SURREY BROWN CAPS V DERBYSHIRE PHANTOMS at the Brit Oval (Pro40 Division 2), 19 AUGUST 2007

Bottom-placed Surrey entertain the team two positions above them in the Division Two table. The Phantoms have claimed just one victory from their four Pro40 outings to date, whereas the Brown Caps have succumbed to the two teams currently lying second and third - Middlesex and Durham.

Weather permitting, tomorrow's encounter will be the first time Derbyshire have been in action for a week. But after throwing away a position of strength to lose to Leicestershire by 28 runs in the championship, they will have spent most of the past seven days reflecting on what might have been.

Sadly, the managerless Phantoms are going through another one of their slumps. Ignoring abandonments, they have won just three of out twelve one-day games this term. The Twenty20 Cup was even less kind - four defeats in the four fixtures that managed to overcome the weather. The one glimmer of hope was a promotion push in the championship, but last Sunday's second innings collapse from 324-3 to 396 all out at Grace Road seems to have put an end to that fanciful notion.

Things started to go awry when Ian Harvey encountered problems obtaining a British passport. Harvey made an unbeaten 60 in the Phantoms opening one-day encounter, the win over the eventual finalists Durham in the Friends Provident Trophy. In the same match Skipper Simon Katich also made a half-century. But, to date, only two Derbyshire batsmen have more than one one-day fifty against his name this season - Ant Botha and Greg Smith.

There has been an equal lack of production with the ball. Only Tom Lungley (12 wickets at an average of 22.91 in List A cricket and an economy rate of 5.18) and Graham Wagg (15 at 32.93 runs apiece) have taken more than nine wickets this term.

If he plays, watch out for Daniel Redfern, a 17-year-old batsman, who also bowls occasional off-spin, who has featured in recent weeks.

Derbyshire's Graham Wagg is set to make his 50th appearance in List A cricket.

There is no news regarding the Brown Caps line-up for tomorrow. Perhaps the club have looked at the weather forecast and written the game off already.

One look at the weather forecast suggests that if there is any play at the Oval tomorrow it will be a bonus. If the rain stays away, however, the Brown Caps look by far the stronger of the two sides on paper.

W Weston, M Dighton, T Birt, G Smith, S Katich (capt), D Redfern, A Botha, D Pipe (wk), G Wagg, J Needham and T Lungley.

Mark Benson and Tim Robinson.

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