NOTTINGHAMSHIRE V SURREY at Trent Bridge (SSCC1), 13-16 JULY 2019

Bottom plays host to sixth. Division One strugglers Notts are still to get off the mark in this season’s County Championship. However, they gave a far better account of themselves last week, in a low scoring affair against champions elect Somerset. But the die was cast when Notts disintegrated from 201-2 to 241 to leave a deficit on first innings of 85. Meanwhile, Surrey laboured against an efficient-looking Kent side, who held on to win by 5 wickets at the Oval. That said, the hosts were without the services, for the most part, of Gareth Batty, whose off-spin would have helped keep the over-rate in check. Instead, Surrey had to resort to bowling Borthwick and Stoneman, who had combined figures of 0-60 off 10 overs in the hop county’s first innings. Were those 60 runs crucial?

For Nottinghamshire, a lack of form with the bat has proved a serious handicap. Chris Nash heads affairs in terms of runs on the board (563 at an average of 37.53 in the Champo), but of the remaining regulars no one is averaging more than thirty. Next in line are Ben Duckett (29.52), who misses this game after being called up to play for the England Lions, skipper Steven Mullaney (26.58) and Joe Clarke (25.14), who sat out the trip to Taunton due to a hamstring strain. Ben Slater (20.88 over nine appearances) and Tom Moores (14.23) have really struggled.

With the wicket at Trent Bridge giving the spinners encouragement this summer, it’s no surprise that Notts have dialled up Ravi Ashwin as their overseas player; on top of handing a first-class debut to slow left-armer Liam Patterson-White. Against Somerset, Ashwin warmed up for this bottom of the table clash with figures of 3-93 and 5-59. In terms of the quicks, you know what you are getting from Luke Fletcher (24 championship scalps at 28.25 runs apiece) and Stuart Broad (17 at 27.94), but Jake Ball is a far better purveyor of seam-up than his record this terms suggests.

Of the current Surrey squad, five batsmen have made championship hundreds against Notts - Scott Borthwick, Rory Burns, Rikki Clarke, Arun Harinath and Mark Stoneman. However, Harinath is now out on loan (at Hants) and Stoneman is not in the visitors' squad. A major factor in Surrey's double over Nottinghamshire last summer was Morne Morkel, who took 15 wickets at an average of 14.20 across the two meetings; both of which the Oval outfit won by an innings. 

Surrey v Nottinghamshire - First-Class Records Sheet

Rikki Clarke (10,925) looks the Surrey man most likely to reach a milestone in this match - 11,000 first-class runs; but Ryan Patel (845) is more than capable of passing 1,000 for his career assuming he gets the nod. Of the Notts boys, Stuart Broad (4,997) is within touching distance of a 5,000th f-c run.

World Cup and England Lions calls mean than five players are missing for a start - including Sam Curran and Ben Foakes, who will be representing the Lions against Australia A at Canterbury, starting on Sunday. Mark Stoneman is an absentee for the trip to Nottingham for family reasons. Also missing are Gus Atkinson (back stress fracture), Conor McKerr (heel and hip) and Jade Dernbach (side). Interestingly, Surrey's 13-man squad includes three front-line spinners - Gareth Batty, Freddie van den Bergh and Amar Virdi.

Last season, Surrey put right their record, in recent times, of struggling at Trent Bridge, but that was then and this is now. The Oval outfit looked less than convincing against Kent last weekend. This particular game may not be a must win for Surrey - Notts are so far adrift at the foot of the table that the Oval outfit would have to play abysmally between now and the end of the season to get relegated - but it’s certainly a must-not-lose. If the weather intervenes on Day One, which is what they are saying, a result could be hard to come by. Either way, I would rather be bowling last in the hope of the pitch taking spin. Prediction - the team batting first to dictate terms.

B.Slater, J.Libby, C.Nash, J.Clarke, S.Patel, S.Mullaney (capt), R.Ashwin, T.Moores (wk), S.Broad, L.Patterson-White, L.Fletcher and J.Ball.

David Millns and Tim Robinson.

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