SURREY V YORKSHIRE at the Brit Oval (LVCC1), 18-21 APRIL 2007

To outsiders, it seemed at times this winter as if a soap opera was being acted out in Yorkshire. Craig White gave up the captaincy, which was offered to Anthony McGrath. McGrath told his employers that he was not interested in a second spell in charge. In fact, he said, he had played his last game for the county despite being contracted for a further season. Chris Adams was therefore lured away from Hove and, in October, was unveiled as the new captain and coach. David Byas, who had overseen team matters last term, was therefore surplus to requirements.

Never mind, the Tykes probably said to themselves, changes were needed, so let's look forward not back. They had not counted on Adams changing his mind just a few weeks later. But all's well that ends well. Darren Gough was stalling on a new contract to play for Essex, so Yorkshire pounced, offering him the captaincy. With Gough on board, McGrath was soon won round; changing his mind about leaving now that one of Yorkshire's favourite sons was back at Headingley. Not long after, Martyn Moxon returned to Leeds as coach, turning his back on a successful spell running affairs at Durham. All the pieces are now in place for a crack at maintaining their Division One status in the County Championship.

The Tykes would probably prefer not to be playing Surrey first up, but with Matthew Hoggard available to augment a fully fit squad, they probably stand a better chance of squaring up to the Brown Caps now, rather than later in the season when Gough's knees might be creaking and Hoggard is playing regularly for England. Admittedly, the visitors' batting looks a bit thin. Joe Sayers is still finding his feet in county cricket, nobody really knows how Younis Khan and Jacques Rudolph will blend in, but the biggest question of all is will McGrath be committed and will he really see out his contract?      

Rikki Clarke, with 95, is approaching 100 career first-class wickets, while Jimmy Ormond has 196 f-c wickets for Surrey. As for the Yorkshire contingent, Tim Bresnan (992) is closing in of 1,000 f-c runs, Simon Guy needs two more dismissals for 100 in f-c cricket and Jacques Rudolf has 19 f-c hundreds to his name. In addition, Craig White needs just 70 runs for 10,000 for the visitors.

Out of Surrey's first choice side are Ian Salisbury, who has a strained arm, and overseas signing Matt Nicholson, who is waiting until his premature twin baby boys are off the danger list before hooking up with his new team-mates. Steve Magoffin - who took 33 first-class wickets at 27.57 runs apiece for Western Australia last winter - is set to deputise for fellow Aussie, Nicholson; while Chris Schofield fills the vacancy created by Salisbury. Of the twelve announced for this match, the probability is that Mohammad Akram will miss out, which would mean the hosts lining up as follows: Newman, Batty, Ramprakash, Butcher, Clarke, Brown, Azhar Mahmood, Schofield, Ormond, Doshi and Magoffin. 

On paper, it should be Surrey. After all, Yorkshire are favourites to be relegated this season. The weather is set fair, so rain is unlikely to be a factor. But that's nothing new - the last few weeks have been remarkably dry. As a result, the pitch at The Oval is expected to take spin. In Adil Rashid and Mark Lawson, Yorkshire have two of the most promising leg spinners in the country, so, with Gough, Hoggard and Gillespie completing the bowling line-up, the Yorkies will fancy their chances. The onus, therefore, will be on Surrey's batting line-up, but if Newman and Batty can lay a solid first innings foundation, the home side will win.

C White, J Sayers, A McGrath, Younis Khan, J Rudoph, G Brophy (wk), D Gough (capt), J Gillespie, A Rashid, M Lawson and M Hoggard.

Trevor Jesty and Tim Robinson

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