It's all about the hips

Day 2: Surrey 225 and 145 - 5 v Gloucestershire 261.

In the vain hope that the Jessop Tavern View can finally claim to have made a shrewd piece of analysis, and without the benefit of hindsight, we are going to quote ourselves from yesterday's blog. " The 225 that Surrey managed to eek out should have been 50 runs less, but it was a good effort. The biggest criticism we can level is the number of boundaries served up by the boys and the resultant indulgent run rate Surrey were able to score at. In what is likely to be a fairly low scoring game, these loose runs, some what given away, could prove costly." We reckon that this will end up being pretty close to the truth tomorrow in a game that Gloucestershire should go on to win.

It seems harsh to blame the bowlers when they have bowled out a team for 225 first time around and have Surrey reduced to 145 for 5 at the second asking. It would be harsh indeed to say that the 4 pace men have not quite been clinical enough. We have already stated that we thought Surrey were gifted 50 runs too many in the first innings. In their second innings we have already gifted them 25 runs in extras and again allowed them to score at over 4 an over. That's 75 extra runs we'll have to chase. Even if 75 runs is a touch over-critical, we can consider that we will have to chase at least 30 odd runs more than we should. That's the difference between chasing 170 or 200. On such margins will this intriguingly poised game be decided.

We reckon that perhaps Gloucester missed a trick by not giving the Sperm donor more of an opportunity to have a tonk further up the order. As soon as both Gidmans were gone, run scoring practically stopped. Coughtrie again showed good application, but with scoring becoming increasingly difficult it seemed a bit of a waste of Lewis' unique brand of batting (at an average of over 30 for the season) to leave him down at number 11. A quickfire 20 or 30 a bit further up the order might have put the Surrey bowlers off their rhythm. As it was, his slapdash 17 was wasted coming in at number 11. 

The third day promises to be a genuinely intriguing day of cricket, and for all the right reasons. As Richard Latham's match report on the official website states, it will all depend on the hips. If his 147th first class fifty becomes his 114th first class century then it's likely that Gloucestershire will be chasing at least 200. On a pitch that has been difficult to bat on throughout, you would favour Surrey in that scenario.

Lets hope that we can get Ramps early and then keep the scoring rate down as we work away at the tail. We have been the better side on both days so far and deserve to come away with a victory.