Notts at the Oval

Notts refusing the chase is a poor advert for cricket. This is why reducing the points for a draw was a good move.

RB wrote:Notts refusing the chase is a poor advert for cricket. This is why reducing the points for a draw was a good move.

Surely it's still "do-able" with only 1 wicket down and less than 9 an over needed ...

Jedrich wrote:

RB wrote:Notts refusing the chase is a poor advert for cricket. This is why reducing the points for a draw was a good move.

Surely it's still "do-able" with only 1 wicket down and less than 9 an over needed ...

I agree, there have been a few chances but the Notts batsmen look pretty comfortable out there. Maybe the thinking here is they push along for another 4-5 overs then try and slog at 10 an over from the last 15? Unless we've now introduced Sibley to give away some cheap runs to encourage their chase

SimonH wrote:

Jedrich wrote:

RB wrote:Notts refusing the chase is a poor advert for cricket. This is why reducing the points for a draw was a good move.

Surely it's still "do-able" with only 1 wicket down and less than 9 an over needed ...

I agree, there have been a few chances but the Notts batsmen look pretty comfortable out there. Maybe the thinking here is they push along for another 4-5 overs then try and slog at 10 an over from the last 15? Unless we've now introduced Sibley to give away some cheap runs to encourage their chase

Or not. That's pretty pathetic TBH ... felt that was a gettable target against fairly bland bowling.

I'm very surprised Notts didn't have a go. We were always going to find it difficult to take 10 wickets so surely they had a chance to go at it with little risk. They could always have shut up shop if we did take a few wickets. I think I'm happy to take the draw given that we were second best for most of the game but it was disappointing to see it fizzle out like that.

I think it's safe to say the Kookaburra at the Oval hasn't been particularly great for us. Pretty dire game of cricket over 4 days

This was a pretty poor performance across the four days from Surrey. Notts can be rightly proud that they came away from the game with one more point thn us, despite the huge handicaps they faced in their bowling attack.

Our approach this morning beggared belief. Had we lost wickets striving to set up a chase by lunchtime I could have understood. But to  bat at such a pedestrian pace as to leave our bowlers just 51 overs to take 10 Notts wickets with no specialist spinner on a pitch unresponsive to our seam attack was ludicrous. We didn't even give Notts an incentive to go for a total which was clearly unrealistic from the off in the time We killed the game; they were rightly satisfied with the draw points.

I am actually much angrier about this than I was about the loss to a full-strength Lancashire team. It was brainless, it was timid, and it was not the mark of champions.

We may yet get lucky if the match between our two biggest rivals at Blackpool ends as a draw. But they can both hold their heads up for going so hard for a win having lost a whole day's play.

I would have thought that Notts would have at least giving it a go for a while. It's not as though wickets are easy pickings on this pudding of a pitch. And they need the points. A bit of a bland game unless you've got pace or a top class spinner.

Notts know there are at least two and probably three teams in the division that are much worse than they are. They would have bitten our hands off for a draw and 11 points before the game. They were two main bowlers down for most of our batting for goodness sake. As I said, no blame attached to them. We stank the place out.

I agree with him about it being stupid to change balls mid-season, but the timing of this bit ...good grief! Did he not give the team the memo!

"Let's say it as it is: everybody is playing for wins and losses now. A draw means less than it did last year. We have changed as current champions how we think about the game because of the points system. Everybody needs a quick fix because you want to win..!

We won’t win many more matches until we start getting consistent runs from the top 3.

Jackers wrote:Notts know there are at least two and probably three teams in the division that are much worse than they are. They would have bitten our hands off for a draw and 11 points before the game. They were two main bowlers down for most of our batting for goodness sake. As I said, no blame attached to them. We stank the place out.

Yes but going into the last innings they pretty much had nothing to lose by going for a target that was initially under 6 an over. They'd batted pretty well all the way down in the first innings and the wicket hadn't done much throughout so wasn't likely to start playing tricks in the final two sessions. I agree we were poor but I was surprised Notts didn't at least have a meaningful go at trying for the win.

Of course, no idea why they didn't risk losing a few miserly draw points to go for a win. Unlikely yes, but it was pants just to bat out a rather pointless draw without even trying. Blimey even if you were 5 down you could easily close up shop on this bland pitch.

Apparently the ticketing system was down at the oval this morning before start about 20 people were involved being unable to get in before the start that included at least 2 Notts supporters who were told to book online they then found that system was down as well .they eventually in the ground around 12pm.I spoke to them at tea they said they were very badly treated by the ticket office.
I then spoke to someone from the office who said complaints had been made he said this was the first time it had happened this season a fellow Surrey supporter also spoke to the notts supporters offering them guest vouchers if they came to the oval next season
Surely being the last day Surrey should have let them in free as a kind gesture for all there inconvenience.

Pace attack looked quite bland in this match. Hutton the best pace bowler on show over the 4 days.

Keith Powell wrote:Apparently the ticketing system was down at the oval this morning before start about 20 people were involved being unable to get in before the start that included at least 2 Notts supporters who were told to book online they then found that system was down as well .they eventually in the ground around 12pm.I spoke to them at tea they said they were very badly treated by the ticket office.
I then spoke to someone from the office who said complaints had been made he said this was the first time it had happened this season a fellow Surrey supporter also spoke to the notts supporters offering them guest vouchers if they came to the oval next season  
Surely being the last day Surrey should have let them in free as a kind gesture for all there inconvenience.

Agreed, I think the 4th day everywhere should be free or no more than a fiver. I really do not see why the ECB and all the counties cannot sell a 4 day match ticket like Essex. That was £38, or £9.50 a day this year. Even Lords only charges £5 on day 4. Why they have to charge up to £20+ a day is ridiculous and does nothing to attract the occasional punter. At Guildford, 2 years ago I think, they wanted to charge an old boy £20 for day 4, who promptly went away.
You know last year the quickest ground to access was good old Scarborough: 3 old fashioned turnstiles. Pre paid, card and yes cash! You paid your money and got a 1950s style bus ticket! What could be better than that? I'm not against tech if it makes life easier for people, but when it's a pain it's just a bloody inconveniece.

Day 4 of a championship match is such a difficult one to call when it comes to what is a fair price. You can end up with a classic day's cricket like at Canterbury, where a casual punter who turned up on the day would come away thinking they'd had an absolute bargain, or a day like yesterday where frankly they might have come away thinking they'd been robbed.

I guess like any sport that is impossible to predict, but what you can predict is how much play there is likely to be on day 4 by the time you get to it. If it's looking like a full day you could reasonably charge £15, if it's looking like two sessions a tenner; if only a few runs or a couple of wickets are needed then free.

Alternatively, you could charge the same price regardless (a tenner seems about right) but if there turns out to be less than a session of cricket give those who paid a free ticket for a future day's championship cricket. Not much use to away fans, perhaps, so they could be given a refund or ticket for a day at their own county's home if they are not already a member there.

It wasn't the cost that was the problem it was making people wait outside untill gone 12 pm to get in ridiculous.

Ridiculous, agreed; but not entirely surprising.

We have the technology but half the time it doesn't fxxxing work.You rarely get in (or out) without your card being scanned 2,3 or more times.

The old contact cards were easily and quickly read,much better than the new ones which are much harder for gatekeepers to read!