Surrey v Derbyshire day 4

Hashim Amla (File Photo)

At the end of it all, we fell short in this game, Surrey winning by four wickets with time to spare.

It didn’t look that way at lunchtime, when two early wickets had them reeling, but two crucial moments probably turned this game. There was a confident call for leg before against Hasim Amla just after lunch, while a juggling attempt at a catch by Alex Hughes was grounded when he was in the twenties. Had either gone our way, the result could have been much different, as the South African did what world-class players are supposed to do in such situations and subsequently took his team to the edge of victory.

I don’t blame the lad. We’ve all dropped chances and no one does it on purpose – it just happens. When the game is on a knife edge, such things make a difference though and Hughes will no doubt appreciate that.

David Wainwright and Tom Poynton did well this morning to make the target a bigger one than seemed likely, but with every run came the feeling that perhaps the wicket wasn’t quite as bad as reports had suggested. Maybe we didn’t bowl as well as we could have done, maybe Surrey’s middle-order had a greater collective talent than ours. I think it’s a bit of everything, but the players will be disappointed tonight.

And so to Taunton. More about that tomorrow. For now, I have a family event to go to with less of a skip in my step than I hoped for, but c’est la vie. We regroup, talk it through and get ready to battle again.

The odds are looking longer now, but we have to believe we can still stay up.

Beating Somerset is a must.