Slogfest Day 2 - Surrey Day 2
106 Brilliant Ton
By Grockle
July 4 2002
Matt Wood smacks a great century and Piran Holloway finds some form. At 217 for 1 in the 51st this looks even more like a batsman's paradise...odds on a rare Holloway century?
SURREY CC1 @ JULY 4 2002
DAY ONE |
DAY TWO |
DAY THREE |
DAY FOUR |
Batsman's Paradise.....
Surrey continue to like this pitch and Somerset's woes continue on this match and for the next one as the runs pile up and the injuries increase the pressure. Ramprakash starts the day on 199 and Clarke on 60 but the unknown batsman made the early running going to his maiden ton while the England man added 18. 500 came and went before Ramps smashes one back at Francis who bravely gets in the way and leaves the field with a possible broken hand (oh goody!!). The sub is a 17 year old hopeful called Michael Parsons who is 12th man probably because our talent is so thin on the ground that no seconds player was available. With Francis now in trouble who knows, maybe they'll play that other young hopeful...Graham Rose in the next couple of games!
Ramprakash finally succumbs to bad luck...he tries to hook a ball that is too low off Jones, spins too far and bobbles the ball onto his stumps. Out for 218 played on. This brings Salisbury to the plate..he loves Somerset bowling as well and proceeds to show his mightier batting team-mate what he should have done with it by depostiting Jones' next low ball to the boundary...and the one after that as well.
Slogfest...
Hollioake clearly wants to get at us so he has sent Salisbury in with orders to get on with it. We help by putting Keith Dutch on at the River End and both batsmen say thank you by sticking the ball in the Tone and the Brewhouse car park off him. Salisbury brings up the 550 with one into the river...big hit according to Matt Bulbeck and the mayhem continues in his second over with two sixes, one from each Surrey man. Clarke gets so carried away that he tries the same thing off Blackwell and bounces four paces down the wicket, swings mightly, misses completely and is.....well nothing because Turner muffs the stumping and Clarke sheepishly returns to his crease. It all becomes a bit inevitable after a while, giggling between bowlers and fielders and batsmen swinging all over the place like the last 5 overs of a one day game. Clarke (highest score before this game 48) reaches his maiden 150 with another 6 off Dutch - 178 balls, 20 fours and 4 sixes - and the 600 arrives in the 130th over. That brings up about 100 runs in 60 minutes and that is enough for the Surrey captain who brings his boys in at 608 so that he can have half an hour before lunch. 608 for 6 and it's time to pray for rain at every opportunity.
Bowling cemetary....
The batting carpet that is Taunton at the moment has put paid to any decent figures from the bowling attack. Loads of overs, loads of runs and very few wickets. Francis didn't add to his three wickets but the run total increased to 104. Jones went for 157 for his wickets and Bulbeck gave 141 without a wicket reply. Blackwell's figures are not as bad. His wicket came off 24.5 overs with 3 maidens and 89 runs. Dutch suffered this morning when his run tally shot to 70 while his overs bowled only increased to 12. Days like this must be soul destroying!
The reply...
Bets are being taken on how many wickets we will be down before the 50 comes up. The majority plpump for 3. Piran Holloway seems to have other ideas and comes out in a positive frame of mind, hitting 12 off Giddens first over. In fact we are at 19 off the first two but then it settles down and by lunch we have faced 6 overs and the score has moved to 23. No wickets down and halfway to the bet...what joys will this afternoon bring?
When the 50 actually did come up in the 11th over we were still on batsman 1 (Holloway) and 2 (Wood), extras had scored 24 (quicker than Piran) and it all looked solid. It looked even better two balls into the 25th when the 100 came up and we were still wicket-less. Wood went to an excellent 50 with a four off the next ball (84 balls and 10 fours). Wood seemed to take a real liking to Salisbury, he kept bowling wide to Wood's off side and Wood kept hitting hiim to the boundary. Saqlain finally joined the battle in over 33 but by then we were 136 runs up and Holloway was on 48. That became 52 with a boundary off the Pakistani spinner and well deserved it was too - much needed one would think by a batsman so in need of form. Half a ton off 101 balls with 10 fours. He simply played each ball on its merits and smacked the boundary ball...well to the boundary! 150 up before tea and we all went for a brew (including Tractor) well satisfied!
Last Session...
At 185 another milestone was passed as the openers increased the record for a first wicket partnership against Surrey at Taunton which had been there since the 1920's and neither of them looked in any real trouble. Piran pulled the bat inside a few but looked in control. Matt Wood showed his cool nature when Ormond and Hollioake crowded him while Saqlain bowled, he calmly took him for 14 off the over and had the two big Surrey lads diving for cover! His excellent century came with the score on 195 (130 balls and 18 fours). Yes, it is a batting pitch but you still have to grind it out and we are talking about a bowling attack made up of 'international' slows and quicks (as well as 'fats').
The 200 arrived in the 45th over before Wood was finally dimissed by an excellent yorker from the 'slightly built' Ormond. Out for 106 to the best ball of the day and well worth the entrance fee if I had not had a membership. Matt Wood seems to have been there for years...let's hope there is a team to build around him in the years to come because he is a solid opening batsman with the right balance of aggression and calm. 217 for 1 brings the captain to the crease and things slow down significantly. Piran Holloway returns to his shell and defends, which was the wrong thing to do because he snicks one behind and it is 217 for 2. How many times does a big partnership get split up and the second batsman seems almost keen to get out? Nevertheless, he deserved three figures and played a full part in the first wicket stand. Maybe this will be the turning point for him and we'll see more of the 1999 vintage of Holloway performances in the coming weeks...hell, we'll need them!
Burns is not keen to hang about. It seems that the assumption is that Peter Bowler will now perform the anchor role and Burns will make hay while the sun shines. Unfortunately, although the 250 arrives in the 58th, Mr Bolwer's LBW ball arrives in the 61st and we are 261 for 3. Not yet in trouble but still 200 from that follow-on figure. Keith Parsons comes in with some 10 overs of the day to face but his captain seems to be eager to get on with it and hits some glorious strokes as he moves to 50 off 85 balls with 7 fours and another six. 300 for no more losses and the day comes to a close with us needing about 150 to avoid the follow-on and the same again to actually take the lead.
If we bat to 600, there will be no time to finish this game. If we bat over 459, the gamble of a victory declaration from Hollioake will be highly unlikely. Surrey don't really need the points and we aren't really in the situation to force the issue unless a blistering Blackwell innings with support is on the cards for about 12 noon tomorrow. If we can build on an excellent performance from the front end (and how many times have I said that this year?) Then the best we can hope for is a final day of looking for bonus points and another draw. It makes the C&G look like our best bet for silver this year. The fates have not been kind and we haven't really taken advantage in the first half of the season on the rare occasions when we should have.
IF we had taken Surrey at the Oval (weather mostly) and Leicestershire here (weather again) and Hampshire at Bath (not the weather!), then the position might have been different but I fear that the Championship of 2002 will not be travelling to a new home in the South West this season.