Tag: Shelduck

Surrey v Somerset

A look at developments in the match currently taking place between Surrey and Somerset at The Oval, a composite Surrey/ Somerset XI and two photo galleries,

This post will feature a look at goings on in the match between Surrey and Somerset at The Oval, two photo galleries (reminder, click on the first photo in a gallery to view that gallery as a gallery and see the pictures at a larger size) and a composite XI (see feature image) for these two counties.

THE CURRENT MATCH

The latest round of county championship fixtures got underway yesterday morning, and the obvious fixture to follow was Surrey v Somerset. Surrey won the toss and decided to bowl first. At lunch, when Somerset were 87-0 (albeit with Sean Dickson having been injured and at least temporarily removed from the action) Somerset would have been the happier side. In the afternoon session the Surrey bowlers made things happen with a vengeance, and at 187-7 it was looking like their day. A fightback, to which the injured Dickson contributed by coming in to support Gregory at the end of the innings saw the Somerset innings end too late in the day for the Surrey reply to begin, with a total of 283 on the board. Jordan Clark had five wickets in the innings, and Atkinson, one of Wisden’s five cricketers of the year after his sensational start in test cricket last season, had also fared well with the ball. Somerset’s bowling was not at full strength – they had lost Matt Henry, the NZ ace, before the match started, and between the toss and the start of play Craig Overton suffered a back spasm, with Surrey (who would have been entitled to refuse to allow a change to be made after the toss) graciously acceding to Somerset’s request to replace him with Josh Davey. Burns and Sibley made it to lunch still together and with no serious alarms, the score then being 99-0. Barring a brief passage of play in which Burns went for 76 and Pope for 3 things have continued to look pretty comfortable for Surrey. They are currently 173-2, with Sibley 47 not out and Jamie Smith 26 not out. Sibley has just been bowled by Leach for 53 and it is 188-3. Surrey have passed 200 while I have been prepping this post for publication – the score is now 205-3, Smith 39 and Foakes 12.

GALLERY ONE

A SOMERSET/SURREY COMBINED XI

I refer readers to my all time XIs for each county (here and here) which will cover a lot of the players not mentioned in this post and give more details about the members of the XI. As the feature image shows I have made two changes to the Somerset XI since that post was created – golden age amateur Lionel Palairet gives way at number three to James Rew (although I have acknowledged it I consider his wicket keeping something of a red herring in terms of where his actual value lies), and Dom Bess, who I should never have named in the first place, has been replaced by Somerset’s actual great off spinner, Brian Langford. There is also one change to the Surrey XI, Foakes replacing Alec Stewart as keeper and middle order batter.

  1. Jack Hobbs (Surrey, right handed opening bat, occasional right arm medium pacer).
  2. John Edrich (Surrey, left handed opening bat)
  3. Ken Barrington (Surrey, right handed batter, occasional leg spinner)
  4. Graham Thorpe (Surrey, left handed batter, occasional right arm medium pacer)
  5. Peter May (Surrey, right handed batter).
  6. +Ben Foakes (Surrey, right handed batter, wicket keeper)
  7. *Sammy Woods (Somerset, right handed batter, right arm fast bowler, captain)
  8. ‘Farmer’ White (Somerset, left arm orthodox spinner, right handed batter)
  9. Joel Garner (Somerset, West Indies, right arm fast bowler, right handed batter)
  10. Jim Laker (Surrey, off spinner, right handed batter)
  11. Tom Richardson (Surrey, right arm fast bowler, right handed batter)

I designate Leonard Braund as ‘twelfth’: he has connections to both counties involved, having started at Surrey before moving west, as an all rounder (and he did open for Somerset quite often by the way) he could replace at least ten of the players in this XI without absolutely hamstringing it, and he was noted as an expert slip fielder which at least offers hope that he could perform competently behind the stumps as well.

Aside from Rew, now in the Somerset XI, but not capable of dislodging any of that Surrey 3,4 and 5 from the composite side as yet there are two other players who have emerged since I created the original XIs on which this post draws who have to be mentioned: Jamie Smith, currently England’s chosen test match wicket keeper (though somewhat miscast in that role in my view), who is a quality player, but I who will not name as keeper ahead of Foakes, and who has not yet done enough to claim a front line batting place, and Gus Atkinson, who for all his great start at the highest level has a way to go to be a serious threat to any of Garner, Richardson or Bedser (in the Surrey all time XI). It has been my policy when creating these XIs for counties or composites of two counties to only allow myself one overseas player, which is why Waqar Younis cannot be accommodated (Garner’s great height lends extra variety to the pace attack, which is why I plumped for him).

GALLERY TWO