Kent (A) - 12-15 May

You would hope that we've given ourselves a good platform to go on and win the game from here. Unless the pitch turns out to be another like the one in Bristol. It's difficult to tell how it's playing from this stream.

Just noticed this posted elsewhere. Suffice to say some roads are being served up this year

taken from BBC

Surrey have broken the record with the highest score without a player making a century.

So far!

Astonishing it is Surrey’s highest score against Kent!!

Curran bowling! What a time to be alive

No way Crawley can be picked for England in this form.

Yes, it was a good toss to win and we made hay. Beckenham is usually a good ground for batting. But before we start obsessing again about the pitch being responsible for us piling up the runs or (potentially) being frustrated over the next two days, let's put it in proper context.

We are playing by some distance the weakest bowling unit in the first Division. In the four games they have played, they have a grand total of FOUR bowling points - averaging one per match. Every other team has more than twice that number. They were very poor, bowling short and wide, with their only weapon defensive bouncers which sailed over our batsmen's heads. They became more and more dispirited as their fielders dropped a series of relatively easy catches. Credit to our succession of 90s men, not forgetting "Sammy Seventies", but they will have played better and worked harder to score 50s.

If Kent get out of this with a draw, it is because their batting department is their strong suit and because with that in mind we have selected a superflous extra batsman instead of another bowler to share the load, keep the others fresh and provide a different challenge.

Does anybody know why stumps were called when they were? I got there at tea (albeit taken late) and was expecting to see more than 19 overs.

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

If you buy before 5.30pm for the next day it's £15. On Sunday (if your not bored into a deep coma by then) it's £10 on the gate.

Personally your have to pay me to watch much more of this one sided cricket on these awful pitches. At least Surrey could have tried to bowl them out by declaring 2 hours earlier at around 550. How many f****ing runs do you need? What an utter waste of time. But we are ridiculously overloaded with batsmen. Hope I'm wrong, but I doubt it.

Is it an ECB plan to drive people to watch the 100? All Div one games today had scored of around 600. Red ball reset? What a joke. Average batsmen made to look twice as good as they are. Who cares about stupid records on these porridge pitches. Meaningless.

Cee Gee wrote:Does anybody know why stumps were called when they were? I got there at tea (albeit taken late) and was expecting to see more than 19 overs.

It was because they were nine down at the scheduled tea break so you play on for another 30 minutes. But there was still 96 overs.

Chinaman wrote:

Cee Gee wrote:Does anybody know why stumps were called when they were? I got there at tea (albeit taken late) and was expecting to see more than 19 overs.

It was because they were nine down at the scheduled tea break so you play on for another 30 minutes. But there was still 96 overs.

Ok, thanks.

What is the point scoring 600 + and playing out maiden overs with 9 wkts down both Surrey and Kent supporters were mystified with what was going on .Just before tea I made my feelings known to Batty and Stewart there reaction just laughed at me.

I’m very annoyed we didn’t let Worrall get his 50. Had he of done so it would have been the equal highest ever number of 50’s in one innings, equalling the Australians 8 against An Oxford and Cambridge Past and Present team at Portsmouth in 1893 which I’m not even sure was a first class game.

It’s not every day you can create history. Very cheesed off.

This was the third time we have achieved such a feat of 7 50’s in an innings.

Sir Winston Churchill wrote:I’m very annoyed we didn’t let Worrall get his 50. Had he of done so it would have been the equal highest ever number of 50’s in one innings, equalling the Australians 8 against An Oxford and Cambridge Past and Present team at Portsmouth in 1893 which I’m not even sure was a first class game.

It’s not every day you can create history. Very cheesed off.

This was the third time we have achieved such a feat of 7 50’s in an innings.

Shame but I appreciate the sarcasm. To be frank the wicket was so docile even Worrall had no problem playing the ball and probably would have got a ton had we not declared. I do hope we can make some inroads today, but I'm not hopeful.

I stayed away from Beckenham today and will be going to Sutton v Wimbledon.The public who pay 20 quid to get in are being treated with contempt.As i type it's Day 3 and Kent are 600 runs adrift.Why on earth do you need to bat 173 overs and score 671 in the first innings of the game? Kent have no option but to grind it out.Apart from that ,the members area is closed as is the big main building (except for hospitality clients) and you have to queue for half an hour to get a cup of tea.

Why do people have such an issue with bat once, bat long? At the very least you taking losing the game out of the equation

As for today, I'll take this start, particularly if Jacks is taking wickets!

Well, this is lovely

So, are we bowling well, are Kent batting badly, or is the pitch bad? I'm not watching because of the stream quality

Eating my hat with Will Jacks then

I am astonished at the improvement in the team, we have not seen cricket like this since 2018!

It is still early in the season and Kent are a poor team, but we pounded their bowling and then got them out leaving us four sessions to secure a win. My opinion of Batty could scarcely go any higher, the attitude of the team has been transformed. Looks like Surrey knew what they were doing when they batted very long, I certainly felt a declaration at 500 would have been timely.

Nice to see Jacks pick up wickets, I have always felt he was a decent spinner - Joe Root level.
I would still like to see our mainstream spinners involved very soon.

Wonderful effort from the bowlers in gruelling conditions. Jacks getting 5 wickets so far. How many would Virdi have got on this pitch??

Moriarty took 3/19 off 10 overs at Sutton today.

I was otherwise engaged today, but the scoreboard suggests a very good effort by our bowlers.

I may have under-appreciated the extent to which Will Jacks has developed as a spinner. If today's performance is a true reflection, then it suggests that Gareth Batty deserves huge credit, not just for backing him but for the work he must have done with him during the winter and into the new season. Given that there is little to choose between our two "recognised" spinners, if Jacks is staking a serious claim then when conditions suit a second spinner it is Moriarty rather than Virdi who would be in pole position: a left-arm spinner and an off-spinner is a better balance than two off-spinners.

We still have to finish the job, of course, though the forecast overnight rain should help our seamers if it freshens the pitch. Looking at the other counties, Lancashire are already emerging as the biggest threats, and possibly the only county with a comparably deep squad. It would be hugely helpful if Yorkshire can hold out for a draw tomorrow.

According to the cricinfo match report Sam Curran bowled spin today - was anybody there to witness this???

Cee Gee wrote:According to the cricinfo match report Sam Curran bowled spin today - was anybody there to witness this???

I saw it on TV/Livestream.It was towards the end of the day's play.