Surrey v Kent

Well played Sam. if we can get rid of one of these two before they get settled then I might start believing.

i'm starting to believe ....

Yes Frankie Worrall!

I think this is slipping away. From what I've seen on the stream we seem to be bowling ok but Bell-Drummond and Leaning look well set. We need something spectacular to happen with the new ball.

At least we’ll be picking up a healthy points total from this draw.

Cee Gee wrote:At least we’ll be picking up a healthy points total from this draw.

And Hampshire lost. It seems odd that we only play them once this season.

and Lancashire only drew

Its the hope that gets you!!!!

At the end of the day I still can't fault them for trying for the last 3 days. Bell-Drummond has just had one of those games.

On the upside we should get a decent amount of bonus points, and with any luck should have some England players for the 3 games we have in July...

Easily the worst pitch we have prepared all season by far. So difficult if not impossible, to take 20 wickets.

I see that Stewart and Batty’s idea of a specialist spinner has figures of 51 overs 158 runs and 1 wicket. Could Moriarty or Virdi have done worse???

There is no guarantee that Virdi or Moriarty would have gone through Kent. But there is a reasonable likelihood that they would have posed more of a threat than Jacks or any combination of our change seamers in the second Kent innings. For Ryan Patel to be thrown the second new ball when it was just 9 overs old spoke volumes for the paucity of our attack (he bowled like a drain...a far-from-lethal cocktail of wide outside the off-stump and innocuous medium-pace bouncers which sailed over the batsmens' heads).

The upside is that Hampshire lost and Lancashire only drew. But two draws in matches where our batsmen posted (at Beckenham) and then broke (here) our highest ever innings score against Kent has to be viewed as a lost opportunity. We need at least one of Clark, Topley and Overton back at Scarborough (in addition to the overseas signing). We also need to play one of the specialist spinners. Sam Curran is clearly on a short leash from the ECB, and we need enough quality to cover the overs he is not being allowed to bowl.

My thoughts are with those who lasted the whole day today.

Left at 5pm amazed how long it went on after before they shook hands

Keith Powell wrote:Left at 5pm amazed how long it went on after before they shook hands

Yes so was I on that track even with a largely second string bowling attack, Curran and Worrall the exceptions. However Kent's lower order in this game could barely hold a bat so perhaps I can see the reason to continue. I just don't really like these games that are batting fests on flat decks. Depleted bowling attacks or not,  only 21 wickets were taken in 4 days with almost 1400 runs scored.  Rather dull. Roll on Scarborough.

Jackers wrote:There is no guarantee that Virdi or Moriarty would have gone through Kent. But there is a reasonable likelihood that they would have posed more of a threat than Jacks or any combination of our change seamers in the second Kent innings. For Ryan Patel to be thrown the second new ball when it was just 9 overs old spoke volumes for the paucity of our attack (he bowled like a drain...a far-from-lethal cocktail of wide outside the off-stump and innocuous medium-pace bouncers which sailed over the batsmens' heads).

The upside is that Hampshire lost and Lancashire only drew. But two draws in matches where our batsmen posted (at Beckenham) and then broke (here) our highest ever innings score against Kent has to be viewed as a lost opportunity. We need at least one of Clark, Topley and Overton back at Scarborough (in addition to the overseas signing). We also need to play one of the specialist spinners. Sam Curran is clearly on a short leash from the ECB, and we need enough quality to cover the overs he is not being allowed to bowl.

Jackers

I agree that the 2 games could be seen as 2 lost opportunities and I hope come the end of the season we dont rue these chances

The upside is that we have a 16 point lead over Hampshire and 21 points over Lancashire, and I am sure that most (if not all) of us would have taken that at this stage of the season at the start.

The stupidity of producing this road of a pitch for this match, without Topley,Clark and Overton, belies belief!! Why did we not prepare a turning pitch and play Virdi and Moriarty?? All but one of our away matches have been played on flat pitches,so we can’t expect anything better from now on! So when we can produce a good cricket wicket as we have up until now, why prepare this flat track? Why did management decide to go down this line?? I’m sure Fortis can produce a good cricket wicket if he is asked to!

They are probably never going to play both Virdi and Moriaty when Jack's is considered the developing spinner. To be frank I'm not sure about Virdi any more and for me Moriaty is the most likely option. But I don't see where he will fit in with the new Aussie playing next match for certain and the likelihood of possibly at least two of Curran, Topley, Clark and Overton returning.

With England playing a number of white ball cricket during July I would suggest we wont see alot of Topley & Curran (or Roy for that matter)

As a postscript, can I refer to a first in my many years of attending the Oval?
On Tuesday there was a man dressed in a jacket and skirt in the crowd.

People are so funny on this forum. If we don’t bowl the other side out for single figures, it’s an abject failure. What I saw today was  two sides having a proper cricket match. I think Surrey will prevail, but fair play to Kent for a good match.

As for the strip, it’s certainly greener than we usually see at the Oval, but there’s no real demons there. I think the pitches for the past couple of years have been excellent. If you apply yourself as a batting side, you can make 400+. If you don’t…