surrey

Happy birthday Ashley Noffke

Submitted by Rick Eyre on April 30 2007, 5:40 pm

As Mitchell Johnson decides what to do with his one-fifteenth share of Australia's $US 2.24 million prizemoney for winning the 2007 World Cup, spare a thought for his Queensland team-mate Ashley Noffke. And wish him a happy 30th birthday today. If things had gone just a little differently over recent years it could have been Noffke, not Johnson, sitting in the dug-out watching the Australian eleven thrashing the daylights out of all comers without making a single World Cup appearance of his own.

Graham Roope 1946-2006

Submitted by Rick Eyre on November 28 2006, 7:40 am

Sad news this morning of the death of Graham Roope on Sunday while on holiday in Grenada. He didn't tour Australia but I remember him well from the 1977 series when England regained the Ashes from a WSC-shaken Australian side.

An outstanding slip fielder and a stalwart for Surrey for nearly twenty seasons, Roope played 21 Tests for England, scoring 860 runs at 30.71. In all first-class cricket between 1964 and 1986, he scored 19116 runs at 36.90.

Here's the announcement of Roope's passing on the

Carn the Brown Caps

Submitted by Rick Eyre on April 7 2006, 2:52 pm

The Surrey training shirt goes well with braces. (October 2004)It’s official. The Surrey Lions are no more. From this season onwards, the Surrey CCC limited-over team will be known as the Surrey Brown Caps.

Why? Because, funnily enough, they wear brown caps.

Which, of course, explains the colour of the Surrey training shirt that I bought at The Oval in 2000 (picture at right)

Surreycricket.com has the official story.

More on:

Dee-fence Surrey, dee-fence!

Submitted by Rick Eyre on July 18 2005, 11:09 pm

I haven't ranted much about Surrey on these pages for a while. Their performances in their last seven days - played over ever-decreasing durations - do not leave me with any great feelings of joy.

In the past week, Surrey has:

  • drawn a Championship game with Gloucestershire after scoring 603 and enforcing the follow-on;
  • beaten Yorkshire in a day-night National Leaguer by three runs;
  • failed to defend a fifty-over total of 358 to lose to Hamphire in the C and G Trophy quarter-final;