last 3 games against tomorrow’s opponents in the Championship...

Warwickshire are 33 points clear of Surrey at the top of the table, and have also played a game less, so if we lose this week, it would be even harder to win the league this year. They have won 3 games already this season, and have yet to be defeated, so will provide the strongest test for our boys so far.

With the likes of Chris Woakes and Keith Barker in the bowling ranks, as well as former Surrey all rounder Rikki Clarke, who struck an unbeaten century against Lancashire last week, they will be favourites heading into this one. However, we shouldn’t be written off, as just because we haven’t been at our best this season, it doesn’t mean that we won’t be this week.

Surrey Squad

Rory Hamilton-Brown (C)

Jacques Rudolph

Steve Davies (WK)

Jason Roy

Zander de Bruyn

Tom Maynard

Chris Jordan

Gareth Batty

Stuart Meaker

Jon Lewis

Jade Dernbach

Tim Linley

George Edwards