Turner the Cat
Midfield
Record breaking crowd for this century at the Oval with over 15,000 over the 4 days.
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County Cricket 2026
- Thread starter danthemanSAFC
- Start date
TheRey
Striker
Shame they were all treated to a disgrace of a pitch that's more likely to make them decide not to come back...
Raymondo
Central Defender
Indeed.
To answer your post from a few pages ago (sorry old boy, one of those where I replied in my head but not in real life), its a massive concern. We struggled at times to get 20 wickets last season which is why we didnt retain the Championship, and it looks the same. Without Worrall, we struggle for wickets. Lawes has a high ceiling, but hes still learning his trade and either takes wickets with no control, or bowls very tight but unthreatening spells (or, as of this season, loose and unthreatening). Dan Worrall carries our attack and Jordan Clark is an excellent strike bowler, but they can't carry the full load.
A repeated failure/refusal to sign a proper spinner hasnt helped, either. Lawrence or Jacks play the role and again, both can grab the odd wicket, but offer no control whatsoever. Its a concern a lot of us have.
Our batting is good, but any side can suffer a collapse. If you don't score 500+ every time you bat, youre gonna struggle because we just can't seem to grab wickets.
I used the pitches excuse last year, which I still feel had some validity, but its clear its actually a full on problem.
Well be up towards the top of the table come September, but I can't see us finishing top of the pile.
What’s the crack with Worrall? Injured?
I feel like Durham had a similar problem last year, particularly with Raine doing the bulk of the work and getting little to no assistance from anyone else. Many feel it’ll be problematic this year too but I’m not as concerned.
Interested to see the pitches towards the back end of the season though, when your overseas spinner arrives.
Imagine putting away 3 for 100 then bowling a long spell the next day, my ticker is giving out at the thought
Does that include London weighting?
Agree with all of that, a magnificent win for them given the way their season began and the strife they’re dealing with off the field.
I felt the same way about Derbyshire, they seemed to have assembled a brilliant squad and have several proven players for the level. Not to mention a coach who absolutely lives and breathes cricket.
They’re winless through three games and that’s been the biggest shock of the season so far for me. Still bags of time to turn things round of course and I’m not writing them off at all, but it’s got to be alarming for their members that they’ve started so poorly.
I disagree slightly with this, I think the first aim in that scenario has to be that you set a solid foundation to prevent being bowled out cheaply and thus putting yourself under massive pressure to save the game.
I followed that game quite closely and it seemed clear to me that Surrey worked out early on that their best chance of victory was to bat long and get ahead of Essex, then to try and put pressure on the visitors in a nervy third innings on the final day. I got the impression they abandoned the idea of bonus points in favour of trying to force a win (whilst safe in the knowledge 8 draw points were more or less locked in anyway) and in many respects I think that approach should be commended in a week (and perhaps even an era) where many of the other teams prefer conservatism over a positive intent.
Yep agreed, many people on the socials making the same point.
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Raymondo
Central Defender
Good news for Lancashire and their title hopes:
Perhaps pitches like that are the type that should be seeing sanctions? People are sharp to criticise when a load of wickets fall in a day and when a game is over inside two days - but those games are far more entertaining and likely to draw crowds in than the borefests that occurred in every single Division One fixture last week.
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I saw someone mention this week that only 96 wickets (out of a possible 160) fell in Division One last week, all games were pretty much nailed on draws going into Day 4 and a couple of them likely wouldn’t even have yielded a result after a fifth day. Perhaps pitches like that are the type that should be seeing sanctions? People are sharp to criticise when a load of wickets fall in a day and when a game is over inside two days - but those games are far more entertaining and likely to draw crowds in than the borefests that occurred in every single Division One fixture last week.
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Raymondo
Central Defender
Saw something last night suggesting Smith will keep wicket this week as Foakes picked up an injury while bowling
Might just have been satire like.
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smoker
Striker
No it's legit. They had Jordan Clark (fast bowler, Graham's brother) keeping wicket. They used nine different bowlers.Saw something last night suggesting Smith will keep wicket this week as Foakes picked up an injury while bowling
Might just have been satire like.
Raymondo
Central Defender
Aye mental, they made the point on the Talksport County Cricketer pod that antics such as that are more detrimental to the game than pitches where the game is over inside 2 days.
You wouldn’t get the centre forward playing in goal for the last 15 minutes of a professional football game when the result is settled.
GordonMuchallNo1Fan
Striker
Gus Atkinson and Josh Tongue have been pulled out of the upcoming County Championship round as part of the ECB's workload management.
The Breen Machine
Striker
That's really kind of them, that one game they've played must have really tired them out.
Might well have done given that they were bowling on roads. Little point in England bowlers flogging themselves on unresponsive wickets. That can only lead to fatigue or injury
Inside Forward
Winger
I’m heading to Grace Road on either Sunday or Monday. Had intended to go Sunday but I suspect the weather forecast may lead to me going a day later.
Can’t bloody wait. My favourite ground.
Can’t bloody wait. My favourite ground.
Raymondo
Central Defender
Pity we aren’t playing them in that spell.
mackembhoy
Striker
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The Breen Machine
Striker
Strange old day so far, glorious weather seemingly everywhere and already 8 wickets to fall at Taunton, The Oval and 7 at Wantage Road. Seamers running riot with 5-fers for Jordan Clark and Gregory, 4 for Sanderson at Northants.
Some turnaround at Surrey
The pitch is Saj tastic
The pitch is Saj tastic
Liverpool Beachball
Striker
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