NOTTINGHAMSHIRE v SURREY at Trent Bridge (CC1), 9-12 MAY 2003

It is a little known fact that Nottinghamshire were the last team to beat Surrey home and away in the same championship season.  Since then, however, the Oval outfit have gone undefeated against Friday's opponents, winning six out of seven - most of them by a healthy margin.

The last time these two sides met was when Surrey clinched the County Championship in 1999, so a number of Adam Hollioake's men will go into this encounter with happy memories.  Whether Mark Butcher, who made 81 not out on that tumultuous day four years ago, plays seems to depend on whether Alec Stewart starts.  In the middle order Alistair Brown and Graham Thorpe appear to be fighting over the same place.  Strangely enough they are the only two batsmen with championship centuries for Surrey against Notts.

The selection issues on the bowling front appear to be two-fold.  Ian Salisbury will be hard to accommodate unless the pitch looks like it could turn (or if Alex Tudor is still struggling with his fitness); plus if Rikki Clarke is going to get the nod, which seems unlikely, it will almost will probably be at the expense of Azhar Mahmood.

For the home side Jason Gallian is averaging just 3.66 after two championship outings, but is expected to start.  Usman Afzaal and Kevin Pietersen are also far from peaking with the bat.  That said, Darren Bicknell, Chris Read and Bilal Shafayat have all played encouragingly so far.

The attack is led by 25-year-old Charlie Shreck (six wickets at an average of 18.16) and left-armer Greg Smith (eleven @ 19.18), but the less said about the spin threat the better - basically, there isn't one without Stuart MacGill.


Surrey have not made a convincing start to this year's championship campaign, but this match gives them a real opportunity to make their class count.  Mind you, Nottinghamshire are currently top of the league for a reason and they do, of course, have a certain D.J.Bicknell opening the batting for them.


Ian Salisbury, Alec Stewart and Alex Tudor are coming back from minor injuries, other than that everyone is available.  But, like the rest of us Keith Medlycott and Adam Hollioake will probably keep picking the side again and again until they think they have got it right.  This writer cannot see many changes from the eleven that drew with Warwickshire at the end of last week, but what do I know?


D Bicknell, J Gallian (capt), U Afzaal, K Pietersen, C Cairns, B Shafayat, C Read (wk), P Franks, S Elworthy, G Smith and C Shreck.

1-2 Sep 1999 Won By 10 Wickets The Oval
19-21 Aug 1998 Won By 7 Wickets Trent Bridge
27-30 Jun 1997 Won By 131 Runs The Oval
22-26 Aug 1996 Match Drawn Trent Bridge
20-24 Jul 1995 Won By 171 Runs Guildford
21-25 Jul 1994 Won By An Innings & 231 Runs Trent Bridge
29-31 Jul 1993 Won By 3 Wickets The Oval
7-10 Sep 1992 Lost By 5 Wickets Trent Bridge
21-23 Jul 1992 Lost By 3 Wickets The Oval
4-6 Jun 1991 Match Drawn The Oval
20-22 Jun 1990 Match Drawn Trent Bridge

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