posted Jan 26, 2008

Why do people rate benning. His footwork is so poor. He needs a lot of work to be any good in the four day game. With a bit of luck he may slog a few in the one dayers.

I think this season could see the real emergence of Scott Newman though.

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posted Jan 27, 2008

Benning is technically poor, I dont really rate him but am willing him to suceed purely because of his attacking nature. I would like to see him be given a decent run in the side this season and see how he performs.

Schofield in the side, I'm not too sure about. Not really that good enough.

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posted Jan 27, 2008

Although benning is no boycott your not giving him a fair trial as technically he's better than many think but i do think he could with working on more classical drives and back foot defences more. he also has a decent average in first class cricket of 35 only a few less than michael vaughan so benning cant be that bad. Benning often tries to live up to his reputation too much when he could do with getting in first as he has shown with his 2 hundreds against gloucestershire were he just batted rather than slogging and then once he was in took the bowling attack apart

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posted Jan 28, 2008

saqlain has to play in the 4 dayers if fit, and most of the 1 dayers,in my view .if we are to challenge for the championship then spin is usually the key. i`d also play brown at no.5 in the championship (first class average of 43.5),as i feel he still has something to offer given a bit of time to build an innings, and not benning, but maybe play benning and newman in 1 day team .brownies 1 day form has been poor of late. schofield hasnt really proved himself in the 4 day game as yet, but how good would it be if saqi/schoey could be the new saqi/sals?!! i wish we`d resigned nicholson instead of asif who will no doubt be injured for most of the season. i hope al butcher has nicho on standby, as he is a quality all-rounder.

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posted Jan 29, 2008

I think Pakistan will stop Asif joining Surrey. Evidently there was a meeting of the Pakistan Cricket Board on Friday to discuss the problem of players at county clubs being over used. I would guess Nicholson will turn up and I would be pleased to see him. Bond might be available however if Nicholson can beome a Kolpack!

I think Surrey will get enough runs, the question is can they bowl sides out? I hope so.

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posted Jan 30, 2008

Unfortunately it looks like Asif will be playing more often as the PCB seem to be losing pacience with him. Nicho would be much better

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posted Feb 11, 2008

Having made a fairly indifferent start to the season last year he settled in and made a major impact to the second half of our season therefore I would be more than happy to see Nicholson return for a second season in place of the very much unknow Asif.

Whether Pedro Collins is the answer at the other end is another matter. An average bowler at test level who isn't even making the squad of a very poor West Indies side at the moment leaves a lot of room for doubt.

The emergance of Jordan last season and the return of Saqlain to maybe partner Schofield looks very promising along with continued development of Dernbach and Saker.

Afzaal will add strength to the middle order although I'm not sure about Benning coming straight in. Stewart Walters has shown a lot of promise and I think he deserves a run in the side although I would not be disgarding Ali Brown at this stage

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posted Feb 14, 2008

It would be great if Asif does get a fair share of games because he is world class and he can destroy any top order on his day. I don't get to watch much county cricket living abroad, only a handful of Pro40, Twenty20 and FP matches; and hardly any of them are Surrey. That said from what I've heard and seen on the internet Chris Jordan looks to be the next big thing - a good season in 2008 and he could be a top, top player for us.

I'm optimistic, at least.

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