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!!!