Solanki and Davies give Surrey a sniff

It has taken until the 15^th game of a long LV County Championship season for Surrey to put in a dominant batting performance, to give themselves a slight chance of pulling off one of the greatest relegation escapes of recent time.

Going into the game we knew that we had to win at all costs or we were (not mathematically) down and after the first day was decimated due to the weather, a sumptuous century from Vikram Solanki has given us a slim chance of pulling off an unlikely victory.

A wet outfield delayed the start of play even more and with us continuing on a precarious 59-2, Solanki and Amla had to bat positively once play got underway at 12:40. Bat positively is exactly what they did, as they built a superb 166 run partnership in just over 40 overs together to take us towards our first batting point in a couple of matches. The pair couldn’t quite see us through to 200, as Amla yet again fell short of a century, flashing at a Barker delivery when on 77.

Davies joined Solanki and once he got himself in, he began to play an array of shots that we have been accustomed with since his arrival from Worcestershire in 2010. It was clear that the target was to get as many batting points as we could before pulling the plug, and just after collecting our first, Solanki brought up his century in 155 balls.

The pair started to kick on even further but still batted sensibly, as Davies moved past his half century and Solanki quickly reached 150 for the first time in a Surrey shirt. 300 was soon 350 as we picked up a 4^th batting point and Davies was in full flow, racing towards his second Championship century of the summer. However, with the partnership on 182 and Davies unbeaten on 99, Solanki was bowled for by Chris Woakes for 162. Davies’ century came up in the next over, off just 135 balls with 14 boundaries, and it was great to see him back to his best.

He was out next ball but he had already done a great job and Zafar Ansari and Gary Wilson got together to hit the remaining runs needed for maximum batting points, as we closed on 400-5.

I fully expect a declaration first thing tomorrow morning to give us a chance of bowling Warwickshire out twice, but the weather forecast isn’t the best, so it might be more like the afternoon than the morning. That could prevent us from pulling off the unlikely, but at least we have given ourselves a chance of doing it and let’s hope our bowlers can motivate themselves and put in a strong performance. 

Another must win awaits at Edgbaston

Any sane person would say that Surrey’s Division One status is gone now, but I am still holding onto the slim hope that if we can somehow collect two big victories in our final two games we can stay up.

In all seriousness, I do agree with the majority that it does look very unlikely, but let’s not give the players an easy way out. They have put us in this position, not down to lack of quality in most cases, but down to periods of brainless cricket, lapses in concentration and failure to take control of opportunities that arise. It is their responsibility to put in their upmost to pull us out of the desperate position we find ourselves in, right until we our officially relegated to the second tier.

The first of the two sides we must beat is current champions Warwickshire at their home ground of Edgbaston and the same 14 man squad which was named for Taunton last week has been named today.

Here is the squad and predicted line up:

Rory Burns

Dom Sibley

Hashim Amla

Vikram Solanki

Zander de Bruyn

Steve Davies (WK)

Gary Wilson

Gareth Batty (C)

Tim Linley

Chris Tremlett

Jade Dernbach

Zafar Ansari

Stuart Meaker

Gary Keedy

That might be what I think the team will be, but isn’t exactly what I would go with. The top 3 would be same, despite either of them scoring a big score at the start of an innings of late. I’ve spoken so much about Zander de Bruyn over the season that I think I will be wasting my breath banging on about him again, because you know my opinion on him. I would go with Solanki 5, Wilson 6, Davies 7. Some would say that 7 is too low for Davies, but he has struggled for runs in this format for a good few months now and is far too inconsistent at the current time to be in the top 5 or 6.

Some of you may have noticed I have missed out number 4 and I would give that role to Zafar Ansari. You can argue that he hasn’t posted any score of note at all this season, so why does he deserve a place in the top 4 of our championship side? Well, whenever he has come in at number 7 we have always been in some sort of crisis. He then turns into ultra-block mode, doesn’t try to score runs and then gets out when batting with the tail. There has been lots of talk about Zafar on how much potential he has, with Chris Adams saying he will be captain of Surrey one day, but he is yet to make a big contribution, like a century or taking a 5 wicket haul. There is undoubted talent there but we are yet to really see it in the 4 day game apart from a couple of innings opening last season, so he should be given the chance up the order to prove to the fans what he can do.

When it comes to the makeup of the rest of the side, I would consider dropping Batty as he doesn’t offer much apart from captaincy at the moment, being very reluctant to bowl himself at Taunton last week. If he didn’t play however, that would leave our tail very long with Meaker at 8, even if he did find some form with the bat last week, but even he has been understandably rusty in the games that he has been back.

Anyway, it’s probably too late to be discussing team selections as the damage has already been done this season. I will always hold hope with Surrey, and we have proved miracles over the last couple of seasons, but I have to admit it looks a far tougher task than 2012. 

Lower order gives Somerset the edge

Somerset have taken a first innings lead of 65 to put themselves on top after Day Two of the vital County Championship match at Taunton. 3 wickets from Jade Dernbach and Zafar Ansari helped dismiss the hosts after Surrey’s poor display with the bat on the first day.

The first port of call this morning was to reach 200 and a first batting point, however that wasn’t to be as both Tremlett and Dernbach fell without a run added to succumb us to what seemed like a below par 195. I know it’s not the role of the last 2 batsmen to get runs, but it would be nice for once if they could help us out a bit.

But Jade and Trem did give us the perfect start with the ball, as the former made Trescothick play on without scoring and the latter had fellow opener Chris Jones caught behind an over later. Tremlett was keeping it tight from one end, but just like against Middlesex, the other bowlers were leaking runs left, right and centre with Nick Compton especially looking fluent. Meaker had gone for 11 in his first 5 balls but with his final ball of his opening over had James Hildreth LBW to reduce Somerset to 46-3.

The runs didn’t stop there though, as Kieswetter played in his usual manner, scoring well over a run a ball, punishing some wayward bowling. But de Bruyn got his wicket just before the lunch break to keep us within touching distance in the first innings. Compton was still looking good, until he played on to Dernbach for 66 and five balls later Dernbach had Alex Barrow LBW as Surrey scented a first innings lead.

But Somerset bat deep and Peter Trego and Craig Meschede put on a partnership of 68 to take their side into the lead, before Zafar Ansari removed them both in the space of 3 deliveries just before tea and a spot of bad light. It wasn’t over yet for Surrey though, as they still had to comprehend bowling at a number 10 in Piyush Chawla who has a First Class average of over 30 with 4 hundreds and he started to hit his side into a great position and really put Surrey to the mill. Once again a lower order partnership was troubling us after we had managed to get ourselves back into a good position.

Batty and Ansari finally managed to see off Chawla and Gregory, but not before the lead had reached a level that could prove plenty in the context of this game. Bad light delayed our start to the innings, but in the play that we did get, Burns and Sibley saw it off to close on 13-0.

If you would have asked me at the beginning of the day if I would have taken today’s outcome I would have probably said yes, but we had opportunities when they were 6 and 8 down to have a firmer hold on the game, but as usual we failed to take them. There is still two days left to play, so no need for the batsmen to try and do anything stupid, but there is a high possibility that rain will play a part tomorrow, which could scupper a chance of victory for either side.

Batty and Meaker add respectability

A 9^th wicket partnership of 64 between Gareth Batty and Stuart Meaker has added some respectability to Surrey’s Day one exploits at Taunton, after the batsmen failed once again.

It’s about time our tail gave us some runs and even though we shouldn’t have to rely on them, today Batty (39) and Meaker (30*) produced the goods just at the right time to keep us in Day One.

Rory Burns and debutant Dom Sibley gave us a slow, but solid, start to the game after we chose to bat first, but an hour into the day’s play our top order collapsed. Losing a few wickets for not so many runs has been an all too frequent occurrence this season and today we fell from 31-0 to 31-3 in the space of a couple of overs, with Sibley (10), Amla (0) and Burns (21) losing their wickets to Meschede and Thomas. Sibley will take some solace that he scored more than the world’s best batsmen in his opening First Class knock, but it was very disappointing that none of the top 3 could score big.

And when Solanki went to Chawla in the last over before lunch for 14, it capped off a terrible session for Surrey at 61-4, and showed why we are scratching away at the bottom of the first division with only one win to our name in 13 matches. Zander de Bruyn once again got a start and moved onto 30 after the lunch break, before he was trapped LBW to give Meschede his 3^rd wicket. For a man of the age of de Bruyn to keep getting starts and not converting is a worry and is why he shouldn’t be picked in the side ahead of Wilson, for example.

Then followed a strange period of cricket, where Steve Davies was joined by Zafar Ansari and they batted extremely slowly. Ansari especially had turned into extreme-block mode, as it took him 42 balls to get off the mark. I don’t mind it too much if Ansari took his time and then converted his start into a big score, but he was removed by Trego for a 70 ball 8 shortly after. In a game that we need to win Ansari was playing particularly negative and he didn’t seem to look to score runs. He has played like that whenever he has got a chance in this format this season and that needs to change if he is to become a firm fixture in our line up.

We lost our 7^th wicket just after the tea interval when Davies was caught for 38, as it continued to look bleak for us on the first day of a County Championship match yet again. However, Batty and Meaker decided to play more positively than the previous batsmen and it paid off with 11 boundaries coming up in the stand between the pair, including one six by Batty off Chawla. The captain went just before bad light brought a premature end to the day’s play, but he did a good job.

Somerset will without doubt be the happier of the two sides to keep us to 195-8 after we chose to bat first, but we could easily have been bowled out for under 150 if our tail had been up to their usual standards. The batsmen will be disappointed with their efforts, but as always you don’t know how good the pitch is until both batsmen bat on it, but Batty and Meaker both showed that run scoring is certainly possible.

Surrey head to Taunton for crunch game

Surrey can’t be officially relegated this week, but they can go a long way to doing so if they don’t collect a victory at fellow relegation rivals Somerset in the crunch LV County Championship match starting tomorrow.

Many Surrey fans believe that relegation may suit us and allow the younger players to learn their trade in the first X1 without the pressure of the possibility of relegation, but that doesn’t mean we don’t want them to win, as I will be over the moon if we can somehow get out of the mire we currently find ourselves at the foot of the table. Presently, there are only really 3 teams in the fight to stay in Division One; Derbyshire, Somerset and ourselves, but a good win this week for us could pull Nottinghamshire into the situation if they fail to beat Middlesex at Lord’s, which would help our chances of staying up.

But we have to win our game first before worrying about other sides and to do that we need our best players at our disposal. Back into the squad comes Chris Tremlett after being rested last week in the demoralising defeat to Middlesex, Zafar Ansari is available after his thumb injury and Gary Wilson is back from international duty.

Here is the squad in full and predicted line up:

Rory Burns

Dom Sibley

Hashim Amla

Vikram Solanki

Zander de Bruyn

Steve Davies

Gary Wilson

Gareth Batty (C)

Tim Linley

Chris Tremlett

Gary Keedy

Stuart Meaker

Zafar Ansari

Jade Dernbach

18 year old batsman Dom Sibley will make his First Class debut and will open the batting alongside Rory Burns in place of the out of form Arun Harinath. It’s a great opportunity for him but straight away there is lots of pressure as this is a massively important fixture, so let’s hope he can thrive on such an occasion.

Even though Ansari is back in the squad I can’t see him being picked, with Gary Wilson likely to accommodate that number 7 role. If it was down to me I would drop Gareth Batty and have Ansari as the second spinner alongside Gary Keedy, but even though Batty hasn’t been in the greatest form, he is the captain and gives a different option to Keedy’s left arm spin which performed against Middlesex. It will no doubt be a turning pitch as Somerset have once Surrey-bound leg spinner Piyush Chawla in the ranks, who almost took them to victory over Derbyshire last week.

Another option I would consider is picking Ansari ahead of Zander de Bruyn and having Davies, Wilson and Ansari occupying 5,6 and 7 in whatever order, but that would then only leave two seamers in the side and with Trem being one of them, that’s unlikely. That means that Mr Undroppable will keep his place in the side unless a third seamer is selected ahead of either Batty or Keedy.

When it comes to the bowlers, I don’t think Tremlett will be left out after the form he has shown recently, despite his position at the club looking doubtful for next year. And Linley has performed better than Dernbach and the returning Meaker of late, so if they were to go with a 2 man seam attach plus Zander, Trem and the Viscount will probably get the nod.

But whatever side Stuart Barnes and Gareth Batty pick, they need to make sure they start the game off well. Make sure you are still in the game after Day One, because too many times this year we have been out of games before we know it and it is then too late to pull things back.

If we can win this game I believe we have a good chance of staying up, but anything other than a win then I’m afraid to say we will probably go down. Good luck over the next four days lads and bring back the points.