Essex vs Surrey 4th-7th May

If you ring the ground you can buy a 4 day ticket any age for £38.00. Collect on the door. Non refundable. Take a punt on the weather but otherwise it's £17 on the day or £14 one day+ in advance. So potentially good value at £9.50 a day.
Three day game if it turns? Mind you if we bowl as well as last week we'll take some beating.

Forcast good for Thursday not Friday.
Hopefully doing first 2 days.

Chelmsford is generally one of the most seam-friendly wickets on the circuit, though I do vaguely remember Gareth Batty going through them early season in about 2014, taking 8 wickets with Ansari getting the other 2.

Abbott must surely come back in, though for whom? Tempted though I am sure Alec Stewart will be to give Worrall or Roach a week's rest to avoid them going into the "red zone", I suspect they may come to the conclusion that we need all of the "big three" firing for this one and look to Middlesex and Kent to give each of the other two a week off. Lawes may miss out, though I think he would be very unlucky to do so and his type of bowling may be effective here. Given how far down we bat and the presence of Pope and Foakes, I  think Ryan Patel is currently expendable if we have to make a tough call. I would therefore go  Burns, Sibley, Pope, Smith (get him up that order!), Foakes, Steel, Clark, Lawes, Abbott, Worrall, Roach.

If it’s a bowler friendly pitch you don’t need 5 seam Bowlers I know Patel is not rated by many on this forum but the real need is to bat deep and not cram the team with Bowlers.

Jackers wrote:I suspect they may come to the conclusion that we need all of the "big three" firing for this one and look to Middlesex and Kent to give each of the other two a week off.

Could you rest all three for Middlesex please?

If all three play against Kent and Kent field the attack from last week then I think the seven leading bowlers in the match will all be from (and have learnt their cricket) overseas (though of course some will not count as oversea players, so perfectly legit).

My XI would be Burns, Sibley, Pope, Smith, Foakes, Steel, Lawes, Clark/Moriarty, Roach, Abbott, Worrall.

Steel is playing as a batter mainly given his record. As was discussed last week, it's fair to say Ryan Patel is a little short of runs so far. But so is Jordan Clark, who is averaging 19 with the bat and 30 with the ball this term so if it's a proper Bunsen for Mozza I imagine Clarky will be the expendable candidate.

Mind you, given how much rain we've had, I can but dream...

To bowler heavy only 5 Specialist Batsmen on a Bowler friendly wicket you need a deeper Batting order.

Jhe10077 wrote:To bowler heavy only 5 Specialist Batsmen on a Bowler friendly wicket you need a deeper Batting order.

Deeper? We bat right down to number eleven even with a dodgy Patel. My view is that if you can't do it with 4 seamers on most pitches, 5 won't make much difference. Nevertheless we are continually winning games with our 5 seam attack, so I'd be surprised if Moriaty plays. In fact I doubt we'll see him much before July. Indeed if Jacks comes back he's got no chance of a game.

Steel,Clark,Lawes,Roach&Worrall are not Specialist Batsman Maybe on Flat wickets you take a chance.

Just hope they don’t produce a turning wicket,as they’ve done many times before with Harmer in their team. Doubt we’ll se a seamers with 5 in our side.

If there is evidence of a turning wicket then Moriarty must get the call-up.. He may not be in Harmer's class, but he is a better spinner than Steel. I'll say it again: while we have the class of Pope and Foakes and bat down to 9 or arguably 10, we don't need the insurance of an extra batsman at the expense of picking our best four bowlers for the situation.

Jhe10077 wrote:Steel,Clark,Lawes,Roach&Worrall are not Specialist Batsman Maybe on Flat wickets you take a chance.

I didn't say that, I said we bat right down, and you won't play all specialists because you won't have any bowling. Steel already scored a big 100 and Lawes is a very promising bat. And if Burns, Sibley, Pope, Smith ( rather than Patel) and Foakes all fail (unlikely) well that's cricket sometimes.

Chinaman I think Jacks will walk back into the side, probably in place of Steel. He is a better bat, bowler and fielder.

I am still not a fully paid-up member of the Cameron Steel fan club as a batsman or bowler, but his fielding (and more specifically, catching) is a genuine asset. I am bound to have jinxed him now! I am not sure he would automatically be the one to make way for Jacks. It depends on Patel's form and also whether we still have Tom Latham around by the time Jacks is available for championship cricket. There may be space for both Jacks and Steel as "batting all-rounders". So far as either of them can be considered a spinner, one is off-spin, the other leg-spin.

OK Jackers, Steel is a very decent fielder, though he did drop a slip catch against Warwickshire. Jacks though I think is an exceptional fielder. Remember the critical catch he took against Lancashire off Morkel, wonderful reactions.

Will Jacks is in the squad! Blimey I thought he was several weeks away. That rather changes things:

I'd now go Burns, Sibley, Pope, Smith, Foakes, Jacks, Steel, Abbott, Lawes or Clark, Worrall, Roach.

IF it's a 'bunsen' then Moriarty instead of Steel.

What an embarrassment of riches. Wait until injuries and England call-ups kick in by June....

Well, Will Jacks is back which I can’t claim to have known was close. And Abbott of course. I’d say 2 of Steel/Patel/Lawes/Clark most at risk. Burns, Sibley, Pope, Jacks, Foakes, Smith, Clark, Abbott, Lawes, Worrall, Roach…bloody strong team that.

I'm on my way tomorrow morning....................

Forecast not good past tomorrow.

Smith to bat at 4, Steel 6, Jacks 7... plus 4 seamers.

My guess is that Jacks and Abbott come in with two of Patel, Steel and Lawes dropping out. At great risk of jinxing him, I'll tip Patel to survive the cull.

Sam Cook returns for Essex in a very handy attack also including Porter, Bracewell and Harmer.

Here's my preview: http://www.ovalworld-online.com/prevesssurcc2023.htm

For all first team cards and fixtures for this season go to: http://www.ovalworld-online.com/cards.htm

Worrall, Patel and Lawes make way for Abbott, Atkinson and Jacks.

Seems like an OK day for bowling anyway

Essex win the toss and bat - Rory’s awful toss run continues!

Essex:
1 10 NLJ Browne
2 26 AN Cook
3 21 T Westley*
4 28 DW Lawrence
5 20 MJJ Critchley
6 19 MS Pepper+
7 11 SR Harmer
8 34 DAJ Bracewell
9 29 S Snater
10 86 SJ Cook
11 44 JA Porter

Surrey:
1 17 RJ Burns*
2 45 DP Sibley
3 32 OJD Pope
4 7 BT Foakes+
5 11 JL Smith
6 9 WG Jacks
7 44 CT Steel
8 77 SA Abbott
9 16 J Clark
10 37 AAP Atkinson
11 66 KAJ Roach

Atkinson!?

RB wrote:Essex win the toss and bat - Rory’s awful toss run continues!

Essex:
1 10 NLJ Browne
2 26 AN Cook
3 21 T Westley*
4 28 DW Lawrence
5 20 MJJ Critchley
6 19 MS Pepper+
7 11 SR Harmer
8 34 DAJ Bracewell
9 29 S Snater
10 86 SJ Cook
11 44 JA Porter

Surrey:
1 17 RJ Burns*
2 45 DP Sibley
3 32 OJD Pope
4 7 BT Foakes+
5 11 JL Smith
6 9 WG Jacks
7 44 CT Steel
8 77 SA Abbott
9 16 J Clark
10 37 AAP Atkinson
11 66 KAJ Roach

Atkinson!?

Tbf, Rory won the toss at Edgbaston which put us on the front foot before some very good play saw us to a comfortable victory.

I wasn't expecting Atkinson to play but was surprised he hasn't featured in either of the last two games for the stiffs. So sort of adds up, I guess?!

Btw, as some fellow anoraks will doubtless already know, Shane Snater is the cousin of our one time player Jason Roy.

Is Worrall injured? This is not the game to rest any of our big three. And given that his absence created a space, very disappointed to see Lawes dropped in favour of Atkinson. Edgbaston was literally the first game since he burst onto the scene last July that I can recall him not making an impact. No complaints with the batting selections - Jacks back in meant a tough decision, and it would have been very harsh on Steel if he had been left out so soon after his century at Old Trafford.