Surrey v Kent

Well the 14 man squad has been announced.

No Topley don’t know why. Virdi or Moriarity?

I expect Worrall, Atkinson, Curran and McKerr to
be the rest of the attack.

Sadly i cannot be there.My Wife and i returned from a week in Amsterdam with the dreaded lurgey.After avoiding it for two and a half years by complying with all the rules and vaccinations we've copped it on our first trip out of England since January 2020.

I have no way of knowing for sure but probably picked it up at the airport (Gatwick) or on the plane.We were treated like animals by British Airways and the one member of staff we encountered.

Fifth day of it for me and feeling a bit better so may try for Tuesday or Wednesday.

No Topley, and no new overseas when we have a slot available. Hmmm. Kent may not be among the strongest sides, but they have some decent batsmen.

From the squad named: I'd have to go:  
Burns, Patel, Amla, Geddes, Smith, Jacks, S Curran, Worrall, Atkinson, Moriarty, Virdi.  I'm not totally convinced that the conditions will suit two specialist spinners (plus Jacks), but I am even less comfortable with picking both Atkinson and McKerr in our attack. Young Lawes is along for the experience, I guess. And Cameron Steel...just no.

We are a quality seamer short, I fear, and as far as the batting is concerned we need Amla to prove there is life in the old dog yet and young Geddes to start converting his sound starts into more than 15s and 20s.

My money would be on Jackers team but McKerr instead of Moriarty. I’m still not sure how much bowling we can expect from Sam so I think they’ll need an extra seamer. I’d say Atkinson and McKerr have done enough to earn our trust. Before McKerr had his most recent injury lay off he was looking very good.

Here's my preview of the Champo clash between @surreycricket and @KentCricket which starts today at the Oval http://www.ovalworld-online.com/prevsurkencc2022.htm

First-class stats sheet for @surreycricket vs @KentCricket http://www.ovalworld-online.com/fc_stats_surrey_kent.pdf

For Surrey's fixtures and scorecards go to: http://www.ovalworld-online.com/cards.htm

Still no spinners! Lawes debuts

So we’re ow saying that Lawes is a better player than Virdi and Moriarty, where does that come from. Beginning to double Batty’s judgement sanity,let alone his judgment!! Surely we should be playing 2 spinners this time of the season.

Great start from the boys.

Amla's proved there's still a bit of life in the old dog yet. Brilliant from him and Geddes today

Fantastic to see another young batter coming through. Well played Ben Geddes.

Excellent stuff from the old and the young today Amal and Geddes, looks to be a good pitch or is it a weak Kent attack.

dougieginn wrote:Excellent stuff from the old and the young today Amal and Geddes, looks to be a good pitch or is it a weak Kent attack.

Both, I’d say - but not sure that excuses how poorly they’ve bowled and fielded.

Milnes aside, Kent have been awful. This pitch is better for the bowlers than 390-4 suggests.

The old dog and the young pup both made the most of a Kent attack even weaker than the one we saw at Beckenham, which is saying something. What possessed the captain of such an "attack" to put us in to bat first, only he will know. If Sam Curran doesn't go on to make his first century in (as far as I am aware) all forms of cricket tomorrow, frankly he never will.

The bowling selection is a "brave" one, as Sir Humprey from Yes Prime Minister would have said, euphemistically. We shall see if it was a wise one over the next three days. The batsmen have batted at such a rate as to give them every chance to bowl Kent out twice, with a more reliable forecast than at Beckenham. No excuses!

Jackers wrote:The old dog and the young pup both made the most of a Kent attack even weaker than the one we saw at Beckenham, which is saying something. What possessed the captain of such an "attack" to put us in to bat first, only he will know. If Sam Curran doesn't go on to make his first century in (as far as I am aware) all forms of cricket tomorrow, frankly he never will.

The bowling selection is a "brave" one, as Sir Humprey from Yes Prime Minister would have said, euphemistically. We shall see if it was a wise one over the next three days. The batsmen have batted at such a rate as to give them every chance to bowl Kent out twice, with a more reliable forecast than at Beckenham. No excuses!

Pettman, making his Kent debut on loan, also made his Derbyshire debut (his sole appearance for them) on loan. One year some county is going to find that the same player has turned out against them for all their opponents.

The only reason for inserting Surrey would be if they expected spin to play a role later in the match but Surrey know their own ground and only have Jacks.

Bernard tells me (un about a hundred words) that it was "courageous" rather than brave BTW.

If I was Virdi I would look for a loan move to another
county.

Steve wrote:If I was Virdi I would look for a loan move to another
county.

He might be better off taking up seam bowling.

Sadly, could not get there today, but made up for Ben Geddes. Wonderful achievement.
Caught the closing overs of the Test, Ollie was looking the part. Good day for the ‘Rey!

Also I might be wrong but today was the last day of weekend 4 day cricket at the Oval this season. Shame as there was a great crowd

Nice to see so many local lads in our team.More than any other County has fielded for a good few years?

Fabulous day at The Oval today - many thanks to all who helped me navigate my way to the ground in the absence of British Rail Services! A masterclass of batting from the old and the new; must applaud Gareth Batty for his transformation of this side - always a good sign when youngsters can come into the team and express themselves. What a shame that an earlier poster believes that to be the last of the weekend four day cricket at the Oval this season- it was fabulous crowd and a wonderful day’s cricket

The live stream surpassed itself today and showed a cycle race instead of the cricket after tea for quite a while!

I was pleased to see Geddes get his ton, he looks quite promising, now for a thrash tomorrow with Curran looking to have stepped up a level as a batter. Then we will see what our bowlers make of the pitch, I don't think it is a road. I would have hoped that we would have had Virdi or the Professor in the team, though who for I am not sure. I don't think those two players can be happy.

Alex! wrote:Also I might be wrong but today was the last day of weekend 4 day cricket at the Oval this season. Shame as there was a great crowd

Great day with a smashing cameo from Sam to finish it off. Long time since I've seen almost 450 scored in a day. Not sure what Leaning was thinking.

The reason it's the last weekend day of CC is because of the Blast quarter and final and the 100 and RLODC finals later. All at the weekend. When they have weekend games nearly all are early season when football is on, waste of time.

I think I saw Jordan Clark strolling round the boundary edge yesterday. He didn’t look in any discomfort. Has there been any update on his injury?

Virdi is too good a player to be stuck in the seconds. Hope we don't lose him!