SURREY V SUSSEX at the Kia Oval (LVCC1), 5-8 APRIL 2012

Surrey have not beaten Sussex over four days since the end of 2004, but with the registration of Steve Magoffin, Sussex's overseas player, still going through, Monty Panesar on international duty and Luke Wright caught up in the IPL, the visitors have a few chinks in their armour for Rory Hamilton-Brown's men to exploit.

The Martlets' batting line-up has a nice mix of youth and experience about it. Joe Gatting and Luke Wells being the youth; Murray Goodwin (1,372 championship runs at an average of 52.76 in 2011), Ed Joyce, Chris Nash and skipper Mike Yardy providing the experience. However, the bowling, which will rely heavily on Monty Panesar this summer, as it did last, appears to lack a cutting edge. James Anyon and Amjad Khan did an adequate job last season, but both averaged the wrong side of thirty runs per victim. Aside from Panesar, the main spin threat was provided by Nash, who chipped in with eleven championship wickets at 26.45 runs apiece.


Jon Lewis and Jacques Rudolph are set to make their Surrey debuts. Lewis is two wickets away from 800 in first-class cricket, while Sussex's James Anyon is four away from 200. Also, for the visitors, Joe Gatting has 978 f-c runs, while Luke Wells has 951.


The absence of Steven Davies and Kevin Pietersen (both on international duty) plus Chris Tremlett (back) means there will be a few alterations. Chris Jordan, who had a pretty good match, with both bat and ball, against Leeds/Bradford MCCE, seems likely to open the batting with Rudolph, while Rory Burns has been confirmed as the stand-in gloveman. It will be very interesting to see who misses out in the seam department.

OPPONENT DATE RESULT VENUE SURREY OPPONENT
Derbyshire 12-14 Sep 2011 Won By An Inns & 126 Runs The Oval 468 190 & 152
Essex 7-10 Sep 2011 Won By 109 Runs Chelmsford 315 & 286 253 & 239
Northamptonshire 31 Aug - 3 Sep 2011 Won By 333 Runs Northampton 269 & 410-6d 194 & 152
Leicestershire 23-25 Aug 2011 Won By 10 Wickets Leicester 343 & 111-0 167 & 286
Kent 10-12 Aug 2011 Lost By 265 Runs Canterbury 127 & 104 266 & 230


Looking at the weather forecast for the Easter weekend, this match will be more like an old-fashioned three-dayer. Now that Surrey are back in Division One, I expect the wickets at the Oval will be much better. What am I getting around to saying? My gut feeling is this one will be a draw, which is a shame because Sussex, with no Panesar look beatable. 


C Nash, E Joyce, L Wells, M Goodwin, M Yardy (capt), J Gatting, B Brown (wk), Naved Arif, A Khan, J Anyon and W Beer.


Nick Cook and Richard Illingworth.

DATE RESULT VENUE TOSS DECISION SURREY SUSSEX
9-12 Aug 2010 Match Drawn Guildford Surrey Field 292 217 & 275-6d
15-18 Apr 2010 Lost By 10 Wickets Hove Sussex Field 205 & 243 416 & 33-0
20-23 Aug 2008 Match Drawn The Oval Surrey Bat 455 & 171-7d 328 & 154-3
30 Apr - 3 May 2008 Match Drawn Hove Surrey Field 400-5d 475 & 13-0
21-24 Aug 2007 Abandoned The Oval No toss made - - -
16-19 May 2007 Match Drawn Hove Surrey Bat 626-3d 365 & 372-3
3-5 Aug 2005 Lost By 5 Wickets Hove Surrey Bat 248 & 254 378 & 125-5
13-16 Apr 2005 Match Drawn The Oval Sussex Bat 402-5d 370
16-19 Sep 2004 Won By 37 Runs Hove Surrey Bat 283 & 311 271 & 286
16-19 Apr 2004 Match Drawn The Oval Surrey Bat 304 & 254-9 493
30 Jul - 2 Aug 2003 Match Drawn Hove Sussex Bat 355 & 114-1 429 & 302-5d
30 May - 2 Jun 2003 Won By 113 Runs The Oval Surrey Bat 480 & 233-3d 307 & 293
8-11 Aug 2002 Lost By 4 Wickets Hove Sussex Field 193 & 296 203 & 288-6
19-22 Apr 2002 Won By 10 Wickets The Oval Surrey Bat 575-8d & 116-0 308 & 379
18-21 Aug 1999 Won By 207 Runs Hove Surrey Bat 224 & 315-7d 115 & 217

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