YORKSHIRE V SURREY at Scarborough (LVCC)
11-14 JULY 2022

Despite just one victory from their 7 championship games to date, Yorkshire are fifth in Division One with the same number of points (96) as Essex, who have won three, but also lost three. Surrey remain top, having played eight, plus their cushion of 16 points over second-placed Hampshire puts them, seemingly, in pole position for the title.

As with the Vitality Blast quarter-final between these two, England's white-ball series with India will impact this week's championship clash at Scarborough, where all 14 four-day contests since June 2013 (of which the hosts have won eight) have ended in comfortable successes for the victors.

The current T20I and ODI rubbers mean Surrey will be without Sam Curran and Reece Topley, while the hosts will miss Harry Brook and Dawid Malan.

With Ben Coad (groin) and Matthew Fisher (back) sidelined, Yorkshire's bowling attack has been led this term by Jordan Thompson (25 championship wickets at 30.88 runs apiece) and skipper Steven Patterson (20 at 27.00), abetted by an overseas.

Filling that slot for this game is West Indies quick Shannon Gabriel, who, across stints with Worcestershire (in 2015) and Gloucestershire (in 2019), averages 33 with the ball in championship cricket.

While Yorkshire's four-day batting has been in decent order, they will only be in a position to call on three batters averaging over thirty for this clash - 20-year-old Matthew Revis (73.00), 21-year-old George Hill (45.40) and Jordan Thompson (34.16), who, since making his first-class debut against Surrey at Guildford three years ago, has become a permanent fixture for the Tykes.

Curiously, the hosts have resisted bringing in Finlay Bean, who recently broke the record, set by Marcus Trescothick in 1997, for the highest individual score in the Second XI Championship. Bean hit an astonishing 441, batting for 712 minutes, in a second team game for Yorkshire against Notts at the end of last month.

Surrey v Yorkshire - First-Class Records Sheet

Ben Foakes (6,812) is starting to eye up 7,000 first-class career runs, while Jamie Overton is 31 shy of a 2,000th. Dan Worrall (249) is on the brink of a 250th f-c wicket. Of those in the home dressing room, off-spinner Dom Bess (196) is closing in on 200 first-class career wickets. Will Fraine (893 runs) and Jordan Thompson (886) are approaching batting landmarks. If he plays, 19-year-old Ben Cliff will be making his professional debut.

Not for the first time this season, Surrey are forced to mix and match. Gus Atkinson is out with a fractured hand, Jordan Clark (side strain) remains out of the reckoning, Ollie Pope is being rested (at the request of England's management), plus Sam Curran and Reece Topley are on international duty. At least there's one positive - Ben Foakes is over his bout of Covid-19. Meanwhile, in other news, off-spinner Amar Virdi has joined Somerset on loan.

Surrey have bittersweet recent memories of Scarborough, where they won by 7 wickets en route to the championship title in 2018, but where they also collapsed spectacularly (from 157-2 to 194 all out) the following season. On this occasion, there's every chance of a result, with rain a non-factor. Despite the absence of key players on both sides, the visitors would appear to have the slight edge.

A.Lyth, G.Hill, W.Fraine, J.Wharton, J.Tattersall (wk), J.Thompson, D.Bess, M.Revis, M.Waite, S.Patterson (capt) and S.Gabriel.

Tom Lungley and Chris Watts.

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