Rory Hamilton-Brown has returned to the Surrey side, as
Chris Adams has named a 14 man squad for the FLT20 game against the Hampshire
Royals at the Ageas Bowl tomorrow.
However, Gareth Batty will continue to captain the side,
and will so for the remainder of the competition. RHB missed the narrow defeat
to Essex a week ago, as he was on compassionate leave after the tragic passing
of Tom Maynard. Its fully understandable that RHB doesn’t feel up to captaincy
for the next couple of weeks, and I’m sure Gareth will do a very good job.
In-form Gary Wilson also returns to the squad after
missing the Essex game, and with 2 50’s and an average of 140.00 in the competition,
he is now a vital part of our batting line up. Even though he has been in poor
form, including 2 low scores for the Second X1 this week, Zander de Bruyn has
once again been named in the squad, but with Rory Burns scoring yet another
century in the same game, he surely must be selected in the final X1.
Steve Davies makes up the triplet of ‘keepers in the
squad, and will obviously wear the gloves, but will be looking to make a bigger
impact with the bat at the top of the order. Jason Roy also hasn’t been in the
form that we know he can produce, so he will be looking to find that in the
games ahead, and Matt Spriegel’s all round abilities is now vital to the
make-up of the side.
Zafar Ansari has once again been named in the squad, and
with Batty, Spriegel and Kartik, we have a host of spin options in the squad,
and you would think that they will all play, as the Rose Bowl has been known in
the last couple of years as a pitch that suits the slower bowlers.
If that occurs, then one of Tremlett, Meaker or Nannes
will be left out of the starting X1, presuming Chris Jordan won’t be picked, and
you would think that it would be the Australian to miss out, as he has been
nowhere near as good as he was last season, and you would have expected a
better final over from him at Chelmsford last week.
This game starts a run of 6 inside 8 days, including 4 back
at the Kia Oval, so we will be looking to get back to winning ways as soon as
possible to be in with a chance of qualification out of the Southern Group for
the first time in 6 years. We currently sit second bottom in the table with 4
points from a possible 8, but all the other teams would have played at least 2
more than us by the time we start tomorrow.
Hampshire will be no pushovers however, and after getting
off to a slow start in the competition, they have won 2 out of 2, and will be
looking to make it 3 as they face Essex tonight (Friday). Even though Shahid
Afridi isn’t available for the hosts, they have the likes of Ervine, Briggs and
Simon Katich in their ranks, and will provide a tough test for our boys over the
next couple of games.
It will once again be a tough game for our boys, and
especially for RHB, but they have to try and focus on the game and put in a
good performance live on Sky. Good luck Lads.
Full Surrey Squad:
Gareth Batty (C)
Steve Davies (WK)
Rory Hamilton-Brown
Jason Roy
Rory Burns
Zander de Bruyn
Matt Spriegel
Gary Wilson
Zafar Ansari
Chris Jordan
Stuart Meaker
Murali Kartik
Chris Tremlett
Dirk Nannes
Full Hampshire Squad:
Dimi Mascarenhas (C)
Jimmy Adams
Simon Katich
Sean Ervine
Neil McKenzie
James Vince
Glenn Maxwell
Liam Dawson
Michael Bates (WK)
Kabir Ali
Chris Wood
Danny Briggs
Hamza Riazuddin
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