HAMPSHIRE HAWKS V SURREY BROWN CAPS at the Rose Bowl (Friends Provident Trophy), 13 JUNE 2007

Looking at the various permutations, not only do Surrey need to win tomorrow in order to book a place in the semi-finals, but a heavy dose of divine intervention elsewhere also appears to be needed if the Brown Caps are to progress.

One cannot look ahead to this match without recalling the C&G Trophy clash between these two sides a couple of years ago at the Oval, when Surrey, led by Mark Ramprakash, racked up a seemingly invincible 358-6 in 50 overs, only to end up on the losing side. On that occasion, Hampshire's resident Aussie, Shane Watson came up with the match-defining performance. This time round, the Hawks have two Australians among their ranks and they are just about the two best overseas players currently operating in county cricket - Shane Warne and Stuart Clark.

If you're not getting the message by now, the Brown Caps face an uphill task. One look at the Hawks' bowling averages tells you that they have really squeezed the opposition in this summer's Friends Provident Trophy. Three regulars - the two Aussies and Dimitri Mascarenhas - have economy rates under 4.00 runs per over, while Billy Taylor, who has played in half of their matches, tops the list with an economy rate of 3.00. Warne (14 wickets at 17.35 runs apiece) and Clark (12 @ 14.50) are Hampshire's two leading wicket-takers in the FPT. The weak link, if one can call him that, is Shaun Udal who is going at 4.55 runs per over and picking his wickets up at 30.33.

Surrey's only hope, therefore, is to rip tomorrow's hosts out cheaply. To achieve that, however, they will first have to get past Michael Lumb, who has so far score 263 runs at an average of 37.57 in the FP Trophy, and the intensely strong lower middle order trio of Ervine, Pothas  and Mascarenhas. 

Mark Ramprakash, who is set to make his 375th appearance in List A cricket, is 20 runs away from the 12,000 mark. Meanwhile, Chris Schofield will be getting his 100th List A outing, while Alistair Brown has 19 List A hundreds to his name.

James Benning could make a return to the side after injury, but Mark Butcher is said to be unlikely to play tomorrow. Indeed, it might well be that the Surrey skipper will take the next few weeks off in the hope that proper recuperation will set him up nicely for the remainder of the County Championship campaign.

I've taken out an insurance bet on Hampshire winning the whole competition, that way I will have something to look forward to even if Surrey lose. But I would gladly forego the £20 I might get back, should the Hawks go all the way, to see Surrey make the last four. My head tells me that's unlikely because Gloucestershire are travelling to Kent, so one of those two will be above the Brown Caps in the South Conference table tonight regardless of what happens in this match and at Chelmsford, where Surrey want Somerset to win, but not convincingly.

M Carberry, J Crawley, M Lumb, C Benham, S Ervine, N Pothas (wk), A Mascarenhas, S Warne (capt), C Tremlett, S Udal and S Clark.

John Holder and Richard Illingworth.

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