SURREY V NOTTINGHAMSHIRE at Whitgift (CC1), 13-16 AUGUST 2003

Surrey have not lost to Nottinghamshire since suffering back to back defeats against them in 1992. Furthermore, tomorrow's visitors go into the game minus their captain Jason Gallian - without whose century back in May they would have been totally annihilated by the Oval outfit. As if that were not enough, the Outlaws are lying bottom of the Division One pile.

With Lancashire and Sussex cancelling one another out down at Hove, possibly, a victory here and one more next week against the Division's other whipping boys, Leicestershire, should see Surrey set fair for their fourth title in five years. If only things were that straightforward, because this Nottinghamshire side are more than capable of making a late bid to remain part of county cricket's top flight.

Their line-up shows a number of significant changes to the one that faced Surrey earlier in the season. Most notable is the inclusion of two world-class players in Chris Cairns, who will act as skipper, and Stuart MacGill. In comes leading batsman Kevin Pietersen (1,024 championship runs at an average of 60.23), who was missing in May because of injury, and gone are the likes of Usman Afzaal and Andy Harris, who have had seasons to forget.

Middle-order batsman Bilal Shafayat is away captaining the England U19s, so in comes Vikram Atri. But Atri is not unknown to the Surrey attack - most of them saw him make scores of 26 and 82 not out for Loughborough UCCE at The Oval back in April. Ahead of the 20-year-old, Darren Bicknell needs no introduction to the Surrey fans, but his opening partner Guy Welton is definitely a weak link.

Another is seamer Charlie Shreck, who is averaging 43.00 runs per wicket in the championship this season. Left-armer Greg Smith (38 wickets at 23.81 runs apiece), will therefore have a lot on his shoulders again, but the key is MacGill who has already bowled 233.1 overs in his five championship outings this summer.

Assuming Graham Thorpe is fit to play, the former England left-hander will be making his 300th first-class appearance.   

After all the good things I've just said about Nottinghamshire, I'm now going to contradict myself and predict a Surrey victory; the ease of which will be determined by them winning the toss and batting first or losing it and having to chase.

Alistair Brown, Tim Murtagh and Philip Sampson are on standby should Graham Thorpe (back), Martin Bicknell (hamstring) and Jimmy Ormond (knee) fail to come through routine fitness tests in the morning. Meanwhile, Mark Butcher and Alec Stewart are up at the home of Nottinghamshire cricket, Trent Bridge, preparing for Thursday's Third Test against South Africa.

D Bicknell, G Welton, V Atri, R Warren, K Pietersen, C Cairns (capt), C Read (wk), P Franks, G Smith, S MacGill and C Shreck..

9-11 May 2003	Won By An Innings & 6 Runs	Trent Bridge
1-2 Sep 1999	Won By 10 Wickets	The Oval
19-21 Aug 1998	Won By 7 Wickets	Trent Bridge
27-30 Jun 1997	Won By 131 Runs	The Oval
22-26 Aug 1996	Match Drawn	Trent Bridge
20-24 Jul 1995	Won By 171 Runs	Guildford
21-25 Jul 1994	Won By An Innings & 231 Runs	Trent Bridge
29-31 Jul 1993	Won By 3 Wickets	The Oval
7-10 Sep 1992	Lost By 5 Wickets	Trent Bridge
21-23 Jul 1992	Lost By 3 Wickets	The Oval
4-6 Jun 1991	Match Drawn	The Oval
20-22 Jun 1990	Match Drawn	Trent Bridge

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