SURREY V GLOUCESTERSHIRE at the Brit Oval (LVCC2), 3-6 MAY 2006

With not one Gloucestershire batsman averaging over thirty-five in last season's County Championship, the Bristolians surprised many when they not only posted a first innings total of 437 in this summer's opener, but then went on to bowl Somerset out for 143.

The victory, by an innings and seven runs, was all the more encouraging given that, during the winter, Chris Taylor was stripped of the captaincy without being told about it until his successor, Jon Lewis, was unveiled as the new man at the helm. On top of that, Gloucestershire had just learned that one of their overseas signings, Kiwi speedster Shane Bond, would now be withdrawing his labour.

Thankfully they had drafted in Australian Ian Harvey to help them open the 2006 campaign. Following his decent all-round performance against Somerset a couple of weeks ago, the Gladiators will no doubt have been trying to twist his arm to stick around a bit longer. Gloucestershire's other overseas acquisition, Hamish Marshall, is available at the end of the current South Africa v New Zealand series.

Unfortunately, as with the corresponding fixture last summer, the weather forecast for days three and four suggests that this will be a battle for first innings bonus points. So, it also means that Gloucestershire are likely to maintain their unbeaten championship run against Surrey, which stretches back to 1995. It would be further frustration for the hosts, as they feel they ought to have won on both occasions last term.

That they failed to do so was due in no small part to the efforts of Alex Gidman, who has a first-class record against Surrey of 446 runs at an average of 89.20, and Steve Adshead, who averages 52.33 with the bat against the Oval outfit.

Mark Ramprakash, with 6,831, is closing in on seven thousand first-class runs for Surrey. The former Middlesex man also has a tally of 907 runs in his career against Gloucestershire. Alistair Brown has made a total of 39 first-class hundreds, while Mark Butcher has 29. For tomorrow's visitors, Craig Spearman has 4,848 first-class runs to his name. Matt Windows has 8,996.

The good news is that Azhar Mahmood and Jimmy Ormond are back in the Surrey line-up after being rested. But the fact they were stood down at the weekend suggests that they may not be firing on all cylinders. This could mean that James Benning will be one of the unlucky ones to miss out (assuming the hosts opt to include Jade Dernbach as cover in the seam department).  

Looking at the weather forecast, unless the so-called experts have got it completely wrong, it is very unlikely that this game will end positively. If it does, though, it could well be because Gloucestershire were without the influential Jon Lewis, who has been called up for England A' game against the Sri Lankan tourists. 

C Spearman, P Weston, M Windows, C Taylor, A Gidman (capt), I Harvey, S Adshead (wk), M Hardinges, M Ball, J Averis and S Kirby.

Graham Burgess and Nigel Llong.

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