Somerset vs Surrey Taunton, 12-15th June

Well, we've made that a lot harder than it should have been, but a fantastic win nonetheless. Jacks with a match -winning pair of innings

Come on the Rey!

Yes a very tight finish considering our big first innings lead. Jacks played well in both innings. Cameron Steel didn’t impress ,2 low scores and no wickets. Probably one of worst signings!

Well done guys you made it. Thought we were pretty good overall. This is turning out to be a stellar season. Players like Clark and Overton seem much better than last year. The only slight concern I have is Amla. I thought he was a bit disappointing last year, and was hoping it wasn't the beginning of the end for him, but he's done nothing to change my view so far. I have not formed that view based on today - he's not been well and it was great he even gave it a go - but for the wages he gets compared to others in the squad I think its only fair we expect a higher standard of batting from him. I think we've got the batting to cover for him and I hope he comes good, but please Surrey make this his last season.

First things first. We got over the line, and whatever the results of the other games we are leading the county championship at the half-way stage. Won 4, drawn 3, lost 0. It is a drastic improvement on our post-2018 form, and everyone at the club deserves huge credit for that, not least the coaching and management team.

There is some context, though. A quick glance at the fixture list tells us that, save for Kent at home and Northants away, the remaining games are against the strongest teams in the division. That means that if we have aspirations to win the championship the Kent game is a must-win. We have to pick the strongest side available to us. I don't imagine we'll see Pope or Foakes, but Sam Curran may be a possibility if the one-day side have finished their tour of tulip-land by then. Reece Topley may also be available, but given that we are currently better stocked with seamers than batsmen I am less concerned about the timing of his return to our championship squad.

Some of us have been warning for a few games that we would come unstuck one of these days by not selecting a specialist spinner, notwithstanding what Jacks offers in that department. It nearly came to pass here. Cameron Steel was a nothing selection: less than half of a batsman, less than half of a bowler in four-day cricket. Surely having Moriarty or Virdi as an option would have made it more likely that we would have bowled more effectively in sweltering conditions in the second innings. Impressive though our seamers have generally been, we needed variety and quality in the second part of this game and will do so as we move into prime summer.

I also have concerns about Jamie Smith's role.  He is a competent wicket-keeper, but he is not ever going to be a great one. He could, however, become a great top-order batsman. There will be an Amla-sized gap at number 3 next season, and quite possibly a Pope-sized gap at number 4. Smith has shown that he can play long innings, but if you analyse them, they have either been in the first innings when we have batted first (Northants away last September, Gloucs away recently), or when he has not been keeping wicket (Glamorgan at home last September).  Given the likelihood that we won't see much of Ben Foakes if England award him a central con-trick, I would make it a priority to recruit a wicket-keeper in time for next season, to enable Smith to develop to his full potential as a batsman. The other point about Smith is that there is already evidence (50-over competition last season) that Surrey may be grooming him as Rory's eventual successor as captain. With the best will in the world, he could not do that as well as bat in the top order and keep wicket.

Pink Panther wrote:

Jedrich wrote:Do we know whether Amla will be able / allowed to bat if necessary ?

Assuming he's fit enough, I think the rule is he won't be allowed to bat higher than 7.

Scratching my head as to how he came in at 6.

Cracking match (and I am not referring to batsmens' heads). Somerset deserve a lot of credit for making it close given their poor first innings and the need to sub two bowlers. I saw Trego doing commentary for a T20 down there. wonder if he was there to congratulate Batty?

dougieginn wrote:Yes a very tight finish considering our big first innings lead. Jacks played well in both innings. Cameron Steel didn’t impress ,2 low scores and no wickets. Probably one of worst signings!

I think that's very harsh. It was his first game of the season and he was recruited as another option for the top three, where we were looking a bit thin this time last year with Stoneman's departure and the possibility that Burns might have retained his England place. As it happens Patel has nailed the place Steel might have claimed on merit, so if nothing else the competition he's provided might have been a useful spur to others. Having said that, I'm never a fan of picking a cautious top order batsman to stiffen the lower middle order. We did it a few times with Patel before he blossomed as a more attacking batsman in last year's 50 overs cup, and I don't recall him ever making much impact there. I'd rather have had the extra (spin) bowling option.

It's a pity Hants got over the line chasing a similar target against Yorks, having been 95 short with 6 wickets down at one stage. We're the only team to beat Hants so far but we don't play them again, so we might be looking for someone else to do us a favour sooner or later.

It's a big boost to have won this game with so many players missing, hopefully we won't have to pick from such limited options again this season, although I suspect Sam will be back in the Test squad soon. (Apart from the fact that I want him in our team I genuinely think he'd be better off playing as much Championship cricket as possible this season.) Amla seems to be on his last legs now but I assume Roy is an option for the Kent home game even if it's only a one off.

I lose track of all the overseas signings for short periods. Do we have anyone else already lined up for a Championship stint this year?

adelaide wrote:

Pink Panther wrote:

Jedrich wrote:Do we know whether Amla will be able / allowed to bat if necessary ?

Assuming he's fit enough, I think the rule is he won't be allowed to bat higher than 7.

Scratching my head as to how he came in at 6.

I dare say there's a clear explanation within a document somewhere in the depths of the ECB website.  It's hard to keep track of all the rule changes for different competitions.  (I believe you can still have a runner for an injured batsman in the Championship but not Tests for example.)  Perhaps there's now a time criterion for a batsman who was off the field?  Amla came in during the 38th over, with the previous wicket having fallen in the 15th, so maybe he wasn't allowed to bat within the first 2 hours of the innings?

Pink Panther wrote:
...

I lose track of all the overseas signings for short periods.  Do we have anyone else already lined up for a Championship stint this year?

Hi Pink - at the recent forum meeting, Alec Stewart said that we were planning to re-sign Sean Abbott for the final part of the Championship although that is dependent upon him not being called up by Australia.

Best game so far this season. Decent pitch, great weather and good cricket right through. Really exciting last day, give me this any time to 500 plays 500. Could have done with an extra spinner maybe, but not many wickets went to spin. Very impressed on how Jacks has adapted his game his bowling g is improving as well. Afraid Amla has to go end of this season.

If you look at the current tables, the five leading counties in Division One are the ones who host test/international matches, while the bottom five do not. In Division Two, the two teams pulling away are those who play at grounds which regulary host such matches, with the only other one which does so occasionally (Glamorgan) third.

Is this a quirk, or is cricket slowly but surely fulfilling the ECB"s wet dream of the haves leaving behind the have nots to create an elite of 7 or 8 teams who play at the big grounds? the likes of Somerset (ever the bridesmaid) and Essex have regularly been a force in championship cricket in recent years, so it may be that it is just a temporary statistical quirk, but it is a noticeable one nonetheless.

Jackers wrote:If you look at the current tables, the five leading counties in Division One are the ones who host test/international matches, while the bottom five do not. In Division Two, the two teams pulling away are those who play at grounds which regularly host such matches, with the only other one which does so occasionally (Glamorgan) third.

Is this a quirk, or is cricket slowly but surely fulfilling the ECB"s wet dream of the haves leaving behind the have nots to create an elite of 7 or 8 teams who play at the big grounds? the likes of Somerset (ever the bridesmaid) and Essex have regularly been a force in championship cricket in recent years, so it may be that it is just a temporary statistical quirk, but it is a noticeable one nonetheless.

That is coincidence, remember we have recently been in div 2 and when we had the conference structure during covid we were rubbish, Middlesex do not fulfill your criterion as they are not owners of Lords and do not profit from international revenue and do not get 100% of revenue from Middlesex games played at Lords,