FIRST INNINGS – PARTNERSHIPS, PATIENCE and PRESSURE by Marcus Hook
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www.ovalworld-online.com/itsasurreything.htm VOLUME.29 ISSUE NUMBER.2 AUGUST 2016 EDITED BY MARCUS HOOK PLEASE NOTE THAT THE VIEWS EXPRESSED IN THIS NEWSLETTER ARE PURELY PERSONAL OPINIONS. ANY CORRESPONDENCE REGARDING 'OVAL WORLD' SHOULD BE ADDRESSED TO MARCUS HOOK AT FLAT 1, 67 BIRDHURST RISE, SOUTH CROYDON, SURREY, CR2 7EJ or E-MAIL [email protected] FIRST INNINGS – PARTNERSHIPS, PATIENCE AND PRESSURE by Marcus Hook Much water has passed under the bridge since the last edition of Oval World, to such an extent this is the first one since Michael Di Venuto's appointment as Surrey's head coach. One of Di Venuto's mantras are the three P's - partnerships, patience and pressure. First came the pressure - the pressure of succeeding Graham Ford, then the patience. The Surrey supporters kept faith, by and large, and now we're seeing the partnerships - like the new club record eighth wicket stand between Ben Foakes and Gareth Batty at Southampton, which placed Surrey on their current upward trajectory. If spin twins Batty and Zafar Ansari combine with the ball in the two remaining home games against Lancashire and Hampshire, as we know they can, who knows? Put it this way, we can certainly start thinking in terms of Surrey challenging for the County Championship next summer. Only Surrey have looked like ending Middlesex's unbeaten record in the Champo and what also augurs well for the future is the way they overcame a Warwickshire side that, but for the emergence of Chris Woakes as a serious Test cricketer and a side strain to Chris Wright, might have had a tilt at the crown. That's not all. Surrey are also through to the semi-finals of the Royal London One-Day Cup - but don't ask me how, the last gasp victory over Northants is still sinking in. I'll be honest, when Stuart Meaker was run out I never thought Surrey would chase down the remaining 27 off 14 balls with their last pair at the crease, even though Kumar Sangakkara was one of them. They now face a fascinating trip to Headingley on August 28. Sadly, Jason Roy, who is a key part of Surrey's make-up in white ball cricket is unlikely to feature, which is a massive blow. Absurdly, neither will Yorkshire have Bairstow, Plunkett, Rashid, Root and Willey. As was the case twelve months ago, the semi-finals fall between England ODIs. You could say that if Notts hadn't been without Alex Hales and James Taylor, Surrey probably wouldn't have reached last year's final. But I know, from speaking to some of the players, how focused the boys are on putting things right after last year's choker against Gloucestershire at Lord's. But doesn't the fact that the England management agrees to clear all of the centrally contracted players to take part in Twenty20 finals day, but not the Royal London semis, tell you everything you need to know about the ECB's priorities? I would be lying if I was to suggest that Di Venuto was an instant hit with the Surrey faithful. A handful were trying to blaming him for Surrey's indifferent start to the season, which struck me as utterly ridiculous. All I can say is that in my dealings with Divva, I have been nothing but impressed. He has that "what you see is what you get" sort of honesty that was also Steve Rixon's trademark, when he was Surrey manager. Stumper was always great for a quote, although I don't think I'll ever forgive him for saying halfway through the four-dayer at Bristol that, when we win, we'll go on to win the title. That was in 2005. Gloucestershire held on for a draw, after which Surrey's title challenge faded quicker than a Primark t-shirt and the following summer was their first in Division Two. To be fair to Rixon, he had a string of bad luck that season. Mark Butcher, whom he appointed Jonathan Batty's successor as captain, missed most of the campaign with a wrist injury, also we hardly saw Harbhajan Singh, because his bowling action was being investigated by the ICC. The final nail was when Jimmy Ormond broke his right hand punching a door following the defeat to Kent at Guildford that David Fulton kindly keeps reminding me of at least once a season. The interesting thing about Di Venuto and Rixon is that since Divva joined Surrey, having been Darren Lehmann's number two at Cricket Australia, the Aussies have surrendered their No.1 Test ranking. Since Stumper has become Mickey Arthur's right-hand man, Pakistan have drawn a Test series in England to move up to second in the ICC Test Championship table. The number of publications I would decline to work for has grown by one this summer - the Daily Telegraph, or, as I've been calling it since the revelations made by Peter Oborne - the Telegraph' former chief political commentator - the Daily HSBC. The Independent now only has an online presence and redundancies at The Guardian - Mike Selvey's being the most high-profile - mean that, between Test matches, the cricket coverage for which so many daily newspapers built their reputations is now minimal. The last straw for me, as far as the Daily HSBC is concerned, was Steve James's article proclaiming that "Twenty20 is the future of English cricket and all else must be fitted around it." Given that Sid is now billed a Sunday Telegraph rugby correspondent, I wonder if he was so desperate to write a cricket piece he decided to simply fall into line with the Telegraph's on-going policy of printing anything Colin Graves says about the need for a new city-based T20 tournament. Now, this is the paper that was paying Boris Johnson £275,000 a year - which would easily sustain its cricket desk for about four. I did find it amusing that the Telegraph was employing one of the people that has landed us with Brexit, which, according to HSBC's chief executive Stuart Gulliver, means a large proportion of its investment wing is now looking to move to Paris. I can hardly remember the last time I was at a day's Test cricket, but what I do remember was how pedestrian it seemed compared with county cricket. I see Misbah-ul-Haq was fined 20 per cent of his match fee for his team's slow over rate during the Oval Test, while the rest of the Pakistan team received 10% fines. I bet that'll teach them. I jest, of course. 13 overs an hour in England's first innings! Mind you, they did get a spurt on in the second dig, bowling 14 an hour, thus matching the hosts' output in Pakistan's 542 all out. Misbah will probably argue that the game would have been over even earlier had his bowlers sent down the recommended (I won't say compulsory) 15 overs an hour. In the Championship, teams are required to bowl 16 overs per hour, or they get hit by points penalties. I remember when it was more. In fact, if the ECB really want to introduce something to encourage spin, without going back to four-day games dominating July and August, scrap the new rules on the toss and up a day's Champo action to 102 overs. Finally, fingers crossed for one of our former Surrey favourites Michael Carberry, who now faces the biggest test of his life after being diagnosed with cancer. Surrey celebrate beating Hampshire at Southampton SUPPORTERS' CLUB NEWS SUPPORTERS' CLUB END OF SEASON AWARDS 2016 The next Oval World is due out after the end of the season, so it's at this stage we ask SCCCSC members to note the closing date for player of the season nominations - Wednesday, 13th September, namely the opening day of Surrey's final championship game, away to Durham. The categories are as follows: 1) Surrey Player of the Season 2) Most Improved Surrey Player of the Season 3) Young Surrey Player of the Season, and 4) Surrey Moment of the Season. NOMINATIONS FOR THE SUPPORTERS' CLUB'S END OF SEASON AWARDS 2016 PLAYER OF THE SEASON ________________________________________________________ MOST IMPROVED PLAYER OF THE SEASON _______________________________________ YOUNG PLAYER ________________________________________________________________ LARGE RUM MOMENT __________________________________________________________ __________________________________ YOUR NAME _________________________________ Cut this out and send it to Mr M Hook, Flat 1, 67 Birdhurst Rise, South Croydon, Surrey CR2 7EJ to arrive on or before Wednesday, 13th September. Alternatively, phone your votes through on 020-8680- 5700, or email them to [email protected] If you would like to hand over one of the four supporters awards, we will, in keeping with previous years, be doing a draw of those people who indicate (when submitting their nominations) that they're up for a bit of presenting. Past winners of the SCCCSC's annual awards are listed at: www.ovalworld- online.com/awards.htm OVAL WORLD FANTASY LEAGUE 2016 Thanks to everyone who submitted squads for this year, with an eye on ensuring their Surrey CCC membership is paid for in 2017. The fortunes of all the teams can be tracked by going to www.ovalworld-online.com/fant.htm . Here is a snapshot of the table as at 8th August: 1 Nick Blyth Basil Brushers 468.4 17 Paul Trumble Cream Of The Crease 361.1 2 Brian Cowley Ruislip Ramblers 443.9 18 Hanna Frostman Mustard And Onions 358.5 3 Luke Robison Robison Royals 424.9 19 Jamie Dowling Cherry Pie Chuckers 349.5 4 Alistair Gordon Cricketman's Squad 420.1 20 Paul Blake Blakey's Eleven 345.6 5 Jean Galsworthy Rosebery Ramblers 409.2 21 Anthony Earl ACE XI 343.7 6 Chris Eades Antares 409.1 22 Colin Bayly Surbiton's Cow Corner 343.1 7 Simon Hemsley Streathamshire CCC 403.5 23 Chris Keene Keene As Mustard 342.8 8 Albert Ratcliff Bertie's Bash Hits 399.8 24 Tim Redman Redders Rangers 341.9 9 Victoria Earl IC XI 399.0 25 Adam Munro Beddingtonshire 335.7