With our 2021 County Championship schedule now confirmed, we’re looking at our history in each of the fixtures that will make up our group stage programme.
The 2021 County Championship will begin with a six-team group stage, based on final positions in the 2019 County Championship and 2020 Bob Willis Trophy.
The top two from each group after 10 four-day fixtures will go to Division One, third and fourth to Division Two and fifth and sixth to Division Three.
Surrey will face Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Leicestershire, Middlesex & Somerset in the first group stage. The first 8 rounds of matches will be played in April & May with each match starting on a Thursday.
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Kicking things off for us this year is a trip we haven’t made in a while for a red-ball fixture to Bristol to face Gloucestershire. We’ll be there between Thursday 8th & Sunday 11th April.
We’ve been travelling to Gloucestershire since 1870 for red-ball cricket but different divisions in recent years have meant that the sides have only played eight matches in the host’s county since the turn of the century. Here we’ll remember the last three, all the way back to the summer of 2011.
August 2015 – Match drawn
A heavily rain affected fixture still had highlights for a couple of players who are still at Surrey. Gloucestershire batted first but it was Tom Curran who was the star of the first day.
The seamer effectively held up one end throughout the entire innings, clocking up 25 overs. It was productive, claiming 6/61 including four of the top seven.
Surrey’s response began with starts from Rory Burns, Arun Harinath and Sam Curran (batting at three) but it was Ben Foakes who was the key player, notching up 140 from 212 balls before the rain ended the match.
June 2014 – Match drawn
Bowling Gloucestershire out for 112 in the first innings set Surrey up for a tilt at victory. Surrey’s 626/6 declared had us considering the possibility of an innings win.
Three centuries came in that huge total – Rory Burns (199), Vikram Solanki (143) & Jason Roy (121). Gloucestershire’s stubborn response denied us the win but this week is remembered for some incredible batting.
July 2011 – Surrey won by two wickets
While this match included Gareth Batty, Jade Dernbach & Jason Roy from our current squad, it was players who have since retired that stood out in this one. Both Yasir Arafat & Tim Linley took seven wickets across the match while batsman Mark Ramprakash made 141 in our first innings.
Needing 186 in our second innings to win, it was Jason Roy – batting at six – who made the vital contribution of 45 to get us over the line.
