Surrey v Worcestershire - County Championship

Friday 17th to Monday 20th May - our 6th County Championship match

Other matches:

Essex v Warwickshire
Lancashire v Durham
Notts v Hampshire
Somerset v Kent

Weather forecast not as good as last week but should be ok - fingers crossed!



Ryan Patel and Josh Blake (scored 91 yesterday) both involved in 2nd Xi match v Middlesex @ LSE sportsground (concludes today)

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Can you presume if the above players are in 2nd XI action that means Pope and Foakes are available to us? Hopefully the only change to last weeks starting XI is Gus Atkinson potentially coming back in after some much needed rest, and then its a question of who gets "rested" this week - points to Cam Steel sadly, unless someone has a niggle and does actually need a rest.

Starting XI last week v Warwickshire:

Rory Burns(c)
Dom Sibley
Ollie Pope
Jamie Smith
Ben Foakes(wk)
Dan Lawrence
Cameron Steel
Jordan Clark
Sean Abbott
Kemar Roach
Dan Worrall

(Patel and Atkinson made up the 13 man squad)

Worcestershire similar to Warwickshire score a lot of runs but don't have the firepower to bowl teams out twice as their draw on Monday v Kent showed. 4 draws 1 defeat so far.

If Pope and Foakes still need to miss one game, I'd rest Pope for this one. Worcestershire's batting has made an impressive start to the season, but they've found it hard to bowl sides out. I also think Dan Lawrence will benefit from being pushed up the order. Atkinson in for Pope would be the only change I'd make, so

Burns, Sibley, Smith, Lawrence, Foakes, Steel, Clark, Abbott, Atkinson, Roach, Worrall.

It would be nice to have an update from the club about how close Tom Lawes is to a return (I assume Overton is weeks away, as he rarely mends quickly).

Peter.M.Gardens wrote:
Ryan Patel and Josh Blake (scored 91 yesterday) both involved in 2nd Xi match v Middlesex @ LSE sportsground (concludes today)

---

Can you presume if the above players are in 2nd XI action that means Pope and Foakes are available to us? Hopefully the only change to last weeks starting XI is Gus Atkinson potentially coming back in after some much needed rest, and then its a question of who gets "rested" this week - points to Cam Steel sadly, unless someone has a niggle and does actually need a rest.

According to the bumph than accompanies the second X! scorecards, Patel was pulled out of the match after Day 2 and replaced by A M French. That kind of substitution happens a lot in Second X! matches. I suppose it is a way of giving players (those who are often in the first team squad but not that likely to play) some time in the middle. Middlesex also subbed a player at the same time, though neither of the players concerned is troubling the first team squad yet.

Incidentally, the last day looks well balanced. Middlesex 155/1, needing a further 300+ on the last day. Now I've typed that a morning collapse is inevitable. Or it will rain!

Jackers wrote:If Pope and Foakes still need to miss one game, I'd rest Pope for this one. Worcestershire's batting has made an impressive start to the season, but they've found it hard to bowl sides out. I also think Dan Lawrence will benefit from being pushed up the order. Atkinson in for Pope would be the only change I'd make, so

Burns, Sibley, Smith, Lawrence, Foakes, Steel, Clark, Abbott, Atkinson, Roach, Worrall.

It would be nice to have an update from the club about how close Tom Lawes is to a return (I assume Overton is weeks away, as he rarely mends quickly).

Jackers

I see where you are coming from, but if we are going to push Lawrence up the order would it not be to 3rd. I was under the impression that 1 of the reasons that we got him was to replace Pope when he was on International duty and to bat at 3 when that happens
I also think that we are a batsman short/bowler too heavy in your line up. Obviously if he is allowed to play Pope is the batsman, but no idea which bowler would drop out to accommodate. If no Pope, then Patel

Jackers wrote:If Pope and Foakes still need to miss one game, I'd rest Pope for this one. Worcestershire's batting has made an impressive start to the season, but they've found it hard to bowl sides out. I also think Dan Lawrence will benefit from being pushed up the order. Atkinson in for Pope would be the only change I'd make, so

Burns, Sibley, Smith, Lawrence, Foakes, Steel, Clark, Abbott, Atkinson, Roach, Worrall.

It would be nice to have an update from the club about how close Tom Lawes is to a return (I assume Overton is weeks away, as he rarely mends quickly).

That Starting XI looks good

Would be good to see a big innings from Lawrence at the Oval, apart from the crash bang wallop of 2nd innings v Somerset he's just done it away at Canterbury.

Last update on Overton was he needed a scan to access the severity of his injury. Presumably it was quite severe?

Lawes is a big miss, certainly as the white ball stuff approaches. I guess we will need him when Roaches contract ends and if/when we get England call ups for that West Indies series. Hopefully we are just managing his return from injury so he is ready 100% when needed. Just get him fit for mid/end June.

Coatesy wrote:
I see where you are coming from, but if we are going to push Lawrence up the order would it not be to 3rd. I was under the impression that 1 of the reasons that we got him was to replace Pope when he was on International duty and to bat at 3 when that happens
I also think that we are a batsman short/bowler too heavy in your line up. Obviously if he is allowed to play Pope is the batsman, but no idea which bowler would drop out to accommodate. If no Pope, then Patel  

I think if you bump everyone up the order Steel can bat, as too can Clark and we have the all-rounders in Abbott and Atkinson. I don't see a weak link there and I don't see Patel coming in for Steel or Roach would strengethen that team.

Have a sneaking suspicion we might see Blake come in and keep instead of Smith

Can't wait for tomorrow, day booked off and friends coming with me. So impressed with the voucher system now, no longer do you have to find some stupid book they sent you months ago, try and rip out bits of paper with dodgy perforations, remember to take bits of paper with you, remember to take a pen, fill out the paper which is tiny and fiddly, and then queue up to hand in paper. Not to mention hang around outside the ground until your mates show up to hand them the ticket. Instead its just a 60 second online job and a text generated by the app to your mates and you can meet them in the ground. Its completely in line with what most major sporting venues do now in line Well done Surrey!

The biggest improvement is the scanners actually working. It took them a long time to sort it out though. About five years?

Same 13 man squad as for Warks. Assuming everyone is ok to play (and they shouldn't be in the squad if they're not), I would bring in Atkinson and have Steel join Patel on drinks duty.

Don't agree that Cam Steel should be the one to make room for Gus. Cam has played and in particular bowled very well this season. Yes he had a less impressive bowl in the last game BUT most importantly he offers variation from all the seam. Against Worcs, whose strength is their batting, we may need variety and let's face it, virtually every current player of this Surrey squad can bat so to get one of Pope's forced omissions out the way against Worcs makes perfect sense

David Waghorn wrote:Don't agree that Cam Steel should be the one to make room for Gus. Cam has played and in particular bowled very well this season. Yes he had a less impressive bowl in the last game BUT most importantly he offers variation from all the seam. Against Worcs, whose strength is their batting, we may need variety and let's face it, virtually every current player of this Surrey squad can bat so to get one of Pope's forced omissions out the way against Worcs makes perfect sense

Hi David - a game of opinions as Stewie often says. I've voiced my thoughts about Steel enough on this forum recently and so won't repeat them here other than to emphasise that Lawrence can provide some variety. I very much doubt that Pope would have been named in the thirteen if this game were to be one of his ''forced omissions''.

Here's my preview of the County Championship clash between @surreycricket and @WorcsCCC which starts today at the Oval http://www.ovalworld-online.com/prevsurworcc2024.htm

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

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

guildfordbat wrote:Same 13 man squad as for Warks. Assuming everyone is ok to play (and they shouldn't be in the squad if they're not), I would bring in Atkinson and have Steel join Patel on drinks duty.

Worcestershire won the toss and decided to field

Rory Burns(c)
Dom Sibley
Ollie Pope
Jamie Smith
Ben Foakes(wk)
Dan Lawrence
Jordan Clark
Sean Abbott
Gus Atkinson
Kemar Roach
Dan Worrall

Well this is a fucking car crash

dougieginn wrote:I can see now why we always insert the opposition!!

Probably so. What's the pitch looking like?

Jesus Christ were Surrey on the piss last night or something?? This is an appalling start. Having created space between us and Essex I can’t see us keep that at this rate. Pope has to fire for the first time this season if we are to stand a chance

And this is why Andrew Strauss said in his book bowling first when it’s a 50:50 call is the modern way.

You can lose a game in the first hour with the bat, you can’t win it.

dougieginn wrote:Some complained that the last pitch wasn’t green enough,,this one  seems  to be too green.

Just right for Gus Atkinson then

Excellent partnership after that 20 minute implosion

Attack is the best form of defence, they say…

And another collapse

These ruddy commentators. They just don’t shut up. Talk, talk, talk. Never do they allow us the privilege to enjoy the peace of the game. Television commentary should be kept to a minimum.

I don’t give a frogs fat arse about helicopters or yachts in the Mediterranean. I don’t need to be bombarded with complete shit every single second.

The amount of talking needs to be reduced by at least 75%. Yes I know I can turn the sound off but it shouldn’t have to be so.

This time last week I was sat up the Oval thoroughly enjoying myself. This week couldn’t be more different!!!!