Warwickshire have played at Woodbridge Road on three occasions. On the last two, in 1994 and 2004, they won en route to the championship title; while their first appearance, which they should also have won, ended prematurely due to bad light. In short, Guildford is a happier hunting ground for Warwickshire than it has been for Surrey of late. The Oval outfit have not tasted success in the championship game at Woodbridge Road since 2002. Their record since triumphing over Yorkshire by 6 wickets has been Played 10, Drawn 6 and Lost 4. But, it is, after all, the 75th anniversary of first-class cricket at Guildford.

The good news for Warwickshire is that all-rounder Keith Barker, who was one of the keys to their success in 2012, has recovered from a side strain. Meanwhile the batting, which has benefited from having Ian Bell and Jonathan Trott around, is bolstered by the return (from an ankle injury) of former skipper Ian Westwood.

Barker currently heads the Bears' championship bowling averages, with an average of 15.50 from a solitary outing. But the pick have been fellow seamers Chris Wright (16 victims at 30.18 runs apiece), Boyd Rankin and Chris Woakes. Jeetan Patel's off-spin is yet to come into its own, while Rikki Clarke has chipped in from time to time.

The major concern, in Woakes's absence, is the form of 20-year-old Tom Milnes, who has been given the nod thus far because he also offers something with the bat. Another worry is the form of opener Will Porterfield (157 runs from nine championship innings). But what Warwickshire's batting lacks in quality is more than compensated for in terms of length. Any side that has the obdurate Wright coming in at ten will take some knocking over.

Surrey's Tim Linley has 148 first-class career wickets, while Warwickshire's Chris Wright goes into this contest with 250.

A side strain has put Gareth Batty out of action for at least a month, so Surrey are on to their third captain of the season and it's only the first week of June. Vikram Solanki has been handed the reigns. Similarly, Jon Lewis has been handed a recall; unless, of course, the hosts go with both Tim Linley and Gary Keedy, which seems extremely unlikely given their lack of bite with the ball.

Even though Surrey have only lost once to Warwickshire since the Bears were last at Guildford, in 2004, it's hard to imagine confidence in the home camp being at a lower ebb at this moment in time, following yesterday's drubbing at Chelmsford. Warwickshire have also underachieved since clinching the title last summer. However, the most decisive factor, for me, is the nature of the pitch at Woodbridge Road. Batsman-friendly? Unquestionably. That said, you still have to make runs on it. Assuming Surrey can achieve said objective - after all, they have Ponting - a draw is the most likely outcome.

V Chopra, W Porterfield, I Westwood, J Troughton (capt), R Clarke, T Ambrose (wk), K Barker, T Milnes, J Patel, C Wright and B Rankin.

Martin Bodenham and Nick Cook.

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