SURREY V WORCESTERSHIRE at Guildford (LVCC1), 25-28 JULY 2007

With the Guildford Festival likely to be a wet one according to the weather forecasters, the storm clouds appear to be following Worcestershire wherever they go right now. One look at the championship table also suggests that it's sink or swim time for both of these teams.

The visitors for this game have struggled even more than their counterparts to bowl sides out this summer. Other than Kabir Ali (26 championship wickets at an average of 29.46), only Gareth Batty has taken five wickets in an innings this term. But the former Surrey all-rounder's victims have come at a cost of 43.36 runs apiece. When these two teams met at New Road in June, Nadeem Malik dismissed Mark Ramprakash twice in the match, but his total of 11 wickets have been even more pricey.

With the bat, Graeme Hick (515 runs at an average of 46.81) has led the way and will no doubt fancy Guildford's short boundary. 26-year-old opener Stephen Moore has also made two championship hundreds, and skipper Vikram Solanki will take confidence from the career best 232 he made against the Brown Caps, when Mark Butcher's men held on for a draw six weeks ago.


Jonathan Batty is five catches away from 400 in first-class cricket. Mark Butcher has 24 f-c hundreds for Surrey. Richard Clinton needs 100 runs for 1,000 f-c runs for the county. Scott Newman has 4,961 f-c runs and Mark Ramprakash needs one more hundred for 40 in total for Surrey in f-c cricket. Of the likely Worcestershire line-up, Gareth Batty has 299 first-class wickets and Graeme Hick has 134 f-c hundreds.


Surrey have announced the same squad of twelve that travelled to Headingley and secured a soggy draw against the Division One leaders.

OPPONENT DATE RESULT VENUE SURREY OPPONENT
Yorkshire 20-23 Jul 2007 Match Drawn Headingley 229 307 & 2-1
Durham 8-10 Jul 2007 Won By 6 Wickets The Oval 243 & 154-4 191 & 204
Worcestershire 6-9 Jun 2007 Match Drawn Worcester 370 & 281-9 701-6d
Kent 30 May - 2 Jun 2007 Lost By An Inns & 79 Runs Whitgift 166 & 319 564-5d
Sussex 16-19 May 2007 Match Drawn Hove 626-3d 365 & 372-3


The weather forecast is none too promising, especially for day two, but the weathermen have got in wrong in the past - like when there was an entire first day's play at Guildford in 2001 despite predictions of a deluge. But with so much rain around at the moment, the chances are that everyone will have their work cut out trying to stage some sort of a contest. Maybe the tactic for the toss-winning captain will be to bowl first in the hope of being set a target on Saturday, which they are saying will be mostly dry, though overcast.  


P Jaques, S Moore, V Solanki (capt), B Smith, G Hick, S Davies (wk), G Batty, R Sillence, Kabir Ali, D Bollinger and N Malik.


Jeremy Lloyds and Roy Palmer.

DATE RESULT VENUE TOSS DECISION SURREY WORCS
6-9 Jun 2007 Match Drawn Worcester Worcs Bat 370 & 281-9 701-6d
8-10 Aug 2006 Won By An Innings & 107 Runs Worcester Worcs Bat 576 304 & 165
17-20 May 2006 Lost By 2 Wickets The Oval Surrey Bat 501-7d & 136-3d 353-9d & 287-8
3-6 Aug 2004 Won By 68 Runs The Oval Surrey Bat 375 & 329-5d 295 & 341
23-26 Jun 2004 Match Drawn Worcester Worcs Field 155 & 187-8 400-4d
20-23 Apr 1999 Match Drawn Worcester Worcs Field 223 15-1
3-6 Jun 1998 Won By 79 Runs The Oval Surrey Bat 502-7d & 130-4d 367 & 186
18-21 Jun 1997 Match Drawn Worcester Surrey Bat 452-9d 81-1
19-22 Sep 1996 Lost By 124 Runs The Oval Surrey Field Forfeited & 299 362 & 61-1d
1-5 Jun 1995 Lost By 134 Runs Worcester Worcs Bat 183 & 152 204 & 265-7d

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