SURREY V LEICESTERSHIRE at the Brit Oval (LVCC2), 31 JULY - 3 AUGUST 2009

Had it not been for the weather, Leicestershire would almost certainly have lost to Essex last week. But they have not had as much luck avoiding trouble off the field. The pick of the Foxes' attack against Essex, Jim Allenby will not be travelling to the Oval after falling out with the management at Grace Road. Things apparently came to a head when Allenby refused to commit himself to a three-year extension to his current contract; which suggests very strongly that he will be leaving Leicestershire at the end of the season.

Allenby had also been averaging 54.66 with the bat in this season's championship, which will put an even greater onus on Tom New, Boeta Dippenaar (559 runs at an average of 43.00), HD Ackerman and James Taylor to make the bulk of the runs. But will Allenby's absence spark young openers Josh Cobb and Matthew Boyce into making their first hundreds this term?

With the ball, the Foxes' official overseas representative, New Zealand's Iain O'Brien will be crucial to his county's chances of a decent showing in the champo. O'Brien currently has 19 wickets at 22.68 runs apiece alongside his name. Next in the bowling averages is the highly promising left-arm seamer Harry Gurney, followed by the re-vitalised AJ Harris. But there doesn't appear to be much else worth writing home about, although 25-year-old slow left-armer George Walker has now nudged ahead of Claude Henderson in the spin department.

Of the 22 players likely to take part, none of them have a significant career milestone approaching. 

21-year-old off-spinner, Simon King has been named in Surrey's squad in place of Tim Linley, even though the latter took a career best 4-77 against Essex last time out. Mark Butcher's name is also missing, so Stewart Walters will lead again.

Deary me, the weather. Just when you want four days of unbroken sunshine, the forecasters are united in the view that we won't see much cricket on days two and four of this contest. So, predictably, my prediction is that this match will be yet another draw.  

J Cobb, M Boyce, B Dippenaar (capt), HD Ackerman, J Taylor, J du Toit, T New (wk), G Walker, I O'Brien, AJ Harris and H Gurney.

Ian Gould and John Steele. See also The Dreaded Finger

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