SURREY V ESSEX at Guildford (SSCC1), 9-12 JUNE 2017

A week’s worth of rain fell on Tuesday, so, all being well, that means it will stay away for the Guildford Festival, which usually produces runs a plenty. It would be wrong, however, to suggest that this weekend’s rapid return game with Essex is a nailed on draw. Woodbridge Road has produced a positive outcome in each of the last three seasons. Unfortunately, not for Surrey, who were on the wrong end of all three despite posting 400 in the first innings in two of them.

Surrey lie third in Division One, one point behind Essex - leaders Hampshire have played a game more. But Alec Stewart thinks it is too early for a coherent narrative to have emerged. He says: "No-one has really broken away at the top or the bottom yet. But I don’t think the league will really start to tell it’s story until we’re halfway through."

Looking at the Surrey team, Stewart says that everyone has contributed to the side’s unbeaten run. "Everyone has put in at least one good performance. Obviously Kumar Sangakkara has led the way with some unbelievable performances. In the top six we want a minimum of three putting in serious scores. And then in a five-man bowling attack we need at least three people putting in top-class performances."

The strength of the Essex batting was clearly evident from the start of the season. It is the county’s bowling that has surprised some people, but not Stewart. "To be honest it hasn’t surprised me because I’ve seen a fair bit of them. And the first hour and a half of our game at Chelmsford last month was the best bowling we’ve faced this year. They were exceptional in their lines and lengths, and everything else. It is easy to see why they are near the top of the league because both their bowling and batting has been strong."

Stewart has been less impressed by the structure of the season. "We played Essex a month ago. We also played Warwickshire in rounds one and three. It’s a very strange way of doing things."

Alec Stewart's opposite number Chris Silverwood has named a 13-man squad adding Ashar Zaidi and Paul Walter to the team that drew with Surrey at Chelmsford. Silverwood said: "I am delighted with the way that we are performing this season, we are getting first division sides on the ropes at various stages of the game and creating opportunities," he said. "I’m sure that it is only a matter of time before we will take more and more of those opportunities.

"We have won two and drawn three of our first block of five matches and that took us to the top of the Division One table. We also finished top of our group in the One-Day Cup and overall, that makes pretty impressive reading. But we can’t sit back and admire what we’ve achieved, if anything we have to work even harder now to capitalise on that and build on that great start. We’ve got to keep driving forwards and make things happen.

"We’ve got bowlers in our squad that have the ability to put the opposition on the rack, Jamie Porter’s done it, Neil Wagner’s done it, Matt Quinn’s done it. We had Surrey in trouble last week but unfortunately, they had Sangakkara in their ranks that showed he is a world-class player. But that’s why you play cricket, to pit your abilities against high-class players.

"The boys are loving competing in Division One and they are learning with each game they play and there is some great cricket being played. I ask three things from the boys, respect, attitude and effort and they are all choices. If a player turns up every day with those three characters, then there is a very good chance they have every chance of being successful. There is still a lot we need to work on and that will always be the case but what we need to do immediately is to keep the momentum going."

Surrey v Essex - First-Class Records Sheet
Surrey at Guildford - First-Class Records Sheet

Across all formats, Kumar Sangakkara stands on 99 career hundreds (61 first-class plus 38 List A). With the ball, Scott Borthwick has 197 f-c wickets. On the Essex side of the coin, seamer Jamie Porter - who bagged nine poles a fortnight ago - goes into this game with 149 first-class victims.

Options in terms of freshening up the side come in the shape of Gareth Batty, Mark Footitt and Ollie Pope, who are named in Surrey's 14-man squad. Amar Virdi bowled superbly at Chelmsford - so much so that Surrey appear to have a bit of a headache heading to Guildford. Should Virdi keep his place at the expense of skipper Batty, who has recovered from a broken toe? The short boundary at Woodbridge Road means there isn’t any room for error, hence it’s rare for sides to play two front-line twirlers there. It will be interesting to see what Surrey do, likewise whether they back the pace of Stuart Meaker, who has an excellent record with ball at Guildford, but who was a little expensive a fortnight ago.

Surrey have had a woeful record at Guildford since 2002, so, call me cautious (or some would say optimistic, given where it's being played), but I'm going draw.

N.Browne, A.Cook, T.Westley, D.Lawrence, R.Bopara, J.Foster (wk), R.ten Doeschate (capt), S.Harmer, N.Wagner, M.Quinn and J.Porter.

Rob Bailey and Nick Cook.

...and Surrey's recent record at Guildford:

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