SURREY V ESSEX at the Kia Oval (Royal London One-Day Cup), 23 APRIL 2019

Eighth in the South Division plays host to fifth. Essex have won one and lost one, while Surrey are seeking to break their duck in a competition that has seen them reach three out of the last four finals. Anything other than a victory against the Eagles tomorrow will effectively end Surrey's chances of progressing to the knockout phase.

Even with two of the seamers in England's provisional squad for the World Cup, not to mention wily operators such as Morkel, Clarke and Batty, the Oval outfit have so far struggled to contain their opponents with the ball. While the pick of the attack Tom Curran now looks odds on to feature in the World Cup - which gets underway in just over a month - Liam Plunkett could be in danger of missing out. The former Durham and Yorkshire speedster has only taken two wickets at an average of 104.50 for his new county, not least at a cost of 6.74 runs per over.

For Essex, Varun Chopra (with back-to-back hundreds) and Tom Westley (back-to-back half-centuries) have starred with the willow. On loan wicketkeeper (Middlesex's) Robbie White has effected 10 dismissals and promising seamer Sam Cook, who was left out of the recent four-day clash with Surrey at the Oval, has come in and restricted the Eagles' opponents to just 5.18 runs per over. However, Essex's trump card continues to be Australia's Peter Siddle (5 wickets at 19.60 runs apiece).  

None of Surrey's current crop have made a one-day century against the Eagles. But since swapping Chelmsford for the Oval, Ben Foakes has played against his former county on three occasions in one-day cricket, scoring 45, 77* and 84*. With the ball, Liam Plunkett averages 16.57 against Essex in List A cricket.

Surrey v Essex - List A Records Sheet

Gareth Batty (249) needs just one more pole for 250 List A one-day career wickets. Turning to the visitors, Sir Alastair Cook (5,907) and Simon Harmer (918) are approaching 6,000 and 1,000 List A runs respectively.

Ryan Patel has been added to a squad that also features Conor McKerr, Jamie Smith and Freddie van den Bergh. Scott Borthwick (side), Jordan Clark (knee), Jade Dernbach (calf) and Amar Virdi (back) all remain injured at the same time as Sam Curran has the lucrative distraction of the Indian Premier League.

This is a must-win game for Surrey (funny, didn't I say that a few days ago?), but this fixture's recent history suggests they'll have their work cut out. Essex have won 7 out of the last 10 against the South Londoners in List A and, even on paper, you would have to concede that Ryan ten Doeschate's men look the stronger the two adversaries right now. Prediction - a hard fought victory for the visitors.

V.Chopra, A.Cook, T.Westley, D.Lawrence, R.Bopara, R.ten Doeschate (capt), R.White (wk), S.Harmer, P.Siddle, J.Porter and S.Cook.

Mike Burns and Ben Debenham.

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