Essex v. Surrey

[Matt the Shrimp]

Whilst we're waiting for the Test to start, I thought I'd have a look at more parochial matters - namely how our beloved county is getting on.

Shame to lose out to a rampant Sussex in the C&G the other night. A monstrous innings by Murray Goodwin (blimey!) for Sussex - 158 off 151 balls - completely took the game away from us, despite having posted a very useful 296/6 off our 50 overs (thanks to 132 off 143 from Sir Ronald) and then having reduced Sussex to 56/4...

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That win leaves Sussex top of the Southern Section with 5 wins out of 5, and looking difficult to stop... since, am I right in thinking that the C&G has been completely re-arranged this season, so that all the Southern Counties play each other in a big group, ditto for all the Northern Counties, and that the winner of each of the two groups goes straight to Lord's for the final...?

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That being so, Sussex are looking well-set, it must be said.

* * *

As for the County Championship, we look in reasonable shape - second in the table on 69 points (same as leaders Derbyshire), and with a big game against third placed Surrey, nine points behind but with a game in hand.

It is Surrey who are hosting us today, and having won the toss and elected to bat, we're currently 81-0 off 25 overs - with our opening pair of Chopra (37*) and Pettini (44*) still both continuing their decent form.

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Matt

[Matt the Shrimp]

Hmm... make that 102/2 off 31.3 - Pettini out for 44, Chopra for 42. Bopara & Andy Flower in now.

Matt

[canveyshrimper]

It is the case in the C&G that the top two make it to the final at Lords in August. I quite like this league format, but if a team loses a match through weather they are immediately on the backfoot. Therefore it may be a better idea that the top two teams in each section have a semi final and then the final.

The perennial Essex problem of bowling penetration in the 4 day game still exists, and they look a little threadbere without the dancing king Goughie. Noticed that Alex Tudor played against Glos last week, and hope his return was not another false dawn for him. I think that Andy Bichel is due as the 2nd overseas player in June, so that should help the bowling.

It has to be said that Essex have some good young talent in Chopra, Pettini & Palladino. Cook is now seemingly an England regular, hope James Foster could join him soon. Jefferson is due back from injury soon, and was bowling in the winter, would like to see the ball coming down from 8ft plus. Plus they have two or three other promising quicks in Chambers, Westfield & Zahid (i think), trouble is all 3 have some sort of injury.

The one day side is as good as any in the country once they have the guile of Gough back, and it would be great to see them get promoted to Division one in the championship.

[Matt the Shrimp]

Quote[/b] (canveyshrimper @ May 31 2006,13:11)]hope James Foster could join him soon
Absolutely. With Jones dropping more than he catches (seemingly), there's inevitably some speculation about his future in the side... and yet the only name that ever gets mentioned is Chris Read.

OK, so Read's glovework is good - but I don't think he's as good a batsman as Fozzie, whose glovework is also pretty tidy (and better than Jones's). And yet Fozzie never gets mentioned, which is a tad irksome...

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Certainly agree with your assessment of Essex's riches of youth - good news for the county and for England, that is. Very interesting to hear about Big Will having a bowl... although it's quite a late development for him to start turning his arm, is it not? However, talk about "steepling bounce" - it'll be Joel Garner revisited!

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[Matt the Shrimp]

Oh, and we're 129/4 now... Rikki Clarke is doing rather well today. Sir Ronald and Fozzie in.

[MrB]

Quote[/b] (Matt the Shrimp @ May 31 2006,14:25)]OK, so Read's glovework is good - but I don't think he's as good a batsman as Fozzie
Need him to prove it now!

[canveyshrimper]

Quote[/b] (Matt the Shrimp @ May 31 2006,14:25)]OK, so Read's glovework is good - but I don't think he's as good a batsman as Fozzie, whose glovework is also pretty tidy (and better than Jones's). *And yet Fozzie never gets mentioned, which is a tad irksome...

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Certainly agree with your assessment of Essex's riches of youth - good news for the county and for England, that is. *Very interesting to hear about Big Will having a bowl... although it's quite a late development for him to start turning his arm, is it not? *However, talk about "steepling bounce" - it'll be Joel Garner revisited!

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Agree about Read with the bat, it is interesting to note that Fozzie has a first class 200 to his name, and is quite high in the averages already this season. It is an odd thing with Foster, centrally contracted, gets an injury, plays an Ashes test in Oz last tour and gets forgotten about.

I was told that Will Jefferson dod bowl a lot when he was at under 19, and when he first came to Essex, but a disc problem caused him to stop a few years ago. By all accounts his back is now in good enough condition for him to resume.

[MrB]

208-4, Ronnie's picked up the pace.

[MrB]

216-6, not so good. Ronnie's still there though.

[The General]

278-8 now.

[The General]

Andre now has his half-century whilst Ronnie has his century!! Over 300 now. Great work chaps!!

[Matt the Shrimp]

344-8 - top response from the 9th wicket pairing of Andre Adams and Sir Ronald Irani after Ian Salisbury ripped out the lower-middle order! *Only 6 runs from the 4th batting point... come on Essex!

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[Matt the Shrimp]

4th batting point obtained - possibly with a 6 from Andre Adams! Game on! 351/8 - 49 runs needed in 30 overs for us to get the full five batting points...

[Matt the Shrimp]

Arse. One big hit too many from Andre Adams - he's gone for 75 off the bowling of Clarke. 354/9 now...

[The General]

Closed at 365-9 ...

[Museshrimper]

This is where having almost a team of all-rounders help, as if the main batsman fail we still have a good chance. Hopefully Ronnie can hit us to 400 and max batting points, though whether Palladino can stay with him remains to be seen.

Close of play 365-9

[Matt the Shrimp]

Quote[/b] (Museshrimper @ May 31 2006,18:44)]whether Palladino can stay with him remains to be seen
And the answer to that is...



...no, he can't!

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Essex 365 all out, Palladino lasted 3 balls against Salisbury. Surrey 3 bonus points, Essex 4 points. Surrey 9/0 after 2 overs, with some very tasty batting to come - Ramprakash, Butcher, Rikki Clarke and Azhar Mahmood...

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[Matt the Shrimp]

Surrey 50/0 off 13 ov... Palladino going for almost 5 an over.

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[Bluesmanager]

Can someone either explain what the points system is or get a link to it for me? I'm confused as to how a team can have 100 points before 5 games are played. Mind you, being in Gloucester, we don't pay much attention to the cricket.

[Matt the Shrimp]

114/0 off 24.2 ov - or 4.7 runs an over. We are being spanked around by the opening pair...

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[Matt the Shrimp]

Quote[/b] (Bluesmanager @ June 01 2006,12:21)]Can someone either explain what the points system is or get a link to it for me? I'm confused as to how a team can have 100 points before 5 games are played. Mind you, being in Gloucester, we don't pay much attention to the cricket.
The points system, explained by Cricinfo... (http://www.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/2006/ENG_LOCAL/CC2/CC2_TABLE_2006.html)

[Matt the Shrimp]

Meanwhile, the Ashes Tickets have gone on sale in Australia... and the computer systems have gone into meltdown. It looks like everywhere is going to sell out - but the frenzy for tickets has caused massive IT problems.

Still, it's good to see that they've still got time for an amusing metaphor:

The online outlets Ticketmaster, who was selling for the Gabba, the WACA and the MCG, and New South Wales's Ticketek quickly joined in as pages loaded at a pace that would have made even Chris Tavare yawn...

[Bluesmanager]

Cheers Matt, it's all rugby (vile thing) up here, not seen a word on the news about cricket yet.

[Matt the Shrimp]

141/0 off 29 ov - 4.86 an over...

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[Bluesmanager]

Well, it could be worse, they could be going into Brian Lara Slog Mode....

[MrB]

182-0, we could find ourselves with four sessions to bat just to save the draw at this rate.

[MrB]

196-2, much better! Ramps and Butcher in though.

[Matt the Shrimp]

232/3 - Ramps out.

[Matt the Shrimp]

280/3 at tea. We need a miracle.

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[Shrimp in a Kilt]

County Championship D2, Whitgift School, day two (close): Surrey 391-6 v Essex 365


Scott Newman and Jon Batty shared an opening partnership of 194 as Surrey reached 391-6, a lead of 26 over Essex, after two days at Whitgift School.

All is not yet lost, but Essex need a good opening session tomorrow to stay in touch. Need to get rid of Mahmood early doors though.

[Stats]

I see Essex's achilies heel of not being able to bowl sides out for lowish totals is hampering their progress again

Mahmood at the crease, expect some quick fire runs this morning how on earth he is still overlooked by the Pakistani selectors is beyond me

Bicknell and Salisbury are no mugs with the bat either

Cant see anything else other than a draw here though

[Matt the Shrimp]

Quote[/b] (statski77 @ June 02 2006,08:56)]Cant see anything else other than a draw here though
I can see a Surrey victory quite easliy...! Lump on another 100 runs for the tail, bowl us out cheaply by tea on the fourth day and then send in Mahmood & Clarke to knock off the runs...

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[MrB]

Nah, mop up the tail by 11:30, smack 400 up in quick time and bowl them out tomorrow. Easy!

[Museshrimper]

Mahmood's gone straight away http://www.shrimperzone.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[Shrimp in a Kilt]

Quote[/b] (Shrimp in a Kilt @ June 01 2006,23:39)]Need to get rid of Mahmood early doors though.
WooHoo!

[Museshrimper]

433 all out. Couldnt have really expected much better this morning. Now for a good 2nd innings batting performance so we can put some pressure on them.

[Shrimp in a Kilt]

Quote[/b] ]V Chopra c M A Butcher b Azhar Mahmood 20 38 2 0
M L Pettini c J N Batty b Azhar Mahmood 4 30 0 0
R S Bopara c M P Bicknell b Mohammad Akram 5 13 1 0
A Flower not out 4 6 0 0
R C Irani not out 4 6 1 0
Extras 6nb 1lb 7
Total for 3 44


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[Matt the Shrimp]

13 runs behind, 7 wickets in hand. We need another huge effort from Sir Ronald and Andy Flower...

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[Shrimp in a Kilt]

166-7, A Flower 78 no - lead by 98 runs

[Matt the Shrimp]

222/8 - ton up for Andy Flower, but the lead is still only 154, which isn't enough.

Matt

[Shrimp in a Kilt]

Another 50 or so and we could still make a game of it.

[Matt the Shrimp]

Flower's gone - on the Nelson, 111. 236/9 now - we're screwed. Lead of only 168, and I can't see us adding many to that, Palladino is pants.

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[Matt the Shrimp]

244 all out - Andre Adams went for one big slog too many and was bowled by Doshi. *Palladino chipped in with a weighty... 0.

Surrey need 177 for victory with a day in which to get it. *Looks like a win for Surrey...

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[shrimperman]

Quote[/b] (Matt the Shrimp @ June 02 2006,18:27)]Looks like a win for Surrey...

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You've turned psychic Matt
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[Stats]

The Brown Caps stroll on

I thought Essex would of put up more of a fight with their second innings

Then again CC games against Essex always yield us easy points http://www.shrimperzone.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif

[Matt the Shrimp]

Quote[/b] (shrimperman @ June 04 2006,00:03)]
Quote[/b] (Matt the Shrimp @ June 02 2006,18:27)]Looks like a win for Surrey...
You've turned psychic Matt
Hmm... not the most daring prediction I've ever made, sadly...

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Oi, Stats... "brown caps... us..."?! WTF?! You turncoat...!

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[Matt the Shrimp]

Oh, and I see we were easily beaten by Middlesex in the C&G as well... bugger...

5 wickets and 6 overs to spare... (http://www.sportinglife.com/cricket/scorecard/12509.html)

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Matt

[Stats]

Quote[/b] (Matt the Shrimp @ June 05 2006,11:16)]Oi, Stats... "brown caps... us..."?! *WTF?! *You turncoat...!

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Yes I am a follower of the Brown Caps and have been since I were a lad

How I got some stick last year when we were relegated from the CC Div 1

Hopefully we'll back be back up to the promise land at the end of the season

Kumble will bolster the attack soon