NOTTINGHAMSHIRE V SURREY at Trent Bridge (VCC)
29 AUGUST - 1 SEPTEMBER 2024

Eighth-placed Notts take on the leaders, who powered their way to an innings victory over Lancashire last week, despite the loss of much of day three to rain.

Last weekend’s round of matches saw the County Championship picture, in both divisions, become even clearer.

Some hark back to the good old days of three-day championship cricket, but wind forward three and a half decades and the quality of pitches means it difficult to force a result in four if there’s any weather around, as Essex and Somerset, Surrey’s nearest challengers, both found to their detriment.

At the foot of Division One, Kent look as good as down after losing to Worcestershire. Meanwhile, Lancashire, Notts and Warwickshire, who only have three victories between them this season, seem set to face a nervous end to the campaign.

The Notts attack continues to lack a cutting edge in this year's County Championship. The absence of the hamstrung Dillon Pennington (31 red-ball wickets at 23.80 this term) coming on top of Dane Paterson's spell of paternity leave heaps responsibility onto the shoulders of Lyndon James (23 at 29.82), especially given that the consistency one associates with Luke Fletcher and Brett Hutton just doesn't seem to be there due to both having stop-start seasons.

The batting is in finer fettle with Joe Clarke (803 championship runs at an average of 61.76) leading the way, abetted by skipper Haseeb Hameed (48.75), James (48.44) and Ben Slater (41.06). The hope is that South Africa's Kyle Verreynne will provide the runs that New Zealand's Will Young has hitherto contributed in addition to slotting in as keeper, leaving Clarke to express himself even more with the bat.

Surrey v Nottinghamshire - First-Class Records Sheet

Jordan Clark looks set to make his 100th first-class appearance, while, for Notts, Rob Lord and Kyle Verreynne are on the brink of making their County Championship debuts. For Lord, 23, it would also be his maiden f-c appearance. Rory Burns (12,985) is within touching distance of 13,000 first-class career runs and Ben Hutton (1,972) is eyeing up his 2,000th.

Kemar Roach returns to the Surrey squad following the West Indies Test series against South Africa, in which the 36-year-old fast bowler made just one appearance - in the draw at Port of Spain, where South Africa's hopes of forcing a win were frustrated by Alick Athanaze's second innings 92.

The weather forecast for Nottingham, where Surrey have won on their last two red-ball visits, looks good for the first three days. On paper the visitors batting line-up just looks far to strong for a Notts bowling attack that has not, for whatever reason, been at the races this summer. Prediction - Surrey win.

H.Hameed (capt), B.Slater, F.McCann, J.Clarke, K Verreynne (wk), J.Haynes, L.James, L.Patterson-White, B.Hutton, L.Fletcher and R.Lord.

James Middlebrook and Paul Pollard.

GO TO:




BACK TO: