Happy to meet Surrey to (take a)part
Will he Won't he?
By Grockle
August 29 2010
We win we get a home semi. We draw it is still in the mix. We lose? Too much to think about!! It is cold and windy in the South West and 45 minutes before the start it's a little sparse on the seats. Max Waller is in the warm ups but Lewis Gregory is also out there. The questions are over Buttler, Compton, Suppiah and Turner.
v Surrey CB40 @ Taunton Sunday 29 August 2010
This is the game when we all hope the men will tie up a Taunton date on the 11th of September. The side is;
Trescothick, Kieswetter, Compton, Hildreth, de Bruyn, Buttler, Trego, Kartik, Phillips, Thomas and Waller
Surrey won the toss and are fielding.
The crowd is starting to fill the place but there is no sun and lots of wind
Out come Surrey in black and dayglo green led by their captain (who always looks like a schoolkid). They are followed by Marcus and Craig. The skipper will face the first from the River bowled by Tremlett. There is some blue sky about but lots of wind (from the flats straight across the ground) however the conditions don't seem to bother our man who guides "Tremmy's" first for 4 to the electronic scoreboard. It then starts to spatter with rain and off they go after 4 balls in a heavy shower.
It's a short break though and they are back on within 10 minutes with lno loss of overs. Craig celebrates by putting Tremlett over the Colin Atkinson and Cheetham takes the second and ends with his side 24 for no loss behind. It may be one of those on and off days.
However, on the pitch the Somerset men are looking to get some big scores...unfortunately Marcus pulls Tremlett, doesn't get enough on it and Spriegel takes the catch to depose the king and send him back to the hutch for 8 at 32 for 1. Next man in? Nick "Compo" Compton
Craig takes up the cudgle and the 5th over shows his intent as he takes Tremlett for a 6 and three 4's to put us past 50 (his third boundary of the over) and we reach 5 with 55 for the loss of MT. But there are no slouches in the field for Surrey as Spreigel shows with an absolute amazing stop of a certain four with a one handed diving sprawl in front of the Caddick.
At 65 Compo misses a Cheetham straight one and is LBW for 10. In comes Zander halfway through the 8th. By 10 we have 83 and the second ball of the eleventh sees the main protagonist reach his 50 off 29 balls with 2 maiximums and 7 other boundaries. Hamilton-Brown introduces Schofield for the 12th and our wickie welcomes him with a huge 6 which bounces off the Caddyshack to bring up the home side's hundred. It's spin at both ends with Batty at the other end.
He however doesn't finish the 13th because one ball before it ends the rain sweeps in again and they are off for the second time at 2:43.
Back at 2:57 with a 38 over game with 3 bowlers having 8 and 2 others able to bowl 7. After 13 the score is 103 for 2 and there is more rain to come.
It comes at 3:07 with 121 (Zander 30 Craig 71) on the board and at the start of the 16th over. Heavy wind and rain to match empties the stands and blasts those taking cover under the Ondaatje against the wall. The heavy covers come out but it does clear pretty quickly and they are beiing removed again by 3:20 after the umpires have been on and some much nicer blue stuff floats towards the ground from the Quantock area behind the CA and Botham stands.
We are back at 3:30 with a 36 over game and an interval of 15 minutes in beautiful sunshine.
Zander reaches his 50 at 148 off 41 balls with 7 fours and he hits the next one off Schofield back over his head to reach the OP boundary and Somerset's 150 but the ball after that is straight down Spriegel's throat again and it is 152 for 3 just into the 21st. Next man in is James Hildreth.
Before he gets himself settled, Craig gives Schofield the charge and is stumped a looooong way out for 79. Jos arrives and we have 2 new men at the crease with the cloud building up, 156 on the board and 15 overs to go.
By the 25th we have reached 176 and 6 balls later, with 60 to go, we have 185 on the main scoreboard. That suggests a score of 275-ish by the cut off at 5 to 5. We shall see - the clouds are building into black stuff again over the Qauntocks although we do have good sunshine on the centre of the ground at the present moment.
Into the last 5 and Jos is going for it with a huge six into Cow Corner and a wonderful duel with Dernbach which our man wins well and truly - he has him bowling wides and all kinds of things to try and stop him hitting it!! His 50 arrives in 31 with 6 fours and that one mighty smack
The 250 is up in the 33rd. 263 by the end of the 34th. The 35th from Spriegel starts with a Buttler reverse sweep to take him to 75. a six to the Caddyshack moves him to 81 a ball later, round the wicket and another six to the scoreboard makes that 87. But is bowled and clapped off the field after 46 balls with 4 sixes and 9 fours. In comes Pete. Hilda has 33 - he came in before the 19 year old!! 279 for 5
Trigger is off the mark with a flip over the keeper and keeps the twos coming to the end of the penultimate over which ends with us on 283.
Tremlett takes the last and James faces the start of it. He's down the wicket to the first but doesn't get anything on it. The second is pulled through the hands of a fielder in front of the CA and they take 2. Ball three is a wide,while the fourth is flipped to the "Caddy" boundary but retrieved and they take a single. Pete flatbats ball 5 for another single and JH drives the 6th for two. The last ball is a full yorker which bowls MR H and we finish on 290. That's 105 off the last 10 overs and a whole bunch of them came from the bat of our number 15 Mr J Buttler. Good to have you back sir!!
However, because there has been a couple of changes because of rain, Surrey will have to get 292 NOT 291. (Ain't D/L wonderful?)
The Reply
It's Thommo to Rory with Davies at the other end. He no balls and Trigger catches the free hit to cheers and then mumbles. However ball 3 is a repeat and this is NOT a no ball or free hit and Hamilton B is back for 0 caught Trego! 2 for 1 after 3 legitimate balls.
During Ben Phillips' second over Davies drills one through Kartik (wearing Suppiah's jumper) at midwicket. He 'drops' it - actually it nearly makes holes in both his hands and he does well to even get hold of it and keep his fingers. After 2 Surrey have 7.
Off the first ball of the 5th from Thomas Walters knocks the ball to short fine. Davies comes for the single. Phillips swoops and while the Surrey keeper is turning and trying to get back, he has fired the ball to Alf who breaks the stumps at the second attempt and it is 23 for 2 and in comes "Ramps" before the 5th over ends.
After 5 overs Surrey have 33 but have lost two wickets. after 10 they have moved to 61 after the 50 comes up in the 8th. During this period we see Trigger replace Alf for the 7th and Kartik on for the 10th but Tresco has a think and returns Alf for the 11th - I suppose the thinking is that Walters and Ramprakash are the men we need to get past and the VC is probably the man to do it.
Surrey have 66 with 25 overs to go (needing another 226). Alf is on for one and then Trigger is back for the 13th and Ramps puts him onto the top Ondaatje hospitality balcony. But we have the last laugh as MK does what he does so well. At 91 he cleans up Walters completely and four balls later Roy has a headfit, comes swishing up the wicket and is stumped by Kieswetter with an addition of only 2. Max is introduced in the 16th and as a result Surrey don't move past 100 until the end of the 18th - some 58 behind the D/L requirement at that point.
Some idiot runs onto the pitch and heads (?) the stumps at the River end tries to shake hands with players as they simply look at him and then runs off to the CA to be picked up by the stewards and escorted off the premises - fool!
Ramprakash is not bothered by this and passes 50 in the 21st over in 46 balls , 1 six and 2 fours - it's been ground out rather than fluently scored but it is another one!! After 22 Surrey have 137 but they are expected to have 181 so they are pressurised to push this along at something of a rate. The rate is over 10 now 153 off 14.
Zander is on for the 23rd and the 150 is up during that over. Pete takes the 24th and ends it going for 5 - that is what we need. 155 for 4. Marcus is starting to put his options together for the end of this game and has decided to bring back Alfonso earlier than usual to try and break this pair up OR get ramprakash before the 10 overs to go section of the game. So...the 25th is bowled by the VC and they have 166 at the end of it. 126 off 11 - it is still pretty close while the batting machine called Mark is at the crease!
Trigger stays on for the 26th. There is a lot of field organisation before he starts and MR obliges the organisation by smacking the ball straight to Buttler and off he goes at 166 with 73 to his name. Good innings. Good to see the back of him!
In comes Schofield and is LBW quite quickly to Trego at 171. He doesn't seem as convinced but it looked pretty definite here. Whatever, he isn't there any more and they need 121 off 10. What a difference 6 balls makes.
2 balls later Batty flat bats a Thomas full toss straight back into the bowler's hands and Alf, not surprisingly says "Thanks very much". 174 for 7 and in comes Tremlett. They need 114 off 9 as Zander is re-introduced at the River end bowling to Spriegel on 36 - he is now the dangerman. He takes a single after a boundary. Tremlett then hits a single and tries to get him back on strike but ZdB backing up gets to the ball and hits the stumps before Tremmy turns around to get back in. 183 for 8 Tremlett run out.
Dernbach comes to the wicket and gets off the mark with a huge six into the Botham stand!! He tries the next one but doesn't connect. He tries the third and Trigger drops him moving in and out of the shadow in front of the CA pavilion. It is 191 for 8 - still needing 3 figures to win off 8 overs. Alf's first looks like a four all the way until ZdB flings out a hand and bats the ball out of the air in front of the scoreboard seats. Dernbach is looking to get the score along and flips his first ball to the CA for four. He produces another boundary 2 balls later to get his side past 200.
It is 204 with 7 overs to go and Zander stays on at the River trying to clear out the spirited resistance of these two men. 212 at the end of that one and Ben takes over to leave Alf with one?
It's 223 at the end of this one as the two Surrey men swing the bat and get the luck. Dernbach is going for it and Zander gives him one which is picked up on the boundary in front of the scoreboards 227 for 9 and in comes Cheetham. It was a good hit but too short. Zander has him 2 balls later at 227 trying to sweep and losing his stumps missing a straight one.
31.2 overs and a victory by 64 runs. We aren't bad at this stuff you know.
Brilliant. We have a semi final place but it isn't a home one yet!!
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Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 2010:08:31:12:50:47 by Grockle.
Overcast and windy this morning but dry up to now.
It was flaming freezing in Taunton last night so bring your thermals if you are planning to visit the home of one day cricket today.
More from the ground later and I'm, sure our friends in Bristol will have sent someone down to cover the game. Hang on a minute....are Gloucestershire playing?
Rory Hamilton-Brown (Captain)
Steven Davies (Wicket Keeper)
Stewart Walters
Mark Ramprakash
Matthew Spriegel
Jason Roy
Gary Wilson
Gareth Batty
Chris Schofield
Chris Tremlett
Steven Cheetham
Jade Dernbach
Stuart Meaker
There is a game expected here on Thursday according to the Chief Exec.
Now you don't get that with the club ball by ball (tic)
24 after the second from Cheetam
127 for 2 after 16
Grizzzly
D/L may be the best system we have, but it continues to favour the side batting second and nobody ever seems to change that...despite me going on and on and on...about it.
old boy!
Do hope we can carry on this form into the semi final (& final !).
Grizzzly
Great game to watch and we thoroughly deserved the win.
They were always 30+ runs behind D/L and even when Ramps was in there was just too much to do.
We basically thrashed one of the best sides in our division, so different from last week when Sussex burgled a result in a short and totally unequal contest of bat and ball.
So glad that Craig is back, and a real joy to watch Jos bat.
Home semi-final? Only two thumping victories by Warwicks (who still have a game against Notts) and two huge defeats for us can now deny us that.
A point or two tomorrow lads...
I thought we'd got rid of the Vuvuzela, but the PA was in competition with it!
A very nice service this morning, punctuated by the odd cricket ball or football from the Surrey players, including one which went over our heads into the churchyard.
Coffee cake very nice but maybe lacked some of the external moisture.
Some moron head-butted the stumps, God only knows why.
The England Under-19 international has been added to the squad to travel to Worcester tomorrow.
It was a shame to see Callum Haggett with his foot plastered and on crutches.Let's hope it's not too serious for him.
A good win yesterday I did think we bowled a bit short at times. Somerset had the worst of the conditions for batting, going off twice while batting can’t be easy to keep the momentum going.
Once again Jos deserves top spot; this was after hitting a six and reaching his fifty.
Jos Buttler leaving the field after scoring 87 with everybody standing and clapping him off. (Not entirely factually true but we are not going to worry are we).
I did say in the last match Craig Kieswetter form had returned, this was one of his six’s.
Mark Ramprakash narrowly missed being bowled, but he is always a dangerous batsman that you have to get out.
This can’t be easy wicket-keeping standing on one leg. Kieswetter standing up to the stumps.
M Spriegel trying to sweep and missing the ball.
Not easy taking photos yesterday with all that shadow about and the sun so low, by the end of the match the shadow from the flats had reached all across the ground and it was very cold.
Good to see Craig back in form!
old boy!