SURREY V KENT at the AMP Oval (CC1), 2-5 JULY 2003

For a fixture that has seen its fair share of draws in recent years, the Oval outfit have not been beaten by Kent since they lost two championship matches in succession to round off the 1997 season.  That said, in Surrey's last couple of visits to Canterbury the hop county probably entertained thoughts of victory.

Tomorrow's visitors could certainly do with a win right now, sitting, as they are, just off the foot of the Division One table with the team ten points below them, Leicestershire enjoying the advantage of a game in hand.

Surrey's Martin Bicknell has been one of those surprised by Kent's indifferent start to the season. He told www.ovalworld-online.com: “I've been surprised by them and Warwickshire, to be honest. But that just shows you the quality that’s around in the first division. Anybody can beat anybody. Leicestershire, you would say, are a poor side. But the rest are all capable of beating you.”

One of the worries for Kent coming into the season was making up for the loss of wicketkeeper Paul Nixon, but Geraint Jones has more than justified his promotion by racking up 591 championship runs from ten completed innings.  The three other new faces in the Kent line-up, Michael Carberry, Alamgir Sheriyar and James Tredwell, have been this summer's other plus points.

Carberry, 22, joined the hop county from Surrey over the winter and has started his first full season with 367 runs at an average of 30.58 in the County Championship.  With Martin Saggers suffering from injury Sheriyar, who left Worcestershire, has been Kent's leading wicket-taker.  Finally, Tredwell - an off-spinning all-rounder - has come in for the injured Min Patel and averaged 20.27 with the bat and 33.52 with the ball.

As we have seen this summer, the loss of more than half a day's play at The Oval makes it extremely difficult to obtain a positive result.  So, with rain forecast to plague the first two days, this one could go the same way as the encounters against Lancashire, Warwickshire and Leicestershire.  I'm putting this one down to be yet another draw.

Surrey are waiting on the fitness of Azhar Mahmood, who is thought to be 50:50 after picking up a thigh injury ten days ago whilst playing for Pakistan at Lord's. Jonathan Batty and Alistair Brown - whose 188 against Kent at The Oval last year was a pivotal performance - are both likely to miss out; as they did for last weekend's match against Middlesex.

D Fulton (capt), M Carberry, E Smith, A Symonds, M Walker, M Ealham, G Jones (wk), J Tredwell, Mohammad Sami, A Sheriyar and B Trott.

19-22 Jul 2002	Won By 2 Wickets	Canterbury
12-14 Jun 2002	Won By 9 Wickets	The Oval
16-19 Aug 2001	Match Drawn	Canterbury
20-23 Apr 2001	Match Drawn	The Oval
23-26 May 2000	Match Drawn	Canterbury
11-14 May 2000	Match Drawn	The Oval
2-5 Jun 1999	Won By An Innings & 28 Runs	Tunbridge Wells
29-31 May 1998	Won By An Innings & 30 Runs	The Oval
18-20 Sep 1997	Lost By 5 Wickets	Canterbury
9-13 May 1996	Match Drawn	The Oval
3-7 Aug 1995	Match Drawn	Canterbury
15-19 Sep 1994	Match Drawn	The Oval
5-9 Aug 1993	Match Drawn	Canterbury
14-16 Jul 1992	Lost By 72 Runs	Guildford
2-5 Aug 1991	Match Drawn	Canterbury
9-13 May 1991	Lost By An Innings & 3 Runs	The Oval
7-10 Sep 1990	Match Drawn	Canterbury
21-24 Jul 1990	Match Drawn	Guildford

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