SURREY V LANCASHIRE at the Kia Oval (VCC)
22-25 AUGUST 2024

The Division One leaders host seventh-placed Lancashire. With just two home games out of the last five in the championship, Surrey's run-in could be tricky. Their 23-point advantage at the head of affairs is a decent cushion, but not when there’s Lancashire, Notts, second-placed Somerset, Durham and third-placed Essex – so none of the bottom three in the table – left to come.

Lancashire's four-day campaign has turned a bit of a corner since losing to Notts at Trent Bridge in mid-May. Since then the Red Roses have beaten Durham at Blackpool and Kent at Canterbury, while also registering draws against Warwickshire and in the return fixture with Nottinghamshire.

Their skipper Keaton Jennings (854 red-ball runs at an average of 65.69) is enjoying another profitable season with the bat, which is just as well given that Josh Bohannon (528 at 37.71) is the only other batter averaging over thirty for Lancs in this year's Champo. That said, the acquisition of Indian all-rounder Venkatesh Iyer will add a bit of ballast.

Crucially, with the ball, Nathan Lyon (26 championship wickets at 30.38) has finished his stint as overseas spinner. Despite the dip in form of seamers Tom Bailey (41.53) and Will Williams (34.92), Tom Aspinwall and George Balderson have stepped up when asked, as has Luke Wells with his part-time spin.

Surrey v Lancashire - First-Class Records Sheet

Lancashire's Josh Bohannon (4,915) is approaching 5,000 first-class career runs and, if they play, Josh Boyden, 20, and Rocky Flintoff, 16, will be making their f-c debuts

Sam Curran, Ben Geddes, Will Jacks, Conor McKerr and Jamie Overton are in the Surrey squad, as is Sai Sudharsan, who will fill an overseas berth in this match as well as next week's clash with Notts at Trent Bridge.

Everything points to a draw given that the forecast for days one and three suggests Lancashire look set to bring the Manchester weather down with them. That said, Surrey have only one win to show for their last 8 four-day clashes with the Red Rose, that being the thriller at the Oval in August 2018, which the South Londoners snatched by just 6 runs.

L.Wells, K.Jennings (capt), J.Bohannon, V.Iyer, M.Hurst (wk), G.Balderson, T.Hartley, S.Mahmood, T.Bailey, W.Williams and T.Aspinwall.

David Millns and Rob White.

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