Surrey win to secure Division One status

Surrey have emphatically beaten Nottinghamshire by 185 runs in the LVCC Division One match at the KIA Oval, and have secured their place in the top flight for the 2013 season.

Surrey started the morning in perfect fashion, when in the first over of the day, Tim Linley had nightwatchman Harry Gurney caught by Pietersen without scoring. Our bowlers would have known that there was still a lot of work to do if they were going to win this game, but stopping the nightwatchman hanging around for an annoying period would have been an essential. Neil Edwards, in for Alex Hales, and the dangerous Rikki Wessels, consolidated throughout the early part of the morning session, as Batty brought  himself and Kartik on early.

And it was the skipper who made the breakthrough, when he had Wessels LBW, just over an hour into the day’s play. That brought the Australian Adam Voges to the crease, and it was obvious that he came out to the middle with one mindset: to try and bat all day. It was a painstakingly slow innings from the overseas batsman, but with victory for the visitors out of the equation, that’s all he had to do. However, for the last over before lunch, Batty brought on KP, and on his 5^th delivery he had Voges caught by de Bruyn, as Notts went in 3 down for 66.

Pietersen continued after the break, but it was Batty who got the first wicket after resumption, when caught James Taylor on the crease and had him LBW. In the very next over, Pietersen got one to bounce on opener Edwards, who could only edge behind to Gary Wilson, as Notts fell to 75-5.

Mullaney and the in- form Chris Read were at the crease, and they started to put on a partnership as they tried to save the game for their side. However, Batty brought Kartik back into the attack, and he had Read caught by Ansari, to give the Indian spinner his first wicket of the innings. It was the skipper who picked up the next one, when he had Sam Wood LBW just before half past two.

Notts last recognised batsman Steven Mullaney was the next man out, when Meaker had trapped him in front, and Surrey were edging close to victory. Ben Phillips came out and played some shots, but lost his partner, White, when he played on to give Batty a 4^th wicket. At almost the same time, Middlesex declared at Lord’s to give Lancashire a target of 304 to win from 39 overs. But Surrey still had a job to do, which Murali Kartik completed quickly, when he had Fletcher LBW, and we had won by 195 runs.

A superb effort by our guys, but across the river, there was still a game on, as Lancs looked to chase down the runs required in order to stay up. They started well, but an inspired spell from Steven Crook stopped the flow of runs dramatically, and Lancashire were beaten, and we were safe.

Everyone played a part in this game, whether it be the openers, the middle order, or the tail enders, they were all brilliant. Burns looks a fine prospect at the top of the order, Jason Roy added much needed impetus to the innings, and Zander de bruyn and Gary Wilson were outstanding. The two partnerships they put on were so vital, as, if one of them had got out, they would have been into our tail, and our chances of victory would have slimmed down considerably.

As they have down all season, the bowlers were excellent. Meaker with his trademark spell in the first innings, followed up by a five wicket haul for the Viscount. Murali Kartik once again played a big role with the ball, but the stand out man in the second innings was without doubt Gareth Batty. This man may not be the greatest spin bowler ever, but I haven’t seen a cricketer put in more effort, commitment and desire to this cricket club for a long time. He took over the role of captaincy after an extremely difficult spell for Surrey County Cricket Club, but he has done a monumental job skippering the team, as well as with the ball.

Finally, I would like to say what a great achievement it is for us to stay up in this Division. We have had an extremely difficult season, with events than no one could have predicted, but we have managed to get the two wins that Chris Adams targeted from our final 4 games. The performance against Notts over the last few days was by far our best of the season. Ok, conditions suited our spinners, but we still had to perform, and we certainly did that.

There was disappointing news today that both Tom Lancefield and, more significantly, Matthew Spriegel won’t be at our club for next year. It’s sad to see 2 home-grown talents leaving, for various reasons, but our club will move on and fight for honours next season.

We have the one remaining game left now, and that is against the now relegated Lancashire. We can still finish in 6^th place above Durham if results go our way, but I think Lancs will want to go down fighting.

Well done lads, you put in a performance that Tom and all us supporters are proud of. Come on the REY!!