Spriegel replaces England Lions star

Matthew Spriegel returns to the Surrey side to face Durham. Photo credit: Nigel French/EMPICS

Monday, August 6, 2012
5:29 PM

Surrey prepare for County Championship trip to Durham

Matthew Spriegel returns to the Surrey side in place of England Lions-bound Stuart Meaker as the county side prepare to travel to Durham in the LV= County Championship tomorrow.

Team director Chris Adams has named a 13-man squad with the all-rounder returning having played against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge last month.

Surrey currently occupy seventh place in the table and go into the match off the back of a hard fought draw against Warwickshire at Edgbaston. Durham prop up the table but enjoyed their first Championship win of the season in their last match against Middlesex.

Adams said: “We are under no illusion how important this game is in the context of out championship season. Our last two performances in the championship have shown the character and fight we have in the side and the performances of our younger players have been outstanding.

“This is a very young and exciting squad with a large number of players that have come through the Surrey system. Zafar Ansari, Arun Harinath, Jason Roy and Rory Burns all showed their talent and character at Edgbaston guiding us to safety against a high class bowling attack.

“Matthew Spriegel deserves his place in the squad and he showed his quality in our most recent CB40 game. And we have a fit and firing Jade Dernbach at our disposal and that is a real boost to our bowling line up because we all know the qualities Jade posseses.

“Durham is a tough place to go and their confidence will have grown after their narrow victory against Middlesex. This is a challenge we are looking to take head on and we are really looking forward to the battle that lies ahead.

“It was excellent to have Rory Hamilton-Brown back in the team for our most recent CB40 game but he is not quite ready yet for Championship cricket. He will play for the Second XI and continue to train this week ahead of our next CB40 game against Durham on Saturday.”

The Surrey squad is:

Gareth Batty (capt)

Rory Burns

Zafar Ansari

Arun Harinath

Steven Davies

Jason Roy

Zander de Bruyn

Matthew Spriegel

Murali Kartik

Chris Jordan

Jon Lewis