SUSSEX SHARKS V SURREY BROWN CAPS at Hove (Friends Provident Trophy), 22 MAY 2007

Surrey and Sussex have produced a quite unique sequence of results from their last 12 limited-overs meetings. The Sharks have won the last six, prior to which the Brown Caps had won six on the trot. On paper, Surrey should be fancying their chances against Sussex tomorrow. The only obvious question mark is the weather, which is forecast to be cloudy, which, in turn, will give the side that wins the toss a psychological advantage, if not a tangible one.

Other than Murray Goodwin, who contributed a vital 88 against Somerset, the Sharks’ ability to give their bowlers something to aim at has fallen to Richard Montgomerie, who made 125 at Taunton, 100 at Bristol - where Gloucestershire went on to win with one ball remaining - and 89 out of a total of 201 against Hampshire on Sunday. Looking down the list, there are some sorry looking batting averages. Chris Nash, in particular, has failed all three times he has gone to the crease and has a strike rate of just 50.8 in this year’s competition.

Sussex’s bowling has generally been tight, but then again it hasn’t had much choice. Robin Martin-Jenkins has taken 7 wickets at 12.71 runs apiece - which is just two wickets less than he took in all List A cricket last term - and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan is averaging 18.00 with the ball. But, without Michael Yardy, only Mushtaq Ahmed has taken the pace off the ball to any real effect.

James Benning is set to make his 50th appearance in List A cricket, while Ian Salisbury’s next one-day match will be his 250th. Salisbury, with 247, is also approaching 250 List A wickets. Alistair Brown has 19 hundreds. For Sussex, Robin Martin-Jenkins is two away from capturing his 200th one-day wicket.

Jimmy Ormond picked up a hamstring injury in last week’s 2nd XI match at Taunton Vale, not that he would have been in the frame to play tomorrow. Azhar Mahmood (sore back) is said to be on the road to being fully fit, so may well feature, as should fellow countryman Mohammad Akram, who has taken 7 wickets at an average of 8.14 in two FP Trophy outings this summer.

The disappointment on the faces of the Surrey players as they left the ground on Saturday afternoon tells me they will be determined to get something from this visit to Hove. Equally, James Benning, who made 77 and 102 not out for the second eleven against Somerset last week, will be keen to show Alan and Mark Butcher what they were missing against Sussex by dropping him for Richard Clinton.

R Montgomerie, C Nash, L Wright, C Adams (capt), M Goodwin, C Hopkinson, A Hodd (wk), R Martin-Jenkins, R Naved-ul-Hasan, Mushtaq Ahmed and J Kirtley.

Ian Gould and Peter Hartley. Third umpire - Neil Mallender.

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