SURREY V NOTTINGHAMSHIRE at the Kia Oval (RCC)
20-23 AUGUST 2026

Seventh plays host not only to the current leaders but also the defending county champions. Since these two sides met at Trent Bridge in May, Surrey have lost two out of three while Notts followed up a draw away to Hampshire with a heavy defeat to Somerset and an equally emphatic victory over Essex, at Chelmsford.

Of those still in with a tilt at this year's title, Surrey's championship run-in looks the hardest, with just a single match to come against one of the bottom three in the Division One table as it stands. Leaders Notts have the advantage of three (at home to Leicestershire (2-5 Sep), Hampshire (8-11 Sep) and Yorkshire (24-27 Sep)).

If this year's Festival of Red Ball Cricket can come anywhere near matching intensity of the corresponding fixture in 2025, we're in for a right battle. Notts' 20-run victory effectively sealed the destiny of the title. This time around, however, the visitors will not have the services of Josh Tongue to call on. Tongue's 5-100 on the final day of last summer's penultimate contest was absolutely pivotal in terms of polishing off the Surrey tail.

Many still point to Liam Patterson-White's solitary wicket on the final afternoon as providing the shift in momentum. The 27-year-old slow left-armer is currently Notts' leading wicket-taker in the Champo, with 32 victims at 23.71 runs apiece.

With the bat, Joe Clarke (815 championship runs at an average of 62.69) can count himself unlucky not to be talked about in terms of an England recall. Jack Haynes is averaging 51.63 and Ben Slater 45.23. But in the absence of Ben Duckett, much will depend on Haseeb Hameed, Lyndon James and Kyle Verreynne discovering some late season form. 

Surrey v Nottinghamshire - First-Class Records Sheet

If he plays, Mahipal Lomror will be making his Surrey debut. Lomror will start with 3,836 first-class career runs to his name, while Matt Fisher (198 f-c wickets) and Tom Lawes (96) will go into this game eyeing up a 200th and 100th wicket respectively. Turning to Notts... Ben Martindale looks set to make his first-class debut, while fellow batters Haseeb Hameed (8,982) and Ben Slater (9,931) stand every chance of passing 9,000 and 10,000 f-c career runs. Ollie Stone has 191 first-class wickets and Kyle Verreynne 394 f-c dismissals as wicketkeeper and fielder.

Surrey welcome back Ben Foakes, who has not played since the end of April, prior to which he was averaging 96 with the bat. Mahipal Lomror - a batting all-rounder - will join fellow countryman, and spinner, Rahul Chahar as the hosts' other overseas representative. Gus Atkinson, Dan Lawrence and Jamie Smith are on England Test duty, but Matt Fisher and Ollie Pope, who were in the squad to play Pakistan, are available.

The first day comes with the threat of rain, but thereafter the weather in South London looks set fair, but a feature of recent matches at the Oval has been how difficult the bowlers have found it to take wickets. Notts continue to look like the cream in Division One, even though their lead at the top of the table is just 5 points. A draw would probably suit both sides at this stage, so that's what I'm going with.

H.Hameed (capt), B.Slater, F.McCann, J.Clarke, J.Haynes, K.Verreynne (wk), L.James, L.Patterson-White, B.Hutton, D.Pennington and O.Stone.

Michael Gough and Paul Pollard.

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