Di Venuto refuses to write off Surrey bid
SURREY may have no margin for error in their unlikely quest for a knockout place but Michael Di Venuto is adamant they’ll thrive on that pressure.
They host Kent at the Oval today knowing only a victory – followed by wins over Hampshire and Gloucestershire in their final group games – will be enough to give them a chance of a top-three spot.
A disappointing 95-run defeat at Sussex left Surrey in this predicament but with some of their big guns ready to return, head coach Di Venuto is relishing the challenge of securing three wins from three.
“If you look back, we’ve played best when we’re under that sort of pressure,” he said.
“We’ll have Jason Roy back for the next couple of games, which is good, and hopefully Kumar Sangakkara might be back, as well as Jade Dernbach. They would be a couple of handy additions, so we should be strengthened.”
For their part, Kent have suffered a dismal white-ball campaign and defeat to Gloucestershire on Wednesday ended their hopes of reaching the quarter-finals.
The Spitfires have little more than pride to play for against their local rivals at the Oval today but that, says head coach Matt Walker, should be enough.
“We haven’t got it right in this competition and a few players will be taking a long hard look at themselves in the mirror,” said Walker.
“It has been a really disappointing campaign and now we need to show a bit of pride in our final games before ensuring we are a lot better when the T20 comes around.”