SURREY V LANCASHIRE at the Kia Oval (LVCC2), 31 MAY - 3 JUNE 2015

The pre-season favourites for promotion meet for only the third time in four-day cricket since April 2008 - the fixture at Blackpool the same year having fallen foul not of the weather, but of a saturated outfield. With four wins under their belts already, Lancashire are running away with Division Two. Clustered in behind are three counties with unbeaten records - Glamorgan, Northants and Surrey.

Lancashire's bowling attack lacked a cutting edge in 2014. Not so this year, thanks to the emergence of Zimbabwe seamer Kyle Jarvis, 26, who has bagged 34 championship wickets at an average of 21.88. Tom Bailey is averaging 31.60 compared with 45.33 last term, but Simon Kerrigan's is the most significant return to form. The 26-year-old slow left-armer returns to the scene of his only Test appearance with 20 championship wickets at 26.10 runs apiece. Throw Nathan Buck, James Faulkner and off-spinning all-rounder Arron Lilley into the mix and it's not difficult to see why the red rose county seem to have one foot back in Division One already.

In the past, Lancashire often seemed to be two or three wickets down for next to nothing, but Ashwell Prince's change of heart, having announced his retirement at the end of last season, has been fully vindicated. The 38-year-old South African currently has 771 championship runs at an average of 96.37. Paul Horton is having his best season for seven years and Alviro Petersen already has two championship hundreds to his name. Unfortunately, skipper Steven Croft has been a tad inconsistent, but that has been compensated for by 20-year-old wicketkeeper batsman Alex Davies hitting the ground running.

If they play, James Burke will be making his championship debut and Ben Foakes his Surrey debut. Jason Roy (2,935) is approaching 3,000 first-class career runs, while Lancashire's Simon Kerrigan (249) is on the brink of taking his 250th f-c wicket.

Kevin Pietersen returns. That's the good news. The bad news is that Jade Dernbach (side strain), Luke Fletcher (back spasms), Tim Linley (lacking match fitness) and Chris Tremlett (hamstring) are all sidelined. With Gary Wilson off on international duty, Ben Foakes is named in the squad, as is James Burke.

The weather forecast has improved to the extent that the forecasters are only predicting the loss of half a day's play in this match. That said, make sure you are wearing plenty of layers if you're attending days one and two. Surrey's recent championship record against Lancashire (just two defeats in the last 15 meetings and six wins) plus Kevin Pietersen's decision to make himself available are sources of encouragement for the hosts, but, right now, the Old Trafford outfit are the cream of Division Two. Prediction - a hard fought draw.

P Horton, A Petersen, A Prince, S Croft (capt), A Davies (wk), A Lilley, J Faulkner, T Bailey, N Buck, K Jarvis and S Kerrigan.

Billy Taylor and Alex Wharf.

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