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Surrey v Hampshire, day four: county cricket news and updates – live | County Championship
Key events
Lunch – Surrey 259-5 (Sibley 105, S Curran 13) lead Hampshire by 347
What a terrific session for Surrey, 202 runs, spearheaded by a cavalier hit-a-thon by Dan Lawrence. Burns will chew over a declaration with his lunch, while I open the fridge and hope something tasty will appear. Back shortly.
A hundred for Sibley!
Curran joins the six-hitting party by hauling Potgieter into the stands, then Sibley has a go – muscling a hooked six, then purring four through the covers to reach his third hundred of the season. Very nicely done -138 balls, seven fours and two Monday morning sixes. He raises his bat and gets a cuddle from Sam Curran.
Sibley, with an ear on a lunchtime declaration, scorches four past point to move into the 90s.
WICKET! Pope c Prest b Baker 1 (Surrey 219-5)
Pulls off his gloves like man who’s been told to unblock the toilet after bunting a full toss to deep square leg in the search for cheap runs.
WICKET! Lawrence c Brown b Potgieter 101 (Surrey 218-4)
Chases a wide one, and gets a whisper behind. A joyous innings – seven fours, five sixes. Hampshire’s fielders, who sportingly shake his hand as he walks off, have endured 94 off 47 balls in the Blast on Friday, 218 off 190 in the first innings here on Sunday, and today’s 62 ball shellacking.
A second hundred in the match for Dan Lawrence!
After an excellent over from Baker, Lawrence gets the single he needs. Takes off his helmet, grins like a man having the best fun ever. Off just 62 balls- the second fastest hundred ever at The Oval, to go with the fastest double century ever in the first innings. He’s such a fantastic player to watch when he’s on song.
Six singles from Fuller’s first over which ticks the lead over to 300.
Baker is brought back in hope. But Lawrence stills gets him away for another four legside. Great entertainment for those in the stands in the Oval sunshine. Lawrence on 95.
Oh my! First Lawrence walks across his stumps and slams Fuller to deep square for four. Then six, on one knee, with helicopter wrists, and matador arms. 100 percent pure flair.
Lawrence is playing as if he’s on the beach, with a pina colada on hold. Poor Felix Organ just has to take his punishment. The hundred partnership rides past with a cheery wave, off just 92 balls. Swivel, crash, six over deep square. And repeat.
Six for Dom Sibley! Lays into Fuller, with a wayhey with golfing arms to midwicket. Surrey eyeing a declaration with an hour till lunch.
Fifty for Dan Lawrence!
With dancing feet, Lawrence pushes into the offside to reach another fifty – off just 35 balls. He’s averaging an incredible 80.88 at the moment, with four hundreds. And every time he has reached fifty this season, he’s gone on to three figures. Hampshire might just have to grin and bear it.
50 for Dom Sibley!
Sibley and Lawrence are very eager between the wickets now – the 50 partnership comes up in a rapid 53 balls and, with another quick single, there’s another fifty for Sibley – his second of the season, to go with his two centuries.
WICKET! Fisher c Lehmann b Organ 12 (Surrey 69-3)
Fisher lasted 20 minutes this morning before pinging the ball to short mid-wicket. In marches Dan Lawrence, 218 already under his belt this game. Hampshire are scurring through these overs after starting the day on an over rate of -3. They’ve now brought it back up to -1. Surrey 106-3.
Keith Piper dies, aged 56
Some sad news from Edgbaston. Keith Piper, Warwickshire’s long-serving wicketkeeper, has died aged 56, from cancer. He was part of Warwickshire’s treble-winning team of 1994 and at the other end when Lara scored 501, with a hundred of his own.
Piper, who started his career at the famous Haringey Cricket College, took more than 500 catches in his 200-match career, played in seven Lord’s finals, winning three, as well as two Championship titles in 1994 and 1995 and the 1994 Sunday League. He was one of the best wicketkeepers of his time.
In 1997 he served a four-month drugs ban and tested positive for cannabis in the opening round of the 2005 summer, after which he retired. Rest in peace.
The wheels fall off in Dhaka.
Rod Bransgrove steps down as chairman of Hampshire
Bransgrove, the man behind Hampshire’s move to the Rosebowl and subsequent development, has stepped down as chairman, after GMR Global Pte Ltd completed the full acquisition of Hampshire Sport & Leisure Holdings Limited. Kiran Kumar Grandhi, the chairman of GMR, who also own IPL franchise Delhi Capitals, takes over.
Bransgrove has been appointed honorary life president.
Play: Surrey 57-2 lead Hampshire by 145 runs
And on time too. Sibley and his nightwatch, Matt Fisher
Warwickshire sign Manav Suthar
Warwickshire have strengthened their ranks by signing left-arm finger-spinning allrounder Manav Suthar on a short-term contract.
He made his Test debut for India last week, in a one-off Test against Afghanistan, taking six for 33 in the first innings and one for 29 in the second.
He will be available for selection for the next two rounds of the Championship, starting with Warwickshire’s match against Yorkshire at Scarborough on Friday.
The fallout from drinking sessions at the White Horse pub, aka the Sloaney Pony (or so I am told) and the Rex Rooms continues to drift.
Preamble
Hello! The final day of this one-off match unbuttons its shirt. We seems to be drifting towards a draw, especially if the weather intervenes again, but Hampshire have tumbled down the stairs more than once this season. Do join us, umbrella in one hand, espresso in the other, play starts at 11am.
The family of Shaun Burton, say they are “devastated” by the loss.
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Key events
In the opening half an hour against Cape Verde, Mikel Oyarzabal, the centre-forward, did not get a single touch.
Kyle Green gets in touch: “Your highlighting of Lalas and his absurdity is something that has prevented me from wanting to watch the coverage on Fox. While every channel has its pros and cons I just can’t.
“I’m 45 and probably the youngest of anyone who remembers him as a player instead of an opinionated insert insult here. As for the match this could be more competitive than it looks on paper Spain need a win the pressure is on them. Saudi Arabia could hold out for a draw and see what happens in their last match. “
News from the England camp, and it seems to be good news on Declan Rice.
“I’m ready and fit, raring to go. I was feeling a little bit of neural pain in my hamstring, which I was managing from after Christmas with Arsenal for a very long time. Obviously, not a lot of people would have known that. It was all behind-the-scenes stuff but it was a smart decision.
“In the end, that last 20 minutes is probably where you pick up the most, and it’s where you play a 70-minute match. But that last 20 is where you really feel your body going for it. And I think it was a smart decision because the last few days I felt really, really good.”
Alex Reid has penned today’s weekend special Football Daily.
Portugal v Uzbekistan on Tuesday enticingly pits the incredibly nice, incredibly 41-year-old-superstar-tolerant Roberto Martínez against Fabio Cannavaro, who’s won a Ballon d’Or as a player and the Chinese Super League as a coach. While the fixture following that game really does see the dream of Thomas Tuchel – in his first international job with England – taking on Queiroz, who is in charge of his ninth national side with Ghana.
The expected formations are 4-2-3-1 for Spain, and 5-3-2 for the Saudi Arabians.
The Saudi team features two Donis changes: Ali Lajami, a defender, and Nasser Al Dawsari, a midfielder, are preferred to Mohammed Abu Al Shamat and Mohamed Kanno. You may recall Salem Al Dawsari, the Saudi captain, as the man who scored the winner against Argentina.
An entertaining read, even for those of us who have just seen the clips.
In a conversation where his co-panelist is casually reminiscing about his days playing alongside Messi or exchanging shirts with Ronaldo Nazário at the World Cup, what exactly is Lalas going to talk about – coming on as a second-half substitute for Earnie Stewart in a friendly against Scotland in 1998? Helping the Kansas City Wizards finish last in the 1999 MLS Western Conference? Did Lalas enjoy an elite playing career? No. But does he do the background reading that could compensate for his relative lack of standing in a conversation with titans like Henry and Zlatan? Also no. But is he charming or funny or charismatic or otherwise magnetic on screen? Eh, no.
For the record, I once interviewed Alexi Lalas on the challenge of playing against Romario in the 1994 World Cup. He had this to say:
“He could kill you in so many different ways. If you remember from that World Cup, he scored so many types of goals. That ranged from solo adventures to an outside-of-the-right-foot half-volley off a corner kick. Romario was both the most difficult to play against and the best that I have faced.
“Roberto Baggio was doing his thing, but in terms of consistency and living up to the hype, he [Romario] was the best. As with all stars, there was a moment when the fans sit up in their seats, and that was a feeling I got with Romario. When it got close to him and the potential for his involvement in a play was there, everybody sat up in their seat. They knew that something spectacular would be happening.”
Saturday’s match reports here.
The Saudi Arabia coach, and Blackburn legend, Georgios Donis, spoke about the challenges facing his team: “Spain is not the same team when Yamal or Williams are on the bench.
“While they still have plenty of possession, they lack the individual one-on-one penetration when these two are missing. I’m not saying it’s a problem for Spain, but when those players are missing, they play in a different way. We saw this very clearly against Cape Verde.
“We are playing against one of the best teams in the world, and it’s very important that when you play against these kinds of teams, you should enjoy the experience and respect the opponent, but not too much.
“It is very hard for any team playing against Spain to have any time in possession. So what we must do is to be more in control of our movement and compact, and when the ball goes through the lines, be able to defend dynamically.
“It’s nice to see miracles in football, and we’ve seen favourites losing against underdogs. Of course, it’s great for Saudi football to have a great memory of the result against Argentina, but we aren’t drawing anything from that.
“I think we’ll feel more pressure in that [Cape Verde] game than we will against Spain.”
The Spain coach, Luis De La Fuente had this to say in his Saturday press conference: “This generation of footballers is highly competitive and really fired up… It’s going to be a completely different story,” he said at his pre-match press conference on Saturday. There is no drama or crisis. The bottom line is simply that we need to win tomorrow.”
Four changes for Spain: Lamine Yamal, Pedro Porro, Dani Olmo and Alex Baena also come into the side with Marcos Llorente, Fabian Ruiz, Ferran Torres and Gavi dropping out.
The teams – Lamine Yamal starts
Spain: Simon, Porro, Cubarsi, Laporte, Cucurella, Gonzalez, Rodri, Yamal, Olmo, Baena, Oyarzabal. Subs: Raya, Joan Garcia, Pubill, Grimaldo, Eric Garcia, Llorente, Merino, Torres, Fabian, Gavi, Pino, Williams, Zubimendi, Munoz, Iglesias.
Saudi Arabia: Al Owais, Abdulhamid, Tambakti, Lajami, Al Amri, Al Harbi, Nasser Al Dawsari, Al Khaibari, Al Juwayr, Al Buraikan, Salem Al Dawsari. Subs: Al Aqidi, Al Kassar, Majrashi, Yahya, Al Shehri, Al Boushal, Kadesh, Al Johani, Al Ghannam, Al Hajji, Al Hamdan, Mandash, Kanno, Thakri, Abu Al Shamat.
Referee: Raphael Claus (Brazil)
Perhaps one of the Saudi -players can write themselves into this high-grade selection?
Perhaps it can be their goalkeeper.
Madrid screening of Spain v Saudi Arabia cancelled due to heat
The public screening of Spain’s World Cup match against Saudi Arabia in Madrid on Sunday has been cancelled because of extreme heat forecast for the Spanish capital, officials said.
The match, due to kick off at 6pm local time on Sunday, had been scheduled to be shown on a giant screen installed by the Spanish football federation (RFEF) at a fan zone in Plaza de Colón in central Madrid.
Madrid city council and the federation decided to cancel the screening after national weather agency AEMET issued an orange heat warning – the second-highest level – for the Madrid region, with temperatures forecast to reach 40C.
“The decision has been taken with the aim of protecting the health of attendees, event staff and support services involved in the event,” Madrid city hall said in a statement, apologising for any inconvenience.
Officials urged supporters to watch the match indoors in air-conditioned spaces and avoid prolonged exposure to the heat.
Large parts of Spain are experiencing unusually high temperatures for June as a mass of hot air from North Africa moves across the Iberian Peninsula.
A total of 13 of Spain’s 17 regions are on orange alert for heat on Sunday, while the northern Basque Country bordering France is on red alert, the highest level.
Authorities advised residents and visitors to take precautions during the heatwave, including drinking water regularly, staying in cool environments, limiting outdoor physical activity during the hottest hours of the day and taking extra care of vulnerable people. AFP
Can Saudi Arabia repeat the magic of 2022?
Argentina arrived in Qatar on a 36-game unbeaten run. When Lionel Messi opened the scoring from the penalty spot after 10 minutes, a comfortable afternoon seemed in the offing. Saleh al-Shehri and Salem al-Dawsari had other ideas, Argentina had three goals disallowed for offside in the space of 13 minutes and the greatest comeback in Saudi Arabia football history was made. Argentina went on to lift the trophy, while defeats to Poland and Mexico meant the Saudis did not reach the knock-out stage.
Unai Simon over David Raya is a controversial choice for De la Fuentes. The Arsenal keeper could lay claim to being Europe’s best this season.
“Those at the Champions League final had a few more days, so I got there on the Wednesday night,” Raya says. “I arrived a bit before Fabián [Ruiz]. I was saying hello to some of the others in reception when he arrived. I went to say congratulations; that was almost the first thing I did. I couldn’t really talk [to him] after the final; I just didn’t have it in me. The next day we talked about the game properly. Just two mates chatting … I was happy for him that he could lift the trophy for a second time.”
A high pressure game for the European champions, as Sid Lowe reports.
“If we had scored one, the game would have changed,” Martín Zubimendi said. Immediately after the game, De la Fuente had offered a simple analysis: when the ball doesn’t want to go in it doesn’t want to go in, he insisted. Spain had racked up 27 shots, after all. Ferran Torres had hit the bar and seen another clear opportunity saved. Vozinha, the 40-year-old goalkeeper who stopped that, saved six more and was named the man of the match. “There’s nothing to reproach the team for,” Rodri said. “We generated chances but couldn’t put it away; the good thing is they created almost nothing.”
We wait to see what role Lamine Yamal will play today. His coach would surely like to be able to use him.
The worst mistake we could make would be to compare him to anyone. He is the midst of a process. He has exceptional footballing maturity and lives it all with total naturalness. He has great serenity and strength. We have to let him follow his path but those players who have something different are ready for that. They’re geniuses, like Dalí [who] can paint a picture, or Michelangelo. They’re different. What is exceptional to us, isn’t to them. In those extremes, they feel comfortable. Why? Because they are different. What we think is exceptional, they consider normal.
Preamble
Spain’s campaign did not get off to a flying start, and Luis de la Fuentes may wake up in the night to visions of Cape Verde’s Vozinha. He will have Georgia on his mind ever since Monday. Saudi Arabia are no pushovers and gave Uruguay a scare in their opening match. Memories of downing Argentina four years ago still abound, and so Spain might beware. They can ill afford to go into the final game with Uruguay at a disadvantage. All eyes on Lamine Yamal, whose fitness situation remains opaque, though Spain need their other forwards to come to the party.
Kick-off 5pm UK, 1pm ET, 2am AEST. Join me.
A topless man can be seen driving erratically in Edinburgh before abandoning his car and attacking a black man and a delivery rider.
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