WORCESTERSHIRE V SURREY at Worcester (SSCC1), 10-13 SEPTEMBER 2018

Bottom plays host to top. Worcestershire, who started the season abysmally and are currently propping up the Division One table, are still scrapping for the survival - which speaks volumes for their resolve. Indeed, they're far from being the only side under threat of relegation. You can make a case for any two out of Hampshire, Lancashire, Worcestershire and Yorkshire going down. But, for Surrey, it's a question of whether they will leave New Road later this week with a 48-point margin (or greater) over second-placed Somerset; whom they current lead by 43 points.

With the ball, 22-year-old all-rounder Ed Barnard (42 championship wickets at 20.64 runs apiece) and 20-year-old Josh Tongue (33 at 23.84) have had no choice but to carry Worcestershire's bowling attack this season, owing to a spate of injuries (most notably to skipper Joe Leach). Other than Barnard, Leach and Tongue no Worcestershire bowler has more than 16 wickets in this season's championship. South African left-armer Wayne Parnell has come in as overseas player and grabbed 11 in three appearances at an average of 22.36, but support for Barnard and Tongue begins and ends, in effect, with Parnell.

In the absence of Mooen Ali and an overseas batsman, the only real run providers on show currently have been Daryl Mitchell (791 championship runs at an average of 39.55) and Joe Clarke (727 at 38.26), both of whom have hit three hundreds - one of Clarke's being at the Oval, against Surrey, back in early May. Indeed, the only other century Surrey have conceded in this year's County Championship was to Hampshire's Sam Northeast in the season's opener. Coming back to the Pears, keep an eye out for 22-year part-time wicketkeeper Alex Milton, who made an unbeaten 104 in a losing cause against Somerset at Worcester in July.

Surrey v Worcestershire - First-Class Records Sheet

Surrey's Rikki Clarke (41) and Morne Morkel (46) - as well as Worcestershire's Ed Barnard (42) - are closing in on 50 first-class wickets for the season.

Jade Dernbach - who missed the recent victories over Notts at the Oval and Essex at Chelmsford with a groin strain - is named in Surrey's 13-man squad, but Jason Roy remains a notable absentee after suffering a self-inflicted facial injury shortly after being dismissed in a T20 match, nearly a month ago.

With day two and, in particular, day three at Worcester likely to see rain, Surrey's run of eight consecutive wins in the County Championship - their most victorious sequence since 1999 - looks like it could well come to a soggy end. Prediction - draw.

D.Mitchell, T.Fell, J.Clarke, A.Milton, B.D'Oliveira (capt), J.Cox (wk), E.Barnard, R.Whiteley, W.Parnell, J.Tongue and D.Pennington.

Mike Burns and Neil Mallender.

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