Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Surrey's subsidence leaves Rixon to rue over-confidence

Surrey 136 Nottinghamshire 185-8 (Match abandoned at 73 mins)

Jon Culley
Wednesday 27 July 2005 00:00 BST
Comments

With Surrey seemingly poised for victory over Gloucestershire at Bristol on 10 July, Rixon, their coach, seemed to predict that the Championship was virtually in the bag. "Once we get to the top, I don't think anyone will catch us," he declared.

In the event, Alex Gidman's 142 stole Surrey's thunder, Harbhajan Singh had a spat with Gloucestershire's Mark Hardinges and the match was drawn, since which time Surrey have lost four matches out of six in all competitions.

Yesterday's performance here hardly augurs well. Graham Thorpe did not travel but this was no excuse at all for subsiding to 136 all out, as a result of which Nottinghamshire are now top of the table. The only home player not cheering wildly was possibly Chris Read, the injured wicketkeeper, whose troublesome ankle denied him a chance for a timely spot of selector-nudging.

Not that Read's mates did a lot better. Enough wickets fell in the day to prompt a pitch inspector to be mobilised but the umpires are unlikely to submit an adverse report, although they might have a few acid comments about the quality of one or two shots.

It was swing that proved the most potent weapon, particularly for Greg Smith, the Nottinghamshire left-armer, whose burst of three wickets in three overs yesterday morning yanked the rug from under Surrey.

In Ryan Sidebottom, Andrew Harris and Mark Ealham, Surrey faced a swing quartet to which only Mark Ramprakash had an answer, the former England man occupying two hours and 41 minutes for his 42.

Nottinghamshire then lost Darren Bicknell to his brother Martin's first ball, caught at gully, before Russell Warren, Younis Khan and Jason Gallian all perished playing loose strokes. After David Hussey fell to Bicknell, Nottinghamshire could only limp into the lead.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in