NORTHAMPTONSHIRE V SURREY at Northampton (Royal London One-Day Cup), 18 AUGUST 2016

Surrey are now riding high in Division One of the County Championship while Northamptonshire are languishing down towards the foot of Division Two. However, that won't count for much tomorrow at Wantage Road, where Northants haven't been beaten in this year's Royal London One-Day Cup. Indeed, they haven't lost there since the opening game of last summer's 50-over competition; plus Surrey's previous four limited-overs visits to Northampton have produced just the one victory.

The biggest danger facing the visitors is Ben Duckett, who has notched up 436 runs at an average of 72.66 in the Royal London. There's also Rob Keogh, who is averaging 51.16, Adam Rossington (43.66) and big-hitting all-rounder Rory Kleinveldt, who has smacked 11 sixes in a mere four visits to the crease.

With the ball, spin is king, which should interest Surrey, particularly Gareth Batty. Unfortunately for Northants, they will be without Seekkuge Prasanna's leg-spin. Much will therefore depend on Graeme White - the 29-year-old slow left-armer is their leading wicket-taker in the Royal London with 16 scalps at 16.81 runs apiece - and Richard Gleeson's searing pace up front.

The performance of Azharullah could be pivotal. Other than his 5-43 against Durham, the 32-year-old seamer has looked out of sorts this summer and has often given way to Josh Cobb's part-time leg-breaks.

Tom Curran (47 wickets) is approaching fifty one-day career victims.

James Burke, Jade Dernbach and Ravi Rampaul have been named in Surrey's 15-man squad, as have Zafar Ansari, who missed most of the final day at Edgbaston this week (following a recurrence of his back problem), and Ben Foakes (quad muscle strain), who sat out the 226-run victory over Warwickshire as a precaution for this game.

This will be only the second List A meeting between these two sides in five years, so there isn't much history to go on. Hopefully, Northants will have one eye on this Saturday's T20 Finals Day, which, for the first time, will be an all northern affair. One of the keys for Surrey, as it was for Somerset today, is their Sri Lankan bringing runs to the party. Kumar Sangakkara averaged just 30.75 in the Royal London prior to his stint in the Caribbean Premier League. His stand-in, Aaron Finch, fared no better, averaging 20.75. But Surrey appear to be on such a high right now, it's difficult to see what Northants have got, even bearing in mind their excellent white-ball form, to stop the Oval outfit. It should be a humdinger!

J.Cobb, B.Duckett, R.Keogh, A.Wakely (capt), A.Rossington (wk), R.Newton, S.Crook, R.Kleinveldt, G.White, R.Gleeson and Azharullah.

To be confirmed.

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