Surrey win on emotional night

Surrey have beaten Glamorgan by 96 runs in the CB40, to keep their chances of qualification to the knockout stages a possibility.

The afternoon started off with a lap of appreciation for the 40 or so cyclists who took part in the ride to raise money for the Tom Maynard trust. A brilliant effort from them, with Tom's dad Matthew leading the peloton onto the outfield. After a minutes applause in memory of Tom, the cricket was ready start, as Batty won the toss and elected to bat.

Davies could only last until the second over when he played onto Wagg, but RHB was looking much better until he reached 28 when he gloved a short ball through to Wallace. A promising innings from the former skipper, showing glimpses of the RHB Surrey supporters know well.

Roy's poor season in this form continued as he was caught and bowled off a Simon Jones slower ball. KP was looking ominous until Simon Jones bowled him with a wonderful swinging delivery on 42, to reduce us to 4 down for less than 100.

Spriegel and de Bruyn recovered the innings a little until de Bruyn was caught behind, but Spriegs and Ansari put together the biggest partnership of the innings to make sure we would post a respectable total. Ansari, Batty and Kartik fell quickly after one another, before Spriegel went to his first 50 of the competition this season. Once again a good, and much needed innings from the left hander.

Thanks to a few lusty blows from Meaker (21*) we managed to get to 219, but at the half time break it was felt to be 20 or 30 short.

Meaker was back in the action in the Glamorgan innings, when he bowled Wallace in the second over of their reply. It was the paceman's 50th wicket for us in all competitions this season. Allenby was then caught by Meaker off Spriegel in the deep to reduce the visitors to 10-2. After a dangerous looking knock from Chris Cooke, he was run out by KP after being sent back by Rees.

Rees and former Surrey batsman Stewart Walters then fell in successive overs, with Kartik and Batty picking up one each, as the Dragons were faltering on 61-5 in the 15th. It got better for us in Batty's next over, when Brown swept him behind square and Zafar Ansari took a stunning catch on the edge of the circle. This time it was Batty who had gone to his 50th wicket in all comps this season.

The last recognised batsman in the Glamorgan line up, Marcus North, was bowled by a ball that kept low to give the skipper his 3rd wicket of the night. Dernbach then had Harris caught down the legside and after a quick partnership between Cosker and Wagg, Ansari and Spriegel picked up one each and we had won by 96 runs.

An emphatic and very satisfying victory on an emotional night for the players and supporters of both teams, and we have kept alive our hopes of qualifying for the Semi Finals. Spriegel was once again the stand out player, playing a hugely important and mature innings in the context of the game. He really is becoming a star player in our List A line up.

Ansari once again batted well, and it is great to see Hamilton-Brown getting some runs once again. Roy and Davies would have been disappointed to get out the way they did, and before he got out, KP looked very good, and if we have him for the rest of the season, it would be a massive help.

So we did what we had to do tonight, which was win, and we now have to beat Somerset a week on Saturday and hope Durham beat Hampshire.

Tonight's game was a tribute to Tom, and we didn't disappoint, as we put in a performance that he would have been proud of.

13 named for Maynard memorial game

Chris Adams has named a 13 man squad for the final home game in the CB40 game this season, the Tom Maynard memorial match against the Welsh Dragons tomorrow afternoon.

The game is being played in honour and in memory of Tom Maynard, who of course played for both of these sides before his untimely death in June of this year. A group of cyclists have set upon a ride this morning, including Tom’s dad Matthew, and will finish their trip shortly before the start of tomorrow’s game to raise money for the recently formed Tom Maynard Trust.

At 11 O’clock this morning, hundreds of people from around the cricketing world tweeted the following message to make people aware of the Trust: “Tom Maynard was a great man and a great cricketer. Support The Tom Maynard Trust and Bike Ride: http://bit.ly/MYao3s #tmt55.” The amount of people who conveyed this message showed how many lives Tom had an impact on, whether they knew him personally or not.

The squad once again contains Kevin Pietersen, who will be looking to do better than his golden duck at the weekend. Zander de Bruyn finally found some form after a string of low scores, to take us to a respectable score against Hampshire yesterday, so he will be looking to build on that and end the season on a high. Its fully understandable that Rory Hamilton-Brown has had a run of low scores recently, but he will be looking to get a score tomorrow that would make his best mate Tom proud.

Jason Roy has had a poor season in this competition, averaging just over 10, after being the leading run scorer last year. If Surrey are going to progress in this competition, then they need their key players to find some form and take them through to the Semi Finals. One of those key players is Steve Davies, who hasn’t been anywhere near his best this season in all forms of the game, but is currently Surrey’s leading run scorer across the 3 formats, which shows how poor the likes of de Bruyn have been.

Matthew Spriegel and Zafar Ansari are also two key players with both bat and ball, both playing very different innings with the bat yesterday, but equally effective. Having them as a spin option in the side is so vital, and Spriegel’s role of opening the bowling is really suited to him, and even though he doesn’t pick up bucket loads of wickets, he keeps it tight.

Murali Kartik has started to find some form, and alongside Gareth Batty, we have 4 quality spinners for this form of the game. Batty is 2 away from 50 wickets in all competitions this season, with Stuart Meaker one ahead of him on 49, and has so for several weeks now, as he has been away with the Lions.

We currently sit 4th in the table, 3 points behind Hampshire at the top, but we do have a game in hand on all 3 teams above us. The simple equation for us is that we must win our final two games of the group to have any realistic chance of qualifying for the Semi Finals, and that may not be enough. The best second place team looks like it will go to a team from Group C, so we have to beat Glamorgan and Somerset and hope Hampshire lose to Durham later this month.

Basically that means if we lose tomorrow, we are out of the competition. Good luck guys, and make Tom proud.

Surrey Squad:
Gareth Batty (C)
Rory Hamilton-Brown
Steve Davies (WK)
Kevin Pietersen
Jason Roy
Matthew Spriegel
Gary Wilson
Zander de Bruyn
Zafar Ansari
Murali Kartik
Stuart Meaker
Jon Lewis
Jade Dernbach

Spriegs leads Surrey to victory at Trent Bridge

Surrey have beaten the Nottinghamshire Outlaws in the CB40 at Trent Bridge, thanks to a match winning performance from Matthew Spriegel.

Gareth Batty won the toss and with the way we batted at Guildford in the back of his mind, he chose to bowl first. The two players to be left out of the final X1 was Jon Lewis as expected, and Rory Burns, as Zander de Bruyn was once again named in the side.

Surrey opened the bowling with Spriegel from one end and Kartik from the other, and it was Spriegs who made the early breakthrough when he bowled Lumb as he tried to cut. Spriegs was back in the wickets in his next over when the dangerous Wessels was caught well by Roy at short midwicket.

Dernbach, who was bowling expensively, banged one in at Patel who could only mistime a hook down to fine leg, where Ansari took a brilliant running catch. Jade then had his second in his next over when Hales cut him to de Bruyn at backward point, and the hosts were 52-4 after 12. 

Spriegs bowled his 8 overs through from the start, just like he did at Guildford, going for just 21 alongside his 2 wickets. Great stuff from him once again, and he really is becoming a vital part of our one day set up. The spinners continued to impress as they were bowling the majority of the overs, but Chris Read and Adam Voges were rebuilding the innings, going past 100 after 26 overs. 

Just as the pair started to up the tempo, Kartik bowled a beauty to Voges which gripped and turned, took his outside edge and Wilson took a good catch at slip. Ansari then had the Notts skipper caught by Spriegel in the deep, as Surrey took a firm hold on the game. And it was three in three overs, when off Kartik's last ball, White was run out by Roy. Notts 128-7 off 32 overs. 

The skipper then picked up wickets number 8 and 9 in the space of 4 balls, before Dernbach bowled Fletcher with a wonderful slower ball. The hosts all out for 149 inside 38 overs, and a great performance from our bowlers.

With some out of form batsman in our line up, and with RHB not playing in the first team for 6 weeks, it wasn't going to be an easy chase as the pitch looked hard to bat on, especially off the spinners. But it was the seamer Harry Gurney who made the breakthrough, when RHB edged behind as he advanced. Not the greatest shot, but I didn't expect much from him in his first game back.

Roy then went first ball, as he fended off a brilliant short ball from Gurney straight to gully. The two wicket keepers, Wilson and Davies, had to try and rebuild the innings. They did that, bringing up the fifty inside 14 overs, with runs gradually coming a little freer. They were ticking along nicely, until Davies played a poor shot in the circumstances, getting caught off a top edge looking to hit over the top.

Spriegel joined Wilson, and the runs really started to dry up. A succession of 11 dot balls led to Wilson running down and missing to White, going stumped for 29, and Surrey had a big job on their hands to win the game.

The runs were really hard to come by, with the hosts not allowing quick singles, and bowling well enough do that our batsman couldn't find the rope. However, in the 27th over, the shackles were broken when Spriegel took 10 off two Mullaney balls, as the hundred came up with the loss of 4 wickets. But de Bruyn went a couple of overs later, giving an easy catch to short midwicket. He is obviously in terrible nick and I don't understand how he gets in ahead of Rory Burns. 

Spriegel was taking us towards victory, hitting White for a four and a six, before getting caught on the boundary as he tried to bring up his 50. A good innings of 47 by Spriegel, but with already 10 off the over, it was a pretty brainless shot. With 15 required, the skipper Batty took 10 off a Samit Patel over, including a huge six over midwicket.

And then the job was done when Ansari launched White over long on for six, and we had won by 4 wickets.

It wasn't the prettiest of victories but a fantastic win nonetheless. As the commentators pointed out several times, our first meaningful win since Tom sadly passed away, and it was so sweet when Zafar hit the winning runs with a gorgeous six.

A special mention for the man of the match Matthew Spriegel, who was the pick of the bowlers and was without doubt the best batsman of the evening. It was a shame that he couldn't see us over the line personally, but it was a great performance from him, and reignites the belief that he is so vital in our team, and I would be upset if he moved on at the end of the season.

We now move top of Group B, ahead of Notts and Hampshire who had also played 8 games. We now have 6 days until our next game, the must win LVCC game at Chester-le-Street against Durham, and let's hope we can take heart from this victory into that one. Come on the Rey!

RHB returns for CB40 at Trent Bridge

Rory Hamilton-Brown has been named in a 13 man squad for the CB40 clash against the Nottinghamshire Outlaws tonight at Trent Bridge.

Rory has been on compassionate leave for the last 6 weeks due to the death of his close friend Tom Maynard, and I would personally like to say that it is great to see him back. Our team is a far better team with him in it, even though he won’t be captaining tonight as Gareth Batty continues to deputise, and I feel his return to the side will give all the other players a lift. Even though he scored a run a ball 26 for the second team yesterday, he will be rusty, and I don’t expect much from him tonight, but it is just brilliant to see him back. Good luck Rory.

Our best one day bowler, Jade Dernbach, has also been named in the squad, and with RHB, our side looks far better than the one who were easily beaten by today’s opposition at Guildford 2 and a ½ weeks ago. Jade hasn’t played for Surrey since the Kent game on June 17^th, the day before Tom tragically died, so it will be initially difficult for him, but the injury he sustained for England allowed him to have some much needed time away from the game.

Alongside Dernbach in the seamer ranks are Stuart Meaker and Jon Lewis. Throughout the competition this year, three seamers have played in the side, even though last year we went with the 5 spinners and 2 seamers. However, I would be inclined to leave out Lewis, who has been nowhere near his best in the last few weeks, as the break during the T20 seems to have done him no good whatsoever.

Matthew Spriegel and Zafar Ansari are the two all round spin options in the side, and are both key parts of our make up in one day cricket. The main deliberation will be whether an out of form Zander de Bruyn or an in form Rory Burns are going to be picked in the final X1. On current form I would without doubt leave out de Bruyn, who seems to be adding nothing batting or bowling wise at the moment, and the way he got out trying to save the game the other day was appalling. Rory has just started to show his Second X1 form in the First team, so I would pick him ahead of the 36 year old.

A couple of other batsmen out of form, especially in One Day cricket, are Jason Roy and Steve Davies. Roy hasn’t scored above 15 in the CB40 this year, a competition in which he was the leading run scorer in the country last season. Davies has scored a couple of half centuries in the CB40, but they were a few months ago, and his recent form has been well below par of what we know it can reach. Let’s hope they can both find some form tonight.

This is an important game tonight if we want to qualify for the Semi Finals. So far we have won 4 out of 7 games, with two abandoned and one loss. Last year we only failed to win 2 of the 12 games, and even though Notts are probably the strongest team in the group this year, we have to come away from tonight’s game with two points. If not, then we would realistically find it difficult to qualify.

Surrey Squad-

Gareth Batty (C)

Rory Hamilton-Brown

Steve Davies (WK)

Jason Roy

Zander de Bruyn

Gary Wilson

Matthew Spriegel

Zafar Ansari

Rory Burns

Murali Kartik

Stuart Meaker

Jon Lewis

Jade Dernbach

Nottinghamshire Squad-

Chris Read (C+WK)

Michael Lumb

Alex Hales

Riki Wessels

Adam Voges

Samit Patel

Steven Mullaney

Graeme White

Jake Ball

Harry Gurney

Andy Carter

Luke Fletcher

Squad named for return of CB40

Chris Adams has named a 13 man squad for the return of the Clydesdale Bank 40 against the Nottinghamshire Outlaws at Guildford tomorrow.

Paceman Chris Tremlett has been rested for this game, as his workload cannot be overloaded after just coming back from a serious back injury. That means that other bowlers such as Chris Jordan and Tim Linley have a chance of playing. However, with the way that Surrey play in the CB40, there may only be spaces for two seamers in the side, and they may well go to Stuart Meaker and Jon Lewis who have also been named in the side. I would be inclined to give the Viscount a go as he has been waiting for his chance for months now.

The batting has been seriously been weakened, with Kevin Pietersen now joining up with the England squad to prepare for the opening test match against South Africa  next week, Rory Hamilton-Brown is on compassionate leave, and obviously Tom Maynard sadly passed away almost 4 weeks ago. That means that we will have to rely on a few of our younger batsman from now on, with Rory Burns and Zafar Ansari both included, along with the now experienced one day batsman Matthew Spriegel. All three will have to play, as Batty batting at 7 is a position too high in One Day cricket.

Gary Wilson has returned from Ireland though, and is available for selection. Gary has been in fantastic form over the last few weeks, having a fantastic Twenty 20 campaign, and is on the back of a 70 against Afghanistan last week in Belfast.

There are 4 spinners in the squad, with Spriegel, Ansari and Batty joined by overseas star Murali Kartik. As I said previously, Surrey like to play just the two frontline seamers, with de Bruyn backing up, so it is likely that all of the spinners will play and try and limit the runs scored in the middle overs of the innings. All 4 of them are in good form with the ball, so they will be an important factor in whether we win or not tomorrow.

It seems an age since we last played a game in the CB40, and so far we have defended our title well, claiming 4 victories out of 6, with the other 2 rained off. However, without key players for a variety of reasons, this is going to be a new test for our players, and they will be facing an incredibly talented Nottinghamshire line up, who have an array of exceptional One Day batsmen. Hales, Lumb, Taylor and Patel to name but a few, and it will be an interesting battle between them, and our stronger suit of bowling.

It’s always a good day out for the CB40 game at Guildford, and with the weather forecast looking good, I would highly recommend attending.

Surrey Squad:

Gareth Batty (C)

Jason Roy

Steve Davies (WK)

Zander de Bruyn

Rory Burns

Gary Wilson

Matthew Spriegel

Zafar Ansari

Murali Kartik

Jon Lewis

Stuart Meaker

Chris Jordan

Tim Linley

Nottinghamshire Squad:

Chris Read (C, WK)

Alex Hales

Michael Lumb

Rikki Wessels

Adam Voges

Samit Patel

James Taylor

Steven Mullaney

Jake Ball

Graeme White

Andy Carter

Darren Pattinson

Harry Gurney

Bowlers fire to make it 3 from 3

Surrey have kept up their 100% record in the defence of the CB40, beating the Durham Dynamos by 60 runs.

Rory Hamilton-Brown won the toss and elected to bat first. As expected, Wilson was left out, as well as Rudolph, as de Bruyn was favoured to his South African teammate. However, after getting off to a quick start, Surrey lost 3 early wickets. The first to go was Davies, who was caught behind for 14. The skipper quickly followed him back in Claydon’s third over, when he was bowled looking to drive back down the ground.

After striking 2 consecutive boundaries, Roy was caught behind on 15 to give the Australian his 3^rd wicket of the innings. Once again a start from Roy, as he has done a lot this season, but failing to make a sizeable contribution. Maynard and de Bruyn had to rebuild the innings, as Surrey had fallen to 47-3 in the 8^th.

Maynard looked aggressive as always, but de Bruyn struggled to tick the score along. He was the next man out, when Gareth Breese got one to spin in-between bat and pad, and was bowled for 22. Spriegel came and went, as England spinner Scott Borthwick got one turn in and peg back his leg stump. Surrey 106-5 in the 22^nd.

Ansari and Maynard had to put on a partnership to get Surrey anywhere near a respectable total. Due to his Uni commitments, Zafar hadn’t played too much cricket before today, so looking rusty at the start of his innings was to be expected. The pair slowly began to up the rate, as Maynard went to his first fifty of the CB40 this season.  The partnership had also gone past the 50 mark, as Ansari launched Claydon for 6 when the Australian returned. However, on 77, Maynard drove at Graham Onions and was caught at extra cover. The partnership was worth 85, and had given Surrey a chance.

Ansari went to his maiden List A fifty at a run a ball, and on this performance, it is a shame he cannot play more than the odd game. Surrey finished on 221-7 off their 40, with Batty run out of the last ball.

Stoneman got Durham off to a good start in their innings, but Dernbach made the early breakthrough, removing Mustard caught at mid off. Ben Stokes came to the crease, and showed why England like him so much, launching Meaker for 6 over deep backward square. However, he was removed by Spriegel, when he came down and missed and Davies did the rest.

Stoneman was looking dangerous, until Spriegel was at it again, when he removed the opener caught behind. The Durham skipper Collingwood and Gordon Muchall then put on a good partnership, and even though the required rate was increasing, there were still 7 wickets in the hatch. However, Batty got the big wicket of Collingwood when the former England man missed a sweep and was bowled.

The current skipper was followed by the former skipper, Will Smith, but he didn’t last long as he chopped on to give Dernbach his second wicket of the game. Gareth Breese then injured himself and had to retire hurt. It looked quite a bad injury as a stretcher was required to take him off. Borthwick came and went, as he was run out coming back for a second by Jason Roy, and Stuart Meaker then had his first when he bowled Onions with a full toss. One wicket was required and Meaker finished the game off the very next ball, bowling Claydon for pace. Durham 161 all out.

So, our 100% record has been kept intact, and even though our batsman didn’t fire today, the bowlers were superb. Victory against the supposed toughest opposition in the group, and in the end a comfortable one, by 60 runs. The likes of Maynard, Ansari and Spriegel the stand out performers, and Gareth Batty kept up his good form in the CB40, with the big wicket of Collingwood.

We now turn our attention back to the Championship, where we welcome Division One leaders Warwickshire to the Kia Oval on Wednesday. 

Ansari back for Durham test

Zafar Ansari has returned to a 13 man squad named for the CB40 game against the Durham Dynamos at the Kia Oval tomorrow.

Ansari returns to the squad after missing the Scotland game due to University commitments. In the one game he has played this season, he claimed 3 wickets and bowled wonderfully well, in Surrey’s victory over Somerset. Gareth Batty and Matthew Spriegel make it 3 full time spinners in the squad, and with RHB as well, there is plenty of variety in the bowling department.

Jade Dernbach will return to the starting X1 after being rested for the LVCC game against Somerset this week. Gary Wilson will be one of the 2 players who miss out, so Adams will have to decide if it will be a batsman or a bowler who will be the other. He may want to give Meaker or Lewis a rest, considering Lewis is 36 and has played every game so far this season. In the Somerset game, Rudolph was left out so that Ansari could play, and that could be another option for Adams.

The batsman have all found some form in one way or another this week, and will want to transfer this into the game tomorrow. Davies is fresh off the back of the century against Somerset, and will want to add to the half century he already has in the competition this year. Tom Maynard missed the game against Scotland due to family commitments, and he has also been in very good touch recently, so will be looking to make his first big impact in List A cricket this season.

Zander de Bruyn scored just his second half century of the season against Somerset, and once again failed in the second innings, so there is a possibility that he may be left out in favour of Rudolph. However, Rudolph hasn’t been in the greatest nick either, but did score 69 against Scotland in the last CB40 game, which could give him the nod over his fellow South African. Jason Roy hasn’t made a big score so far this year, so is definitely due one.

RHB has been in good form all throughout the season, and has already struck a sublime century in the competition. However, it won’t be an easy game at all, with many saying that Durham pose the largest threat to Surrey this season. They have the likes of Mustard, Collingwood and Stokes in their team, as well as Graham Onions after being released by the ECB to play.

Surrey Squad

Rory Hamilton-Brown (C)

Steve Davies (WK)

Jason Roy

Tom Maynard

Zander de Bruyn

Jacques Rudolph

Matthew Spriegel

Zafar Ansari

Gareth Batty

Stuart Meaker

Jon Lewis

Jade Dernbach

Gary Wilson

Durham Squad

Paul Collingwood (C)

Phil Mustard (WK)

Mark Stoneman

Ben Stokes

Gordon Muchall

Will Smith

Gareth Breese

Scott Borthwick

Chris Rushworth

Graham Onions

Mitchell Claydon

Jamie Harrison

Rudolph 50 leads to Scotland win

Surrey have beaten the Scottish Saltires by 21 runs via the Duckworth Lewis method at the Grange, to keep up their 100% start to this years CB40. The victory was largely thanks to a gritty half century from Jacques Rudolph.

Scotland won the toss and stuck Surrey in. Two enforced changes for Surrey, as Zafar Ansari had returned to Cambridge Uni and Tom Maynard missed out due to family reasons. Gary Wilson and Jacques Rudolph came in for them. Rory Hamilton-Brown and Steve Davies opened up again, but didn’t have the same impact as they did against Somerset. The skipper went for just 5 in the second over of the game, and Jason Roy quickly followed him back to the Pavilion 2 overs later. Rudolph joined Davies and the pair set about rebuilding the innings, but with the partnership on 40, Davies was caught fantastically by Drummond at mid on for 22, Surrey 60-3 in the 15^th.

The South African pair of Rudolph and de Bruyn needed to get their heads down, as well as ticking the scoreboard along. Rudolph was dominating the partnership, finding the gaps in the field with relative ease, but both struggled to find the boundary. Rudolph was looking the most comfortable of the two, and he lost his partner, when de Bruyn looked to work Mommsen down the ground and was caught and bowled for 16. Spriegel joined Rudolph, who went to a well made fifty, his first for Surrey, coming off 63 balls. However, Spriegel didn’t last long, as he was stumped for 15 and Surrey were in danger of posting a below par score.

Rudolph continued on his merry way, not changing his game plan at all, on a slow pitch which was showing to be difficult to bat on. Surrey took the batting powerplay with 5 overs to go, and with that, Rudolph looked to go over the top off Haq and was caught for 69. A good innings but with no acceleration, and with Surrey at 151-6, 200 looked a long way off. Wilson then went for just 9, caught at backward point. Batty and Lewis took Surrey to 187-7 off 40 overs, with both of them finding the boundary twice, including the first six of the game by Batty. Not a wonderful score, but not terrible with run scoring seemingly difficult for most of the batsmen.

After a short break for rain (and hail!), Scotland were given a revised target of 183 off 38 overs. Jade Dernbach picked up the first wicket before the host’s innings could really get going, having MacLeod caught behind. Jon Lewis was then introduced into the attack, and made an immediate impact having Josh Davey caught. The runs really started to dry up, and with Spriegel, Lewis didn’t give the Scottish batsman anything to hit, in an impressive spell of bowling. Spriegel then picked up 2 in quick succession, having Symes and Watts both stumped by Steve Davies. As he so often does, Gareth Batty also made an immediate impact when called upon, as he removed Mommsen caught and bowled. Scotland were 5 down for 66 and struggling.

Majid Haq joined Richie Berrington and the pair began to frustrate the Surrey attack. They found the boundary easier than any of the other batsmen could, and put their side into a good position to win the game. However, with the partnership on 50, Haq drove Batty straight to RHB to give the spinner his second wicket. The rain and hail then immediately came and brought a premature end to the match. Surrey had won by 21 runs via the D/L method.

So, 2 out of 2 for Surrey in the CB40, a solid start to the defence of the competition. It wasn’t a perfect performance today, but we did what we had to do in difficult conditions. We now travel to Kidderminster to take on Worcestershire in the LVCC on Wednesday, with a certain Kevin Pietersen expected to be named in the squad.

Super Skipper leads Surrey to opening CB40 win

Surrey have comprehensively beaten Somerset by 105 runs in the first game of their defence of the CB40, with Rory Hamilton-Brown registering an outstanding century.

Somerset stuck Surrey in, and the surprise selection was that Jacques Rudolph missed out, with Zafar Ansari playing instead. As expected, Hamilton-Brown and Davies opened, and set upon an opening partnership which eventually turned out to be record breaking. The skipper hit a boundary off Trego off the first ball to set his side on the way. He and Davies complimented each other brilliantly, with each of them at their fluent best, and seemingly trying to outscore each other. The skipper hit the first six of the game, when he launched George Dockrell into the Pavilion.

Hamilton-Brown was also first to his fifty, coming in super quick time as usual. The pair continued to punish some wayward bowling from the inexperienced Somerset attack, and Davies followed his captain to a half century not long later. Hamilton-Brown hit an even bigger six once again off Dockrell, and was racing towards a sublime century. However, before he could get there, Davies was bowled round his legs by Trego, showing too much of his stumps and went for 72. A typical Davies innings, and in front of the cameras, he will be giving the selectors a nudge. An opening partnership of 163, the highest for Surrey against Somerset in List A cricket, beating Butcher and Clinton back in 86.

Roy joined Hamilton- Brown, and guided his skipper through to a fantastic hundred. It had come off just 87 balls, with 11 fours and 2 sixes. However, disappointingly he couldn’t kick on, as he held out at long off, trying to launch another six, and went for 101. Roy quickly followed him back to the Pavilion, as he tried to reverse sweep Waller and was trapped in front. However, on reflection, it was the incorrect decision as replays showed it hit his glove and not his pad.

Maynard and de Bruyn had to rebuild the innings, as well as keep the score ticking over. The pair began to build a partnership which could have taken the game away from Somerset, as they looked to get well over 300. However, in the space of 2 overs, Maynard was caught for 28, and de Bruyn bowled for 34. Spriegel and Ansari struggled to keep the momentum going, and after a couple of streaky boundaries, Ansari was caught behind for 10. Batty came to the crease with just 7 balls to go, but he managed to hit back to back boundaries to get Surrey up to 295-6 off their 40 overs.

The visitors’ innings never got going. Meaker got his side off to the perfect start when he made a mess of Kieswetter’s stumps in the second over. Davies winning the battle of the wicket keepers today. Jon Lewis picked up his first wicket in List A cricket for Surrey, when he grabbed hold of the ball as it looped off Peter Trego’s bat. Compton and Hildreth looked to rebuild the innings, but with the score on 76, Batty got one to spin inside Hildreth’s bat and was stumped smartly by Davies. Compton was looking in ominous form as he has done all season, but he went for 53 when Ansari held onto a sharp catch off his own bowling.

Suppiah soon followed, chopping on to Ansari, before Surrey got the big wicket off Buttler, as he got a top edge off Batty and Davies took a simple catch. The game was all but won for the hosts, as Somerset were 119-6. Meschede offered some resistance, before Batty bowled him to give the Yorkshireman his 3^rd wicket. He finished with figures of 3-37, and it was the best I have seen him bowl for a long time. Ansari picked up his 3^rd, when Waller missed a reverse sweep and was bowled. He also had bowled extremely well, claiming figures of 3-28 off 7, and Surrey will miss him at the Grange on Sunday.

Meaker came back on and finished off the innings, having Gregory caught behind, before bowling Dockrell to seal the win. Meaker picked up figures of 3-24, and showed exactly why England are looking at him. Somerset were all out for 190, and Surrey had won with some ease. A great performance from our boys, with everyone playing a part in one way or another. RHB deserves a special mention, as he has been in exceptional form this term, and if he keeps it up, a Lions call surely isn’t far away.

Surrey now travel to the Grange to take on Scotland on Sunday at 13:45. The Viscount comes into the squad for Ansari, as he has University commitments. A great start for Surrey tonight, and a perfect opportunity to make it 2 out of 2 on Sunday, but they must be wary, as Scotland won’t go down easy.

Ansari named in squad for CB40 opener

Chris Adams has named Zafar Ansari in a 13 man squad for the first game in the defence of the CB40, against Somerset on Friday afternoon at the Kia Oval. Tim Linley will replace him in the squad for Sunday’s trip to Scotland.

There are no real surprises in the squad chosen, with Gary Wilson one of the two likely to be missing out on the starting X1 in both games. Adams and RHB are faced with the dilemma of who opens the batting, with Davies, Rudolph, Roy and the skipper himself all a possibility. I think that Davies is a certainty in opening the batting, as it is his best position by far, and RHB is likely to be his partner as he comes off the back of his match winning 78 in the final last year. The top 6 looks extremely good, with Roy most likely in at number 3, and Rudolph, Maynard and de Bruyn occupying 4, 5 and 6 with flexibility in the order to suit the situation which arises at the time.

The bowling line up looks equally as strong, with 2 current and 2 former England internationals possibly making up positions 8-11 in the order. Gareth Batty will provide the main spin option, but as we witnessed last year, Spriegel’s off break has improved vastly and was a vital part of the triumph in 2011. Zafar Ansari may play, but then who do you leave out? Lewis? Meaker?... I’m not sure.

 40 over cricket is Jade Dernbach’s best format I feel, and he will want to continue his good form this season to keep his place in the ODI squad. Whereas Meaker is probably most suited to the longer format of the game, but he has added control to his bowling, which would make him a better option in limited overs cricket than in the previous 2 or 3 years. Jon Lewis makes up the England quartet, and his control in the middle overs could be important, with the younger pair bowling at the death.

A main part of Surrey’s trophy success last year was Chris Schofield, who excelled with both bat and ball throughout the campaign. However, he was released at the end of the 2011 season. I was disappointed at the time at the decision, and I still am a bit disappointed, as even though his bowling could be erratic at times, he was a game changer with both bat and ball, and game changers are generally hard to find. The side will most certainly miss his all round abilities, as he was also a fine fielder, but at this time of the year I think seam is the way to go. For many of the games last year, Surrey played just 2 front line seamers, with sometimes 5 spinners in the side. However, Adams has gone with the 3 front line seamers in the squad for the opening game, and 4 against Scotland, with the part time swing of de Bruyn supporting them. In an interview in the last two weeks, RHB has said that he worked hard on his bowling over the winter, so he will also provide a viable option.

Overall, the side does look very strong indeed, and have a good chance in once again doing well in this competition. However, the group stage will be harder this year, as Somerset look a strong outfit, and with only one (possibly 2) teams qualifying for the semi finals from each group, it will be a tough task to get through it. Somerset have named a strong batting line up in their squad, with Kieswetter, Hildreth and the in form Compton included, as well as the up and coming Buttler, who showed how good he was in the final last year. Sadly for the neutrals, Marcus Trescothick is injured for this one, and will possibly miss the Championship game between the sides later this month. Kirby and Hussain also miss out through injury, so the Somerset bowling attack has been stretched. The Overton twins could both make a debut in a young looking attack, which is also missing Vernon Philander who has been rested.

Surrey played Scotland in the 2011 competition and beat them on both occasions. However, they look a professional outfit, with the experience of Majid Haq and the all round abilities of Richie Berrington, who has been signed by Leicestershire on a months loan, but is still able to play for the Saltires in the CB40. A wonderful unbeaten 82 from Matt Spriegel helped Surrey to victory at the Grange last year, and he will want to repeat that and put his name in the hat for a Championship call up.

Surrey Squad

25. Rory Hamilton-Brown (C)

9. Steve Davies (WK)

20. Jason Roy

55. Tom Maynard

1. Jacques Rudolph

58. Zander de Bruyn

28. Matt Spriegel

22. Zafar Ansari (Vs Somerset only)

13. Gareth Batty

18. Stuart Meaker

7. Jon Lewis

16. Jade Dernbach

14. Gary Wilson

12. Tim Linley (Vs Scotland only)

Somerset Squad

Nick Compton

Craig Kieswetter (WK)

Peter Trego

James Hildreth (C)

Jos Buttler

Craig Meschede

Arul Suppiah

Craig Overton

Jamie Overton

Lewis Gregory

George Dockrell

Max Waller

The game starts at 3.40, and is live on Sky Sports, so is a good opportunity to show people how far this team has come in recent times. Come on the Rey!!

Scotland Squad

Fraser Watts

Ryan Flannigan

Callum MacLeod

Jean Symes

Josh Davey

Richie Berrington

Preston Mommsen

Craig Wallace (WK)
Majid Haq

Matthew Parker

Gordon Drummond (C)

Alasdair Evans

Moneeb Iqbal

The game starts at 13.45 on Sunday at the Grange.