An incredible summer of cricket at the Kia Oval kicks off as Surrey face Hampshire at the Kia Oval in the Rothesay County Championship.
Play will get underway at 11:00am on all four days, with a Dukes ball being used.
SURREY SQUAD
The Three Feathers have named a 12-player squad for the first home match of the season. Tom Lawes and Cam Steel are ruled out due to injury. As an England-contracted player, Gus Atkinson’s playing time is being managed by the national side and is unavailable for this fixture.
HOW CAN I KEEP UP WITH PLAY?
The match will be broadcast live on Surrey’s YouTube channel. A link to the stream will be available on the Surrey Match Centre and social media channels. Adam Collins, Daniel Norcross, Cameron Ponsonby, Phil Walker and Yas Rana return to commentary duties for the 2025 season.
Surrey Cricket’s social media channels will provide live updates from the Kia Oval, with clips and highlights posted throughout the day. A written report and highlights will be available at the end of each day’s play.
LAST TIME OUT
Surrey took 11 points from the opening round at Essex. After losing the toss, Essex piled on 582/6dec, with Jordan Cox (117), Matt Critchley (145*) and Michael Pepper (109) scoring centuries.
Surrey fell to 180/6 before lunch on day three before Ben Foakes’ calming 92 not out helped the visitors recover and took time out of the game before they were bowled out for 365.
Essex enforced the follow on late on the third day. Surrey batted out the fourth day with Sibley scoring 66 and Foakes compiling 50 as Surrey reached 219/6 before hands were shaken at 17.37.
HAMPSHIRE
Previewed by Alex Smith – ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay
Captain: Ben Brown
Head Coach: Adi Birrell
2024 finish: Second
2024 highest run-scorer: James Vince (986)
2024 highest wicket-taker: Liam Dawson (54)
Hampshire began their season on a high, claiming a five-wicket victory against newly-promoted Yorkshire on the south coast.
Key winter moves: The winter has been tumultuous with James Vince moving to Dubai – after attacks on his family house last summer – while Mo Abbas hasn’t been retained as overseas. Experienced former Surrey top-order batter Mark Stoneman has been added to somewhat fill the Vince void, while a battery of fast bowlers will replace Abbas. Sonny Baker, who has arrived from Somerset, is one of them.
What we’re looking forward to seeing: The fastest of fast bowling attacks. Abbas’ exit frees up space for some of the quickest young talent on the circuit. Baker, John Turner, Scott Currie, Brad Wheal and Eddie Jack can all bowl in the vicinity of 90mph. Kyle Abbott will once again lead the attack, with the experienced heads of Keith Barker and James Fuller helping to oversee the crop of young quicks.
Player to watch: Tom Prest will soften the blow of Vince’s migration. He ticks the batting aesthetic, quick-scoring and slip fielding boxes, and most importantly the run scoring. Prest is quite simply a Vince clone with 24 rather than 14 on his back. Three centuries last year at an average of just over 48 suggest he could not only get out of Vince’s shadow in 2025, but eclipse it.
Final thought: Hampshire have finished in the top three in each of the past three seasons, with 2024’s second-place finish their highest since 2005. One further step shouldn’t be that big, and yet without Vince it feels massive. Ben Brown is now captain, with the likes of Nick Gubbins and the increasingly impressive Liam Dawson crucial in filling the leadership and batting vacuum. Indian-based GMR Group took over Hampshire over the winter – making them the first overseas-owned county – although little is expected to change off the field in 2025.
