Surrey V Sussex Match Thread

[MuchHappierSurreyFan]

First topic message reminder :

Well the season is finally here and I'm so excited that I have started this thread a day early...plus I'm working all day tomorrow

I have just checked the weather forecast and it looks promising, apparently a few showers tonight but clearing up by tomorrow morning to leave
a mainly dry day. Friday to Sunday are shown as dry though the players may want to get there winter knitwear out as it looks a bit Chilly.

Looking at the weather, although its mainly dry it could well be very overcast for a few days hopefully helping Lewis and Linely's swing attack

With No Wilson named in the squad and Davies still with England promising youngster Burns looks certain for a start.

Looking at the squad I expect one of Meaker/Dernbach to miss out in the bowling department and one of Ramprakash/Roy in the batting

The squad has been announced and is below

Rory Hamilton-Brown (capt)
Jacques Rudolph
Chris Jordan
Mark Ramprakash
Zander de Bruyn
Tom Maynard
Jason Roy
Rory Burns (wkt)
Gareth Batty
Jon Lewis
Stuart Meaker
Jade Dernbach
Tim Linley

[guildfordbat]

What a lovely way to start the season, 5 Championship wins in a row isn't it now? I feel very sorry for the Viscount but perhaps Lewis' late wickets and 20 odd runs justified his selection. Jordan is surely only playing due to his batting and he did at least see off the new ball in the second innings. It was nice not to have rely on the Brain or Reindeer for runs in this one, they will surely come good sooner rather than later and great for Hyphen to start well - only the 5th time he's faced 100 balls in an innings for us I believe!

I think Wine Gums may be on the verge of a great season, I really like the look of him. I've said it before but I really want Roy to play and if Maynard can become more consistent and responsible (as shown here) then it may be easier to have both Roy and Hyphen in the same team. Long term obviously Roy will step into Ramps shoes but I still think we could play him instead of Batty early season.

Now - assuming Davies comes back in will he open or play lower down? I hope he opens as number 7 is too low for any of our guys. Can't see any other changes for Middlesex.

Good post, Carrot.

I'm not going to die in a ditch over Batty's selection but I think it's worth flagging that he played a reasonably significant part in Sussex's second innings - twenty odd tightish overs and a couple of wickets. As the only other slow bowling option playing, Hyphen would have been unlikely to achieve that. If we don't play Batty, we need to recognise that our bowling options are restricted.

I agree with you about Maynard and you well know that I'm a massive supporter of Roy. In my view, the batsman who has a question mark hanging over him now (not just in the future) is Ramps. I'm sure that Roy will replace him for the one day stuff. As for the CC side, not immediately although surely a player of Roy's talent will force his way back in sooner than later.

Adams has confirmed that Davies will play against Middlesex. My guess is that he'll open and that Jordan will drop down to number seven. On the official website, Adams is (rightly) very supportive of Burns whilst saying that he'll need to now come back ''down to earth'' meaning the second XI. Apart from Davies, I don't think there will be further changes for Middlesex unless there are any injuries we don't know about. The Viscount's frustration set to continue, I fear.

[Carrotdude]

The weather could well ruin the Middlesex game anyway.