13 named for must win game

If Surrey are going to have any realistic chance of staying in Division One of the County Championship, then they must beat one of their rivals for the drop, Derbyshire at the Kia Oval starting tomorrow.

However, that is going to be a far from easy task, as Derbyshire have won their last two Championship games and are “buzzing” according to coach Karl Krikken. Surrey fans know well that when a team start stringing results together (end of 2011 and 2012 seasons), they are very hard to beat, so we will have to be at the top of our game this week to overcome a rejuvenated Derby side.

Here is our squad and probable line up for tomorrow:

Rory Burns

Arun Harinath

Hashim Amla

Vikram Solanki

Zander de Bruyn

Steve Davies

Zafar Ansari

Tom Curran

Gareth Batty

Chris Tremlett

Tim Linley

Dominic Sibley

George Edwards

There are a couple of omissions from the squad that travelled to Durham last week. Jon Lewis hasn’t been selected and will play for the Second X1, alongside Gary Keedy. Gary Wilson will also play for the Second X1 before he heads off on international duty and Jade Dernbach is playing for England in the T20 tomorrow evening, hence his unavailability.

Jason Roy has once again been left out which points to the opinion that he may be allowed to leave at the end of the season. Don’t get me wrong, I love Jason Roy and would be disgusted if the club let him leave, but he isn’t getting any sort of game time in the Championship and he doesn’t seemed to have progressed over the last 2 years. And with his contract running out this winter, who knows what will happen, but I really hope he stays.

There are a couple of new faces in the squad, with tall fast bowler George Edwards and batsman Dominic Sibley being named in the party. I’ve always liked the look of Edwards but injuries have hampered his chances of being selected any earlier. When he picked up 5 wickets on his Championship debut against Worcestershire last year, I thought we had a very good bowler on our hands, but we haven’t seen much of him since. I don’t think he will get a game though, as 18 year old Tom Curran is likely to make his First Class debut. He has impressed in the YB40 this past month, and would have played earlier in the season according to Chris Adams on Twitter if he didn’t have a “bout of serious illness.”

However much I would like him to, Sibley probably won’t make a First Class debut tomorrow, with the old head of Zander de Bruyn amazingly keeping his place in the side. If de Bruyn’s averages were round the other way (He is averaging over 60 this season with the ball and 25 with the bat), then I could see why he is being picked, but by looking at those figures, surely it is worth giving someone else a crack.

It’s a blow that Jade isn’t available for such a big game, especially as Linley had a particularly poor return at Durham last week. However, we have to fight through it and with the help of an in form Chris Tremlett try and claim 20 wickets for only the second time this season, and the first at the Oval. If the pitch we are going to play on tomorrow is anything like the test match strip, then it may be hard for either side to force a result, but hopefully whatever the England players did to it on Sunday night spiced it up for us!

If we win this game then we would probably go above Derbyshire and possibly above Somerset, depending on how they get on against Middlesex, and we would still then have a game in hand over both teams. That may prove vital come the end of the season as there isn’t many points between the 3 sides, and victories do really help the cause dramatically at this point in the campaign.

Derbyshire have been depleted slightly, with both Chesney Hughes and Tim Groenewald missing the game due to the birth of their first child and the likes of Dan Redfern injured, so maybe this is a good time to be playing them.

However, as I said before, they are on the up at the moment and if we want to maintain our position in the First Division, we must produce a performance that warrants that status, by beating our rivals. 

Finals Day awaits for Surrey

Finals Day is almost upon us and a 14 man squad has been named for our Semi Final against the Hampshire Royals, with Glenn Maxwell returning to the fold.

We are overwhelming underdogs heading into tomorrow as we come up against winners of two of the last 3 English T20 competitions and a side who have only lost once so far in this year’s competition. However, anything can happen in Twenty20, and we could well find ourselves champions come 10pm tomorrow evening.

Here is the squad that has been selected and probable line up:

Jason Roy

Steve Davies

Vikram Solanki (C)

Glenn Maxwell

Gary Wilson

Azhar Mahmood

Zafar Ansari

Zander de Bruyn

Jon Lewis

Chris Tremlett

Jade Dernbach

Tim Linley

Tom Curran

Rory Burns

That is how I see the team shaping up and it is probably what I, and many Surrey fans, would select. Some would argue that after Rory Burns’ recent performances with the bat in List A cricket and Tom Curran’s effort with the ball that they should be selected, but to pick such inexperienced T20 players for a massive game like a Semi Final is a big gamble, and something that won’t happen unless an injury occurs.

I sound like a broken record when I say that the batting hasn’t really fired in the competition, but it really hasn’t. Our top scorer, Jason Roy, has 272 runs in the tournament, well over 200 less than Hampshire’s top scorer Michael Carberry (496). Hampshire have hit 8 half centuries and 1 century compared to our 5 50’s and zero 100’s in the 11 matches so far. But there is the argument that Hampshire are over reliant on Carberry at the top of the order and if he doesn’t fire, they may struggle.

In some regards that is the case. He has hit 4 of their half centuries and of course that superb hundred against Lancashire last week in the quarter final, so if you get him out early you have a far better chance of victory. Don’t underestimate their other batsmen though. James Vince, who has played a couple of explosive innings Live on Sky of recent weeks, has had a relatively poor competition from his standards with just 256 runs, but we all know what he can do. Neil McKenzie has quietly gone about his business this year, hitting 296 runs in just 7 innings, showing that he has still got what it takes and Sean Ervine and Liam Dawson showed what they could do last night.

Whatever happens, Hampshire will have quality batsmen for our bowlers to deal with and will be able to post a competitive score or chase a competitive total if required. Therefore our batsmen need to step up and produce the goods. Despite being our top scorer, only 1 50 from Roy is not good enough in 11 matches, so surely he is due a big one tomorrow. Davies has hit a couple of typical Davies innings but has all too frequently got out early playing innocuous shots, almost throwing his wickets away. Whatever people say about how well Wilson and co have done getting us out of trouble in those middle overs, Davies and Roy are our quickest scorers and if either of those bat 15+ overs, then we are in for a great score. If not, then we may struggle to set up a score, or chase what Hampshire put in front of us.

There is the million dollar man though, who has found some form for Australia A over the last few weeks. He hit 155 in a First Class game before a 145* off 79 balls and 93 off 56 balls in a couple of One day games. After only scoring 87 from his 6 innings for us in the group stage, let’s hope that he can continue in that vein and pull off an innings against his old team tomorrow.

When it comes to the bowlers, I don’t think that there are many better attacks than ours in the country. However, without Batty we are seriously depleted as he fires the team up when they are having a bad few overs and gets his fair share of wickets too. Our other spinners, Ansari and Maxwell, don’t pick up wickets as regular and go for far more runs per over than Batty. However, with Jade, Azhar, Trem and Lewis, we have 4 very experienced bowlers who will be trying their upmost to lead us to victory, as it is unlikely that 3 of them will play at Finals Day again in their careers.

A key battle will be between Carberry and Dernbach, but I would be inclined to open with spin against Carberry to try and prize him out early. Another interesting battle will be between Roy and Dimi Mascarenhas, with Roy hitting him to all parts at the Oval a few weeks ago before Dimi bowled him with a slower delivery.

Whatever happens, we have done extremely well to get to Finals Day, but we can’t head into tomorrow with that attitude or we will come away with nothing. We have to use our underdog status to our advantage, with most of the pressure on the Royals, and put in a performance to make themselves and our travelling support proud.

Good lucks lads, and bring home the trophy.

Surrey aim for Finals Day

This is the first time we have been in a Twenty20 quarter final since 2006, so it is without doubt our biggest game in the competition since then. On that occasion we heavily beat Gloucestershire at Bristol before falling at the Semi Final stage against Notts. In fact, we have never lost a T20 quarter final in the 4 times we have managed to reach one, qualifying for Finals Day on each occasion. That must be a good omen, yes?

Well let’s hope so and with the squad of players that we have, I believe we have the ability to produce a performance to beat any opposition on their day. How often that performance comes around though is the big question. In 2 of our last 3 games we demolished both Middlesex and Essex by posting a decent score before allowing our bowlers to roll the opposition over. Oh how much I would love that again tonight!

Here is our squad to play Somerset:

Gareth Batty (C)

Steve Davies

Jason Roy

Vikram Solanki

Gary Wilson

Zafar Ansari

Azhar Mahmood

Zander de Bruyn

Jon Lewis

Chris Tremlett

Jade Dernbach

Rory Burns

Tom Curran

Tim Linley

Coincidently there is only player in the squad for tonight who played in our last quarter final, Azhar Mahmood, and he could be a key man with both bat and ball as he has shown over the years. This could be his last game for us if we lose, I don’t know the arrangements of whether he will stay for the YB40 of next year’s T20, so he will want to make sure that isn’t the case and put in a starring role tonight. In this year’s competition he has either bowled or batted well in each match but has struggled to put the two together, so hopefully tonight is the night.

 

I think it is about time we had a big score from a batsman, an 80 or a 90 to set up a large total, and hopefully that can come from either Jason Roy or Steve Davies. If either of those two bat the majority of an innings then Surrey fans know that we would be in a great position to win the game, but that has been an all too infrequent occurrence this season. Davies has a

couple of half centuries, with Roy getting just 1 from 10 innings, and as a pair they haven’t batted long periods of time together with at least one of them getting out in the early stages. If that can change then we have a great chance tonight.

However, if they fail then once again we have to rely on the likes of Gary Wilson and Zafar Ansari, who have done a splendid job at times in the competition. Wilson is such an experienced T20 player and is very much underrated by some Surrey fans and county followers. Also Ansari’s partnership with Azhar at Kent was so vital, because we may not be in this situation if that didn’t occur.

I don’t worry about our bowlers anywhere near like I do with the batsmen, because they have shown that when given a reasonable total defend, they can do it. Jade, Trem, Azhar and Lewis have wealth’s of

experience and T20 nous, supported by de Bruyn who has had a good competition and Batty and Ansari in the spin attack. I doubt that there are many better bowling attacks than ours in the competition.

However, it’s not just bowling where you win T20 games, with our opposition tonight looking frighteningly good in all facets. They have a possible top 6 of Trescothick, Kieswetter, Trego, Petersen, Hildreth, Buttler who are all capable of producing innings of the most explosive kind. If we bat first we must score a total of at least over 160, because anything lower will be knocked off by Somerset, as at least one or two of that top 6 will produce.

So then, just a few hours to wait for this huge game. We’ve done well to get this far and let’s hope we can put in a performance that the guys and fans will be proud of. If we put in a strong performance and still lose it will be disappointing, but there would be plenty of positives to take than if we lost heavily.

Good luck guys and show us what you’ve got. Come on the Rey!!!