SURREY V HAMPSHIRE at the Kia Oval (SSCC1), 18-21 AUGUST 2019

Sixth in Division One plays host to fourth. This will also be the first four-day meeting this season between these two sides. With the solitary T20 match-up falling victim to the rain yesterday, the only time Surrey and Hampshire have crossed swords in the last year was on the final day of April, when Hampshire won comfortably (by 53 runs) in the Royal London One-Day Cup.

Hampshire's only obvious weakness in the County Championship has been the lack of a dependable spin option. That said, Liam Dawson, available once again, missed a large chunk of matches due to the World Cup. In the meantime, the attack has been led by the former South Africa and West Indies internationals Kyle Abbott (45 Champo wickets at 18.31 runs apiece) and Fidel Edwards (40 at 23.90).

The batting has depth - so much so Hampshire may opt to field Keith Barker, James Fuller and Ian Holland in this game and forsake a specialist batsman. But the class acts with the willow are Sam Northeast (815 championship runs at an average of 62.69), Nye Donald (477 at 53.00) and James Vince; although the latter has seen so little four-day action this summer he is yet to make in excess of 40 in the County Championship.

Rory Burns is a big miss for the hosts, given he has hit four hundreds in eight appearances and averages 90.80 against Hampshire in f-c cricket. But Ollie Pope is ticking along handily at 83.25 against the Rose Bowl outfit and stand-in skipper Ben Foakes has 633 f-c runs at 52.75. Even Aaron Finch scored 86 in his one and only championship knock against Hampshire, in 2016's victory by an innings.

Surrey v Hampshire - First-Class Records Sheet

Rikki Clarke, who looks set to make his 250th first-class appearance, is closing in on 11,000 f-c runs. He currently has 10,969. On the Hampshire side of the coin, Liam Dawson will start this contest with 199 first-class wickets. And in all f-c cricket this summer Sam Northeast (969) is well placed to become the fourth batsman to reach one thousand runs (Labuschagne, Sibley and Azad are already there), while Kyle Abbott (46) and Fidel Edwards (42) could both register their 50th first-class wicket of the 2019 campaign in this game.

Surrey are missing six key players with Tom Curran out for the rest of the season - after picking up a side strain in last Thursday's Vitality Blast win over Sussex - Liam Plunkett (thumb) injured, Gareth Batty and Jade Dernbach rested, and Rory Burns and Jason Roy involved in the Ashes. The hosts will also lose Sam Curran should he be named in England's squad for the Third Test at Headingley. All in all, it's just as well Notts looks certainties for the drop. On the plus side, Conor McKerr is back from injury and two bowlers who've sat out the Blast are set to return to the fold - speedster Morne Morkel and off-spinner Amar Virdi, who took an aggregate 14-139 in Surrey's most recent championship outing, just over a month ago, at Trent Bridge.

The last few seasons have produced three championship wins over Hampshire and three draws. But if the pitch takes spin, tomorrow's toss will be a crucial one. Win it, bat first and look to dominate should be the plan. Beyond that, I wouldn't want to predict anything.

J.Vince (capt), F.Organ, S.Northeast, R.Rossouw, L.Dawson, A.Donald, L.McManus (wk), I.Holland, K.Barker, K.Abbott and F.Edwards.

Rob Bailey and Neil Mallender.

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