SURREY V GLOUCESTERSHIRE at the Kia Oval (LVCC2), 27-30 JUNE 2015

Second plays host to seventh in Division Two of the LV County Championship. Gloucestershire come into this match having lost their last two - Lancashire gaining revenge for their only four-day defeat of the season and Essex winning by 5 wickets at Bristol, after the home side were skittled out for 116 in their first dig. Gloucestershire responded well, though, thanks to a hundred from Michael Klinger, following on, by having Essex 26-4 chasing a victory target of 114.

Indeed, the Bristolians appear to be well equipped when it comes to bowlers. David Payne has only seen action in half of Gloucestershire’s four-day matches, but is averaging 24.71. Craig Miles, 20, has already bagged 35 championship wickets at 25.14 runs apiece and Liam Norwell is enjoying his best ever season. With Benny Howell more than capable of breaking partnerships and James Fuller fresh from taking 3-85 and 3-32 against Essex, off-spinner Jack Taylor might just be the one to miss out on this occasion.

Hamish Marshall, who has now recovered from a calf strain, has been conspicuous by his absence in the last two championship games. The New Zealander, who is averaging 40.66, adds some ballast to a batting line-up that relies heavily on Chris Dent (539 championship runs at 41.46) first up and Klinger (344 runs at 68.80) at number three.

The only significant milestones coming into view are for the travelling contingent, both in the field - Chris Dent currently has 98 catches (in 75 f-c appearances) and Geraint Jones has 598 to go with 36 stumpings. That said, if Sam Curran makes his first-class debut for Surrey, he'll be the second youngest to do so and the youngest for 69 years.

Rory Burns, Matt Dunn, Jason Roy and Sam Curran are added to the eleven that won at Derby, while Luke Fletcher drops out. Therefore, Steven Davies (finger), Jade Dernbach (calf) and Chris Tremlett (hamstrings) remain sidelined.

According to the weathermen it's only going to get hotter, so we can look forward to four full days of action. Gloucestershire's middle to lower order batting looks less likely than most to pose Surrey problems; added to which Surrey's tail has finally started wagging thanks mainly to Gareth Batty's ability to play second fiddle in crucial partnerships. If the pitch has any spice in it - which isn't a given at the Oval - you'd have to mark this down as a probable Surrey victory.

C Dent, W Tavare, M Klinger, G Roderick (wk), H Marshall, G Jones (capt), B Howell, J Fuller, D Payne, C Miles and L Norwell.

Neil Bainton and Mike Burns.

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