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...

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...?

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.

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...

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!

 

[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...

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!

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!

 

[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 ...

 

[Grayson]

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!

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...

 

[Matt the Shrimp]

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

 

[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...