Kent (A) - 12-15 May

Just come in. Oh dear TV stream is very poor quality. Not only that but Church is on with a lady commentator so won't bother with the radio either. Just check the score for today. Will be at the ground tomorrow.

Good recovery from these two

Pretty good score today,especially pleased to see how Patel has taken to job of opening bat. An improvement on Stoneman with a more attacking mindset.

With Foakes well set and Curran, Jacks, CDG and Clark to come this is an excellent platform. I was disappointed with Pope. Watching the over he got strangled down leg it was clear he’d lost his composure and was aiming to bring up his ton with a boundary. He needs to improve that part of his game and be more ruthless.

Not impressed with Kent's treatment of spectators at Beckenham today.Members enclosure remained empty and you couldn't go in the big main building at all.

Pope was a bit unlucky in that just prior to the start of that over the umpires had a conversation about the light. I thought he was caught down the legside, but it was announced he was LBW at the Ground.

Fortunately Crickinfo confirmed ct Robinson b Stevens so I need not book that Specsavers appointment just yet...

I was reasonably impressed with Beckenham as an outground. In most respects it puts our equivalent - Guildford -:to shame. The tiered stand is bigger and better situated than the one in the corner at Guildford. The vantage points around the ground are more attractive. There is even a separate pavillion building next to the players' pavillion, though frustratingly the top section was for "hospitality", and not accessible to members of either county. The one area where Guildford has the edge is catering: one stall serving labour-intensive yet not especially good coffee which took an age to get served in, fish and chips, burgers and an ice cream van, but no freshly made sandwiches or cakes.

As for the cricket, it is shaping like deja vu. Surrey do not need to pick 6 specialist batsmen plus Foakes. Even if one or two of them fail (and Amla did again) there is plenty of quality in the top 6, plus CDG, Clark, Overton.. We are playing a team whose strength is clearly their batting. We may well live to regret not picking an extra bowler for either Jacks or Curran, and especially a specialist spinner given we will be bowling last (unless they follow on, which is unlikely).

Cee Gee wrote:I was disappointed with Pope. Watching the over he got strangled down leg it was clear he’d lost his composure and was aiming to bring up his ton with a boundary. He needs to improve that part of his game and be more ruthless.

That was the first time he's ever been dismissed in the 90s in Country Cricket; with 13 centuries to his name the suggestion that he isn't ruthless is a bit...wrong.

Alex! wrote:

Cee Gee wrote:I was disappointed with Pope. Watching the over he got strangled down leg it was clear he’d lost his composure and was aiming to bring up his ton with a boundary. He needs to improve that part of his game and be more ruthless.

That was the first time he's ever been dismissed in the 90s in Country Cricket; with 13 centuries to his name the suggestion that he isn't ruthless is a bit...wrong.

Thanks, Alex but it’s not wrong, just my opinion.

Maybe I shouldn’t have directly referred to him trying to reach his ton with a boundary given his overall record of converting, but from what I’ve seen, his dismissals when he’s on any score have, on several occasions come from a lack of composure.

You’re hardly adverse to commenting on batters playing loose shots and I’m sure I could find some receipts on here where you’ve commented on Pope. He should have had a double ton in this match without breaking sweat. Stevens didn’t look threatening at all but Pope created the issues for himself.

Well maybe but he is averaging almost a 100 in the CC. I think your nit picking a bit here.

I thought £20 with no senior concessions was a tad steep.

1 minute into this stream and my expectations are already low with the regards to the quality...

Alex! wrote:1 minute into this stream and my expectations are already low with the regards to the quality...

One of the cameras is wobbling about so much it's making me feel ill watching it.

Switched over to radio almost immediately. For all the stick Surrey get, we're dramatically better at the streaming stuff than most!

75 Minutes for 14 overs this morning. What was the delay due to?

cricketman wrote:75 Minutes for 14 overs this morning. What was the delay due to?

Overton took a blow to the face which held up play for a while. He seems ok now though.

Didn't realise Kent have conceded 500 in every 1st innings so far this season

Anyway, top work from Curran and Overton. Again, performances from the top 5 and lower order hitters like these two show that Jacks really isn't required, and we really shouldn't fear playing a front-line spinner

Well this has been a productive morning. Did anybody notice the score after 110 overs ?

Jedrich wrote:Well this has been a productive morning. Did anybody notice the score after 110 overs ?

we got maximum bonus points according to BBC

Alex! wrote:Didn't realise Kent have conceded 500 in every 1st innings so far this season

Anyway, top work from Curran and Overton. Again, performances from the top 5 and lower order hitters like these two show that Jacks really isn't required, and we really shouldn't fear playing a front-line spinner

With Amla having a poor season, will we soon need another no 3. With Pope having a good season he could be on the England radar and therefore we may need a new no 4.
as such, I think Jacks will soon move up the order and be used as a batsman who is a bowling option.
Chances are that the moment we put in a Virdi/Moriarty to play alongside Topley and Worrall, with a longish tail, that will be the time that the top 6 dont perform.

Jedrich wrote:Well this has been a productive morning. Did anybody notice the score after 110 overs ?

It was about 416/5. We comfortably achieved 5 batting points and restricted them to 1 bowling point. Good going!

I see that 3 successive batsmen getting out in the nineties is a new world record. Splendid batting from all today on what is certainly a very good batting pitch. Be very difficult for us to get 20 wickets on this track I think!

Nailed on that Curran will make it 4 in the 90s. I hope I'm wrong!

Alex! wrote:Nailed on that Curran will make it 4 in the 90s. I hope I'm wrong!

You were wrong :-)

Here comes the lower order collapse