Surrey v Lancashire @ The Kensington Oval 14-4-2017 to 17-4-2017
TEAM NEWS
Lancashire will be without Captain Steven Croft after being hit on the thumb during the Essex clash.
Jimmy Anderson stood in as skipper when Croft was unable to take the field on the last day, but he is also unavailable for this clash on ECB orders. The England Test ace will, however, return to county action for next weekend’s meeting with Somerset at Emirates Old Trafford.
THE OPPONENTS
Surrey completed an innings and one run victory over Warwickshire during the early stages of the fourth day on Monday.
Mark Stoneman scored a debut 165 after his winter move from Durham, underpinning a first-innings score of 454 all out.
Another Mark, the left-arm seamer Footitt, then blew the Bears away for just 91 in their reply with 6-14 from nine overs.
Jonathan Trott’s 151 in the second innings ensured Surrey didn’t have things all their own way, but Warwickshire were bowled out for 362, failing to make Gareth Batty’s side bat again.
It was some start to the season for the Londoners.
Lancashire coach Glen Chapple believes Surrey will go close to winning this year’s Championship title, but he is relishing the prospect of a “big challenge” at the Oval.
Chapple is not the only person who expects Surrey to enjoy a good season in four-day cricket, with many pundits tipping them for a first Championship title success since 2002.
“It will be a big challenge for us,” said the former all-rounder. “Surrey were already a decent team, they’ve added to that, and they’ve started like a house on fire.
“I would expect Surrey to be up there come the end of the season. We’ve just got to play better than them.”
This will be Lancashire’s second successive away game to start the campaign, although that does not faze Chapple.
“I suppose if anything, and I said this last week, there’s a better chance of getting early season good weather if you play down south. In that respect, we know we’ve got a good chance of playing four days of cricket, and that’s what you want to do.”
With all-rounder Zafar Ansari and fast bowler Stuart Meaker missing out on selection for the final XI last week – there is once again strong competition in the squad to make the final side.
Full Surrey Squad
Gareth Batty (captain)
Zafar Ansari
Scott Borthwick
Rory Burns
Sam Curran
Tom Curran
Jade Dernbach
Ben Foakes (WK)
Mark Footitt
Stuart Meaker
Kumar Sangakkara
Dominic Sibley
Mark Stoneman
Lancashire Squad
Liam Livingstone (Captain), Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Jordan Clark, Alex Davies, Haseeb Hameed, Kyle Jarvis, Simon Kerrigan, Saqib Mahmood, Ryan McLaren, Stephen Parry, Luke Procter, Dane Vilas.
Mac's view
A tough game for the Red Rose against a team who will be challening for the title, they had a good win against Warwickshire and have a very strong side, whereas we have to make do without Anderson who according to the ECB needs a rest, also without Croft who is injured therefore Livingstone is captain for the first time will be interesting to see if he is a bit more proactive than Croft who can be a bit negative as is the Coach but that is just me having a whinge.
Should bat first given we should have choice on the toss, cannot see us bowling them out twice, so best result is a draw.
TEAM NEWS
Lancashire will be without Captain Steven Croft after being hit on the thumb during the Essex clash.
Jimmy Anderson stood in as skipper when Croft was unable to take the field on the last day, but he is also unavailable for this clash on ECB orders. The England Test ace will, however, return to county action for next weekend’s meeting with Somerset at Emirates Old Trafford.
THE OPPONENTS
Surrey completed an innings and one run victory over Warwickshire during the early stages of the fourth day on Monday.
Mark Stoneman scored a debut 165 after his winter move from Durham, underpinning a first-innings score of 454 all out.
Another Mark, the left-arm seamer Footitt, then blew the Bears away for just 91 in their reply with 6-14 from nine overs.
Jonathan Trott’s 151 in the second innings ensured Surrey didn’t have things all their own way, but Warwickshire were bowled out for 362, failing to make Gareth Batty’s side bat again.
It was some start to the season for the Londoners.
Lancashire coach Glen Chapple believes Surrey will go close to winning this year’s Championship title, but he is relishing the prospect of a “big challenge” at the Oval.
Chapple is not the only person who expects Surrey to enjoy a good season in four-day cricket, with many pundits tipping them for a first Championship title success since 2002.
“It will be a big challenge for us,” said the former all-rounder. “Surrey were already a decent team, they’ve added to that, and they’ve started like a house on fire.
“I would expect Surrey to be up there come the end of the season. We’ve just got to play better than them.”
This will be Lancashire’s second successive away game to start the campaign, although that does not faze Chapple.
“I suppose if anything, and I said this last week, there’s a better chance of getting early season good weather if you play down south. In that respect, we know we’ve got a good chance of playing four days of cricket, and that’s what you want to do.”
With all-rounder Zafar Ansari and fast bowler Stuart Meaker missing out on selection for the final XI last week – there is once again strong competition in the squad to make the final side.
Full Surrey Squad
Gareth Batty (captain)
Zafar Ansari
Scott Borthwick
Rory Burns
Sam Curran
Tom Curran
Jade Dernbach
Ben Foakes (WK)
Mark Footitt
Stuart Meaker
Kumar Sangakkara
Dominic Sibley
Mark Stoneman
Lancashire Squad
Liam Livingstone (Captain), Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Jordan Clark, Alex Davies, Haseeb Hameed, Kyle Jarvis, Simon Kerrigan, Saqib Mahmood, Ryan McLaren, Stephen Parry, Luke Procter, Dane Vilas.
Mac's view
A tough game for the Red Rose against a team who will be challening for the title, they had a good win against Warwickshire and have a very strong side, whereas we have to make do without Anderson who according to the ECB needs a rest, also without Croft who is injured therefore Livingstone is captain for the first time will be interesting to see if he is a bit more proactive than Croft who can be a bit negative as is the Coach but that is just me having a whinge.
Should bat first given we should have choice on the toss, cannot see us bowling them out twice, so best result is a draw.
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