Marcus Hook’s Surrey CCC column: Depleted Surrey facing major test at Essex
Surrey are a proud club, proud of their record for producing England players. But if you produce some special ones, a period of rebuilding inevitably follows. That’s the thing with cricket in this country – England comes first.
On the evidence of Surrey’s 2020 season opener, focusing on the positives is already the expectation, certainly as far as the Bob Willis Trophy is concerned.
Dan Moriarty taking six wickets on his debut and Jamie Smith building on his growing reputation by hitting 80 and 40 were big plusses. By taking 5-64 in the second innings, Moriarty became only the third player since 1996 to mark his first-class debut for Surrey with a five-for; and the first spinner to do so since 1983.
England’s international schedule continues throughout August and into early September, so the earliest Surrey are likely to welcome back Sam and Tom Curran, Rory Burns, Ollie Pope and Jason Roy will be when the T20 Blast gets under way.
The hope is Ben Foakes will be permitted to leave England’s bio bubble before then; especially as the man keeping him out of the Test team – Jos Buttler – is back in form. But Foakes is just one of a number of the pieces missing from the jigsaw puzzle.
Vikram Solanki looked less puzzled and more philosophical following the derby defeat.
He knew from the outset he would have to plan on being without the England stars, but he couldn’t have anticipated so many injuries so early.
Or, maybe, he could. In 2019, only Gareth Batty, Will Jacks, Morne Morkel, Ryan Patel, Mark Stoneman plus the three overseas weren’t sidelined at some stage during the campaign. A number of factors contributed to what was only the second four-day victory at the Oval enjoyed by Middlesex since 1994.
The failings leap out of the scorecard within moments of clicking on ‘open’.
No one making a century in a contest that saw Nick Gubbins hit 192 and 60 for the north Londoners; five of Middlesex’s top six reaching double figures in both digs, compared with one out of six for the Oval outfit, and Jordan Clark – one of the few go-to bowlers on show for Surrey – picking up a side strain that limited him to just 11 overs in the game.
But, most glaring, were the lower order collapses. In the first innings, the hosts slipped from 254-3 to 282 all out with former Surrey man Tim Murtagh doing the damage.
If that wasn’t bad enough, the hosts surrendered a position from which they could have saved the game (119-5 with an hour to go) to curtains 11 overs later.
The slide was sparked by Sam Robson’s occasional leg-spin. Going into the match, Robson had four wickets from 157 first-class appearances. He now has six from 158.
When I singled him out as Middlesex’s key man last week, it wasn’t because I viewed him as a danger with the ball.
So, Surrey are already licking their wounds.
The prospect of heading to Chelmsford to take on county champions Essex will do little for their psyche.
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