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
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