2008 Season Review: Surrey

Final placings:
Championship Division One - 9th;
FP Trophy - 4th, South-eastern Conference;
Twenty20 Cup – 6th, South Division;
Pro40 Division Two - 5th

Amidst the fallout following one of the worst seasons in Surrey’s history and all the psychobabble, the fairest summation of the club’s state came, perhaps surprisingly, from skipper Mark Butcher. He said simply “it is probably a year overdue for us”.

Surrey finished fourth last year – and, given that they were as good as anyone in the second half of the season, notions of a title challenge did not seem so fanciful. But of course they were. For their resurgent end to the 2007 season owed an extraordinary amount to the brilliance of Mark Ramprakash and Harbhajan Singh. Patently, gaping problems remained within the side. Just no one seemed willing to recognise them. Surrey had this awful season coming to them, with the lessons of last season and their ’05 relegation unlearnt. Essentially, the side who won eight trophies between 1996 and 2003 have just kept getting older, with young players lacking in ability, attitude, or both.

Taking 20 wickets: mission impossible
The most fundamental problem with this side was their hopelessly ineffective bowling attack. Failing to take twenty wickets in any of their 15 games is the most damning of statistics. New signing Pedro Collins was too inconsistent; Chris Jordan likewise as he suffered from second-season syndrome. James Ormond began the season leaner and with renewed nip. But the awarding of a new contract on the back of a few encouraging weeks is a further indictment of the whole Surrey set-up: what sort of message does it send that 13 first-class wickets at 43 are sufficient for a new deal?

Hopelessly bereft of penetration, Surrey succeeded in embarrassing themselves further with the disastrous locum recruit of Shoaib Akhtar. But they were doomed when he arrived. A bigger reason for their relegation was the utter ineffectuality of overseas bowler Matt Nicholson. Though he has retired from Australian state cricket, Surrey, in their desperation, signed him up. But 11 wickets at 57 from nine championship games is an appalling return for an ‘overseas star’, for all his admirable batting.

Star winter signing Saqlain Mushtaq began encouragingly; but, like so many of the ‘golden generation’, his best years have gone. In truth, he did better than expected to finish with 38 championship wickets (11 more than the next best) but failed to provide the late-season inspiration Harbhajan had delivered a year previously. Unfortunately, Chris Schofield’s season was decimated through injury, one mitigating circumstance in the atrocious Twenty20 Cup campaign. Once masters of the game, Surrey lacked regular six-hitters and canny bowlers alike. Their near-complete reliance on locum Abdul Razzaq for inspiration was embarrassing.

A lack of leadership
Butcher’s injury woes, coming just after a return to the opening position and a superlative run of form, evoked ‘Four More Weeks’, Ramprakash’s 2005 diary named after Butcher’s pronouncements whenever asked about the date of his comeback.

Surrey had made a reasonable enough start to the campaign, drawing their first five games, with their batting unit looking better than for several seasons. Butcher’s injury severely weakened that, while Ramprakash struggled as captain – immersed in his quest to reach his 100th century, and frustrated with such an impotent bowling attack. Alan Butcher has correctly been removed as coach; his son will probably lose his job likewise, provided that a satisfactory replacement can be found. Indicative of the lack of forward thinking at The Oval, any new skipper would have to be recruited externally.

Batting buckling under pressure
Surrey actually claimed more batting points than at least five sides in Division One – although this is a somewhat deceptive statistic, given their penchant for collapsing brainlessly under pressure. The most pathetic such instance was in the crucial game against Kent. Cruising at 53/0 in their second innings, with an overall lead of 177, they somehow conspired to lose their last ten wickets on a sunny day and a docile track for 80, with the very occasional spin of Martin van Jaarsveld claiming his first ever five-wicket haul.

There seems a collective failure to score runs under pressure, Ramprakash excepted. Scott Newman at least managed two hundreds, while Usman Afzaal’s average of 45 was hard to argue with, but Jon Batty had his worst season for several years and had to be moved down from opener. The collective efforts of the next generation – Stewart Walters, Chris Murtagh and James Benning – were woeful, though at least Matt Spriegel showed a certain amount of resilience.

Any signs of hope?
Surrey’s one-day exploits were slightly more encouraging than their County Championship and Twenty20 efforts, thanks largely to Jade Dernbach. A true wicket-taker, the seamer claimed 23 scalps in the eight Pro40 games thanks to movement and aggression. Add in a Championship six-wicket haul and he was the nearest to a ‘positive’ from the calamitous season.

It is axiomatic that Surrey are a club in need of big changes, with the appointment of Graham Thorpe as batting coach appearing a shrewd start. But years of muddled thinking and short-termism will not be easy to rectify, especially with so many serial under-performers still contracted.

Player of the season:
Ask a stupid question. The gap between his 99th and 100th first-class centuries – the result of age-old mental frailties, say his critics; a broken bat, says the man himself – may have been agonising, but either side Mark Ramprakash was as good as the ’06 and ’07 player who averaged 100. Six hundreds in Division One, in the weakest side, by far: tremendous by any criteria.

Most disappointing player:
Where to start? Shoaib Akhtar would be an obvious candidate, but it would be unfair to scapegoat a man who played only two games. While a plethora of ‘promising youngsters’ flattered to deceive, the experienced West Indian left-armer Pedro Collins singularly failed to impress. Too wayward, too often.

Highlight: Off-field finances have never been better; the story was rather less satisfactory on the pitch. The Butcher-Nicholson double-century stand against Yorkshire was perhaps as good as it got. Butcher’s stroke-play was spectacular, better than at any point since his England days – but he was injured almost immediately afterwards.

Lowlight: No shortage of options, clearly. But two consecutive home innings defeat constituted an aptly pathetic end to a season in which Surrey were perhaps the worst county in the country.

How can Surrey end their slump? Share your views by leaving a comment below.

If you're interested in writing a season review for your county (whether or not you contributed to our season prevuews), or writing on anything cricket-related please leave a comment or email it to cricketingworld@hotmail.com.

FP Trophy Weekly Round-up

All eleven games ended in a result again this week. Fantastic! And there were plenty of runs to be had in the sunshine…

Sussex played host to Surrey on Thursday at Hove and were forced to field first. The Browncaps racked up 346-3 off of their fifty overs with a rapid fifty for James Benning (51), a slightly more pedestrian one for Mark Ramprakash (63) and a superb unbeaten hundred from Usman Afzaal (126*). Nobody failed though with Scott Newman hitting 43 and Ali Brown blazing a quick fire 40 not out. Young Left Arm Spinner Thomas Smith was comfortably the best Sussex bowler, finishing with respectable figures of 1-41 from his ten overs. Most of the Sussex line up got starts, but nobody was able to go on. Captain Chris Adams was the top scorer with 40, although four other players made scores in excess of thirty. Jade Dernbach (3-56) was the most successful Surrey bowler as Sussex could only manage 279-8. Afzaal completed a fine allround game with bowling figures of 2-42 from ten overs, while Matt Nicholson also took two wickets (2-59).

Friday’s game saw Gloucestershire pay a visit to Glamorgan, where they opted to field first. The Dragons were soon reduced to 92-5. Young Tom Maynard briefly impressed with a breezy 29, but the real mainstay of the innings was another youngster, Ben Wright, who hit 60 as Glamorgan closed on 202-8. There were two wickets apiece for Captain Jon Lewis (2-29), Steve Kirby (2-44) and Mark Hardinges (2-30). Buoyed by their recovery, the Dragons soon reduced the Gladiators to 16-3, with Alex Gidman, Hamish Marshall and Marcus North falling cheaply. Jason Gillespie was in inspired form and the game looked to be very much in Glamorgan’s favour. However, Craig Spearman (66) and Chris Taylor (66*) rebuilt the innings impressively and David Brown (45*) helped to take them over the finishing line with a cool 5.4 overs to spare.

From left to right: Glamorgan build a respectable but inadequate total, Jason Gillespie puts early pressure on Glos, and Taylor and Spearman guide Glos home under the lights. (Pics c/o RTE)

Saturday’s offering came from Northamptonshire, where the Leicestershire Foxes were the visitors. The Foxes amazingly rattled up 268-6, with HD Ackerman (139) the only man to score more than 23! Johann van der Wath was the most successful Steelbacks bowler, taking 2-41. The Northamptonshire reply was in tatters at 98-5, but Niall O’Brien (95) took his side close. Johann Louw (35*) and Monty Panesar (17*) had too much to do in the final over however and they finished seven runs shy, with eight wickets down. Ryan Cummins (2-35), Nadeem Malik (2-45), Garnett Kruger (2-65) and Claude Hendersen (2-38) all took two wickets for Leicestershire.

And now to Sunday’s action. Hampshire were well and truly trounced at New Road by Worcestershire. Shorn of a number of experienced players, including both of their wicket keepers, Hampshire were only able to post 209 after stand-in skipper James Adams decided to bat. Greg Lamb top scored with 84, having been given his chance higher up the batting order. Simon Jones was in lethal form, taking 5-32, reminding those present of what he is capable of. Worcestershire reached their victory target in just 27.3 overs. Every Hampshire bowler was embarrassed by Vikram Solanki (81), Steven Davies (72*) and Moeen Ali (42*), bar Billy Taylor (1-43). The Hawks remain rooted to the bottom of the South-West table.

Northamptonshire were in action again, this time at Edgbaston, where Warwickshire batted first and made 232-8, largely thanks to centurion Jonathan Trott (120*). It is worth asking just what Northamptonshire are doing for English cricket though (other than Monty) as they used six bowlers, of whom five were ex-South African internationals. The only English bowler was the ageing Jason Brown (1-34). He happened to bowl the least amount of overs and was back up to Johann van der Wath (2-45), Andrew Hall (3-39), Johann Louw (0-43), Nicky Boje (1-33) and Lance Klusener (1-33). The batting display was at least led by an Englishman, in Stephen Peters (97*), but Rikki Wessels (another South African Kolpak) was the other main contributor (78), as the Steelbacks won with 4.3 overs to spare. David Sales, Rob White and Irishman Niall O’Brien were in fact the only other players not of South African origin. Incidentally, Neil Carter (3-31) was the top wicket taker for the Bears, another veteran South African…

Essex chose to bat first at The Brit Oval and they put Surrey to the sword in style. Captain Mark Pettini (who had the dubious honour of making a pair in mid week) smashed 144 from 120 balls and featured in a 269 run opening partnership with Jason Gallian (117). Ryan ten Doeschate (60) and James Foster (46) kept up the pressure with strike rates of 200, as the Eagles made an intimidating 391-5. Pedro Collins was the best bowler taking 2-55, while Jade Dernbach went for 107 from his ten overs. Perhaps Surrey need to think about their policy of playing only four frontline bowlers. They could only make 235 in reply, David Masters (5-17) and Graham Napier (3-41) doing the damage, with only Mark Ramprakash making fifty (98).

At one point it looked as though Durham were going to be the latest county side to succumb to Scotland. However, even though they only posted 181-9 from their fifty overs, the Dynamos achieved victory via the Duckworth-Lewis method by restricting Scotland to 52-5 from17.1 overs, over 40 runs shy of where they needed to be. The stars of the show were of course the bowlers. John Blain (3-31) and Dewald Nel (2-42) impressed once again for the Saltires and were joined by Glenn Rogers (2-36), while Callum Thorp took 2-16 for Durham. Steve Harmison took 1-15 from 4.1 overs.

Nottinghamshire overcame Leicestershire at Trent Bridge in a tight low scoring affair. 197 all out was the best the Foxes could muster and the Outlaws got home off of the final ball of their allotted fifty overs, with just two wickets remaining. For the Foxes there were fifties for Boerta Dippenaar (51) and Paul Nixon (75), while Darren Pattinson was once again impressive, taking 4-35. England hopeful Samit Patel also impressed with 3-34. Despite James Allenby’s (4-27) and Nadeem Malik’s (3-21) best efforts, Matthew Wood (50), Will Jefferson (34), Mark Wagh (37) and Adam Voges (35) scored enough between them to ensure victory for the Outlaws.

Lancashire emerged victorious in the Roses match at Old Trafford via the Duckworth-Lewis method. Yorkshire totalled 204-7 from a reduced 45 overs, Jacques Rudolph leading the way with 65. Kyle Hogg impressed for the Lightning taking 3-27 from ten overs. Lancashire reached their target with an over to spare thanks mainly to Francois du Plessis who hit an unbeaten run a ball 77, to rescue his side from 76-5. Darren Gough (3-45) and Tim Bresnan (2-45) were the best bowlers on offer for Yorkshire.

Sussex lost their second game of the week, this time to Kent at Canterbury, where a score of 218-9 was not good enough, despite Michael Yardy’s fifty (54). Simon Cook continued his impressive limited overs form, taking 3-41, while their were two wickets apiece for Yasir Arafat (2-31) and England hopeful James Tredwell (2-33). Kent made it home with 7.5 overs remaining for the loss of only one wicket. Joe Denly (83*) and Martin van Jaarsveld (109* - another impressive score) were the stars for the Spitfires, against an attack which lacked penetration. Mushtaq Ahmed cannot return soon enough for the Sharks and it is evident just how dependent they are on him.

Our final game takes us to Bristol where Gloucestershire chose to field first against Somerset. Justin Langer brought his impressive midweek form into this game, scoring 112 not out. Late hitting from Peter Trego (56) took the Sabres to 290-6. Mark Hardinges (3-60) and Steve Kirby (2-58) were the main wicket takers for the Gladiators. In reply, Craig Spearman upstaged Langer with an unbeaten 140 and he saw the side home along with Steve Adshead (41*), with ten balls remaining. Steffan Jones (3-53) was the pick of the Somerset bowlers.

Player of the Week: For his unbeaten 126 and 2-42 against Sussex (he also scored a rapid 43 against Essex), this weeks player of the week is Surrey’s Usman Afzaal. I reserve a special mention meanwhile for Craig Spearman (66 and 140*).

Of Berg, Benning, Brown & Udal

My only previous match of the season having been the previous FPT fixture between the two at The Oval two weeks beforehand, and with Middlesex having won convincingly, I made my way to Lords yesterday hopeful of revenge as a Surrey supporter. Various journey delays meant I arrived around 20 minutes late but imagine my surprise when taking my seat in the Compton Stand to see that Middlesex were 9-3.

It's not the first time I've missed a raft of early wickets in a match but for this catastrophe to befall Middlesex is, as far as English cricket is concerned, rather disturbing. Let me just remind you of the Middlesex top 5: Joyce, Smith, Shah, Strauss, Morgan. These 5 players are all supposedly either of a high enough standard to have played test cricket or have the potential to do so. Yet between them they contributed 33 runs to Middlesex's grand total of 233-8 in 50 overs yesterday. It was left to Gareth Berg(65) and wicket-keeper Ben Scott (52), who was forced to briefly retire hurt midway through his innings, to steady the ship and some nudging by Vernon Philander(24) and some big hits from ex-Surrey man Tim Murtagh(35*) to give them a chance of winning the match.

In complete contrast James Benning won the match for Surrey with a superb 106 off just 84 balls with 15 fours and 2 sixes. Ally Brown, a member of the old guard, finished things off, eventually, with 40* after Usman Afzaal had played a torturous innings of 21 from 44 balls with only 1 four. Unfortunately for Middlesex Gareth Berg's bowling was not quite as good as his batting and, although still in with a shout until around the last 10 overs, the Crusaders just couldn't find the cutting edge. Shaun Udal seems to be in despair of his new team mates (having been used to greater things at Hampshire). He seemed to spend most of his time fielding at third man throwing evil looks at members of the crowd, including myself, for applauding enthusiastically when Surrey scored a run.

That Owais Shah hasn't been given his test match run yet is an injustice but if today showed anything of relevance to England it is that James Benning must be given the oppurtunity at the top of England's one day order. When he is on top form he can destroy any attack.

A long road back for Flintoff

Despite what the media would have you believe, there was more to the Surrey-Lancashire game than the state of Mr Flintoff.

The relentless talk of Andrew Flintoff's comeback is tedious in the extreme. It is a sad indictment of the media's lack of regard for county cricket that, even in a match in which he has been anonymous, taking one wicket and scoring 23, he has dominated the headlines. The story of the first day was not Lancashire twice missing Mark Ramprakash before he marched to his third consecutive championship hundred (all against Lancs). Of course it wasn't. Freddie bowled 10.3 overs on the opening day of his comeback. He took 1-26. Stop the press.

The man himself: Andrew Flintoff during his 28 overs.

The obsession with Flintoff can't be doing him or his side any good. With all the talk over this game as the first step on the road to an England return, a part of him can't help but regard it more about him than his county, no matter how wholehearted a cricketer he is. Lancs must also grow tired, much like the rest of us, that all questions lead to Fred. Neither he nor his team-mates will be enjoying the disproportionate attention he is receiving for what have been less-than-stellar deeds. Frankly, he needs at least six weeks of hard, competitive cricket for Lancashire before he can be considered seriously for England again; it would be a huge mistake to recall him on reputation alone. That doesn't mean surviving unscathed, it means making decisive contributions - scoring centuries and taking five-fors. There were tentative signs of encouragement, certainly, as he kept going admirably on a flat track, but nowhere near enough to justify the hype.

Inevitably he has totally overshadowed the noteworthy displays in the match: above all a trio of centuries from Surrey's powerful middle-order. Ramprakash was actually below his usual imperious best, but he has been so phenomenal over the past two years that, visibly, opponents are in awe of him. Bowlers often bowl worse to him than they do to other batsmen; fielders react over-eagerly to any opportunities, such is the value they put on his wicket. So, just as in the last game of last season, Lancs missed out on two chances - this time a catch and a run-out - before he had made even 20. Try telling them there is one - let alone six - batsmen in England who are better. Mark Butcher was also supremely attractive driving through the off-side in putting on a double century stand with Ramprakash.

Never mind the score...how's Freddie?

But the most noteworthy knock in the context of Surrey's season was surely Usman Afzaal's debut hundred. Butcher has spoken about providing an environment for this sometimes mercurial talent to flourish and, if this was any indicator, they have certainly done so. Pulling with authority and great power against Sajid Mahmood, Afzaal played Gary Keedy's left-arm spin exquisitely, using his feet and the aerial route. On the basis of this serene and aesthetically-pleasing knock, Afzaal will score many runs at The Oval this season. Thanks to Ali Brown's belligerent 74*, Surrey have already improved in one shocking statistic from last season, when they registered just a solitary score in excess of 70 from any player batting outside the top four, showing the extent of their reliance on Ramprakash.

Afzaal driving during his debut hundred

See, there was plenty to talk about: and that's before we even get started on Lancashire returning at the first opportunity to where they missed out on the championship at the end of last year's epic race. On this evidence they have much work to do if they are get that close again: their fielding was shoddy; their bowling lacked control, save for Flintoff, let alone any great threat; and their batting has been too loose, although the weather has been such that a draw was always the overwhelming favourite.

But the story was all about how Freddie was doing, with the score barely deemed relevant. Maybe those who are infuriated by a non-performance covering the first half of every match report are missing the point. Who needs runs or wickets for intrigue when we've got Freddie's ankle to worry about?

Wessels‘ departure lifts Northants‘ gloom

Philip Ellis reflects on a tumultous season at Wantage Road, and what the future holds.

It really was a season of two halves at Wantage Road as the boys yet again dropped anchor early on; a rickety boat called ‘No Hope’ tied up and moored near the bottom of the Championship quay by late June. But the tide did turn once the players had mutinied over coach Kepler Wessels; just three wins in all competitions, the infamous player vote just before the Twenty20 quarter-finals the final nail in his coffin. Keps was condemned to walk the plank and swim to Robben Island, the ‘Caped Crusader’ (David Capel) grabbing the wheel, throwing up a spinnaker of hope, tacking around the bouy, flat home four day wickets from then on in steeling easy draws for welcome buoyancy in more sedate waters.

By all accounts Wessels was a nasty piece of work and radical improvement on the pitch did follow, especially in the one-day Pro40. The only one of the core first team players to support Wessels was, of course, his son in young Rikki. The three abstentions from the 15 surprisingly came from the Asian players, considering previous and historic racist complaints about the Afrikaner. The hopeless Ganguly, the excellent Uzman Azfaal and the hapless and troubled Bilal Shafayat, his lengthening religious beard reflecting his angst over the summer of woe, were the trio of players that strategically didn’t vote. Even Lance Klusener-the three stone lighter version Keps encouraged over to Northants-voted against him, although this clash of loyalties was apparently down to an unfortunate ruck between the two in the dressing room just two days before the stealth vote.

There’s no doubt in my mind that the players that voted against Keps threw the Twenty20 quarter-final and the opening Pro40 game against Essex to hasten his departure. That is the general consensus amongst supporters too. The departing Ben Phillips, as PCA union rep, was asked to take the vote, the mild mannered Jason Brown the instigator of the show of hands, by all accounts. Captain Sales (Homer Simpson) also voted against his boss, the second time he’s done this after the last coach, Bob Carter, was similarly ousted.

Away from the year’s big story at the County Ground it was the Pro40 runners-up spot that saved the season, the competition ideal for our squad. Ironically, if we hadn’t had chucked the opening game against Essex then we would have won the thing. I think they call that karma. Nevertheless the twenty-two grand cheque was very welcome, especially as the sacked Wessels had to be paid off for next year to the tune of £70 000.

Monty’s central contract (he also signed a two year retainer at NNC last week), although bad for availability reasons, was inevitable and frees up some cash for the now sparse seam attack replacements (and the move away from those infamous turning NCG wickets), now the indifferent Nicholson is likely to go to Surrey as their overseas option. With the reliable Ben Phillips also off to get smashed about at Taunton then the thought of going into 2007 with just David Wigley with the new cherry scares me more than global warming and terrorism put together!

The useless Charl Pietersen was first out the door—the kind of Kolpak signing that brings the game into disrepute. He is Kevin’s third cousin but obviously picked the wrong sport. He did bowl a beautiful straight ball that hit the middle of the bat every time, though. I hear customs and immigration are coming after him for lying on his passport under the bit marked ‘profession’. The unused Wessels signing Rob White and the reserve wicket keeper in young Pythian followed; the later bizarre when you consider our first choice keeper was injured for half the year, Billy Shaf taking up the backstop duties.

There’s talk that Uzman Azfaal wanted to go to Surrey and there is a deal on the table from Warwickshire, but I see Uzi as the type of guy that likes to be a big fish in a small pond and really enjoys the banter with the crowd. His Bollywood lifestyle and likewise girlfriend in the winter takes care of the rest of it. But if he still wants to play for England then he needs to move up to division one. Only three of the England seventeen tourists off to Australia were from this year’s league two, all of those last minute replacements due to injuries when they were capped.

On paper we are a good one day side and if we can find a couple of tidy seamers - maybe James Averis from Gloucestershire - then the glimpse of silverware could well become a glare. If young Crook is fit and plays from the off next season then his late slogging and excellent pace for going through the tail may be the decisive factor and I fancy a pot.

But again it depends on finding a tidy one day seamer to compliment the bits and pieces attack. Northants don’t have a history of this: Blain, Anderson, Cawldron, Weeks and Ricky Anderson are a painful reminder of that. Many a time the ball was whacked back high over their heads with a vapour trail on it when they tried to bowl. It was like an exploding munitions dump in Baghdad when they were the opening attack in 2002 in the middle. We need to unearth a trier like Darren Cousins and not a poser like David Wigley. The batting is strong, although Rogers, who hit 1000 runs after his mid-season break at one hundred, looks cool on a return and the twin losses of himself and Azfaal would be huge.

The positives have been Klusener’s world-class season with the bat and useful wickets. Steven Peters flourished after Wessels’ ousting, hitting the ball sweetly with Rogers as opening partner, a particular liking for the ‘perfume ball’. Azfaal will get you 1000 runs whereever he goes and Sales, although a useless leader, is still the best eye in division two, able to deliver that explosive innings.