Squad for Guildford Festival named

Chris Adams has named a 13 man squad for the return of the Liverpool Victoria County Championship, as Lancashire make their first ever First Class appearance at Woodbridge Road, Guildford, starting tomorrow.

Chris Adams has been forced to make 5 changes to the 13 man squad that was named for the last Championship game, the defeat against Sussex at Horsham. Rory Hamilton-Brown is on compassionate leave, Ramps has retired, Jade is injured, Gary Wilson is on Ireland duty, and of course Tom Maynard tragically passed away 3 weeks ago.

That means there will be a chance for the younger guys in the squad to impress, with Rory Burns and Zafar Ansari in contention of a starting place. Rory Burns has been in wonderful form for the Second X1 and his club side Banstead this year, and surely deserves a start at the top of the order.

I presume that Ansari will play and bat at that number 6 position which is currently vacant in the side. I have been impressed with Zaf this year, where he was very consistent with bat and ball in the T20, and I would be intrigued to see how he gets on when having more time at the crease.

Chris Tremlett has been named in the squad, and will presumably make his first Championship appearance of the season, alongside the two star bowlers for Surrey in the competition, Jon Lewis and Stuart Meaker. It is great to see Tremlett back, and even though he still needs some miles in his legs, he will add vast amounts of quality and international experience to our attack. Tim Linley, our star bowler from 2011, has been waiting in the wings for months but looks once again to miss out on selection for the starting X1.

If it is Rory Burns to open, then it would be either Steve Davies or Jason Roy to open with him. Davies was Surrey’s highest scorer in the FLt20, but only averaged 18, which outlines how poor the batsman were in the competition. Jason Roy had a torrid T20 campaign, not registering one half century, and averaging just over 10. However, he did strike a quickfire 40 against Middlesex last Friday to suggest that he is starting to find some form, and he has to play, as Adams doesn’t have many other options.

Lancashire are nowhere near as strong as they were last year, when they won the Championship for the first time in 70 years. They sit one place above us in the table, but have played one game more, so a win here will put us above them in 6^th. Their side hasn’t changed an awful lot since last year, but one more year into the legs of Glenn Chapple and Gary Keedy make them look like an ageing side who can be beaten by a young and vibrant Surrey side. It is sure to be an intriguing contest.

It is almost certain that the weather will play a part in one way or another in the coming days, but as we have seen with Surrey this season, a result is possible in less than 3 days. After the difficult last few weeks for the club, we finally registered our first win since the passing of Tom Maynard at the weekend, and we will be looking to take momentum from that into this must win game. On paper we have a stronger bowling line up, with possibly 5 internationals in our attack, but with the likes of Prince, Moore and Horton, their batting line up looks experienced, so it will certainly not be easy.

We haven’t had the greatest records at Woodbridge Road in recent years, as we haven’t won a County Championship game there since 2002, where we beat the White Rose of Yorkshire by 6 wickets. However, last year’s defeat to Middlesex will be remembered by Surrey fans for one outstanding innings, 141 by Tom Maynard. It was one of the greatest innings I have ever seen, and let’s hope our boys can put in a performance this week that Tom would be proud of.

Surrey Squad:

Gareth Batty (C)

Steve Davies (WK)

Rory Burns

Zander de Bruyn

Kevin Pietersen

Jason Roy

Zafar Ansari

Jon Lewis

Murali Kartik

Stuart Meaker

Chris Tremlett

Chris Jordan

Tim Linley

Lancashire Squad:

Glenn Chapple (C)
Stephen Moore

Paul Horton

Steven Croft

Ashwell Prince

Karl Brown

Gareth Cross (WK)

Tom Smith

Ajmal Shahzad

Kyle Hogg

Gary Keedy

Simon Kerrigan

Oliver Newby