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SURREY V KENT
at the Brit Oval (FCC1), 25-28
MAY 2004 Having beaten all three promotees and
Division One outsiders - Gloucestershire, Worcestershire and Northamptonshire -
Kent now face the team for whom relegation was not even considered a possibility
at the beginning of the season. With plenty of cricket still to be played,
anyone with a keen eye for a value bet may be interested to know that Surrey are
now 18-1 to win this summer's County Championship. Kent meanwile are 5-2
and, if the bookies are any judges, the hop county is locked in a two-way battle
with Lancashire for the title.
Middlesex, who play the red rose county at Old Trafford
tomorrow, and Surrey will have something to say about that, having been involved
in a draw last week out of which both sides could take many positives.
Also, apart from the drubbing they received at Canterbury at the end of last
season, the Oval outfit have not lost to Kent since 1997.
Looking at their opponents, Surrey will be very pleased to
see that one A.Symonds is not amongst the Kent ranks. Nevertheless, Robert
Key (377 runs at an average of 75.40), Michael Carberry, Matthew Walker and
David Fulton are all averaging over 44 with the bat in the championship.
The bowling threat is spearheaded by Mohammad Sami (10 wickets at sixteen runs
apiece), Martin Saggers (ten at 22.70) and Min Patel, who has come back from a
bad injury which ruled him out last summer.
The one milestone that everybody will be keeping an eye on
in this match is Martin Bicknell's target of 1,000 first-class wickets. So
far he has taken 995. Jonathan Batty needs 54 runs for 3,000 in the County
Championship and Mark Ramprakash needs just one more catch for 200 in his
first-class career.
Will spin play a part? Surrey are without a twirler, yet the pitch at the
Brit Oval generally favours spin as the game goes on. That could be the
sort of advantage that Kent will make the most of, especially as the hop county
have got three spinners all in competition with each other - Ferley, Patel and
Tredwell. Equally, preparing a seaming wicket could play into the hands of
Sami and Saggers. Surrey will definitely have their work cut out over the
next four days.
Zaheer Khan is set to make his County Championship debut as he fills in for
Saqlain Mushtaq (sore knee). Surrey's other spinner Ian Salisbury also has
a troublesome knee, while James Benning is ruled out with an ankle victory.
There will be no Mark Butcher or Graham Thorpe either, due to the First Test
against New Zealand going the full distance, so Nadeem Shahid will be given a
rare first team opportunity. However, his last nine championship innings
against Kent have brought him just 56 runs.
D Fulton (capt), R Key, E Smith, M Walker, M Carberry, N O'Brien
(wk), A Loudon, R Ferley, A Khan, M Saggers
and Mohammad Sami.
|
4-6 Sep 2003 |
Lost By An Innings & 155 Runs |
Canterbury |
|
2-5 Jul 2003 |
Won By 186 Runs |
The Oval |
|
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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