After the buzz of three back-to-back home Vitality Blast fixtures, Surrey return to the enduring battle of the LV= Insurance County Championship as Lancashire travel south to The Kia Oval.
HOW CAN I KEEP UP WITH THE GAME
Every ball from this game will be broadcast for free on Surrey’s YouTube channel.
Surrey’s social media pages will post regular updates, with highlights and a report being published at the end of each day at kiaoval.com.
Tickets for all four days can be purchased online here.
SURREY SQUAD
Surrey have named a 14-player squad for the visit of Lancashire.
LAST TIME OUT
In a momentous game at Canterbury, Surrey chased down the second-highest target in the history of the LV= Insurance County Championship with relative ease and defeated Kent by five wickets, completing the double over their oldest rivals as well as consolidating their lead at the summit of the competition table.
Electing to bat first, Kent found themselves in trouble on the first morning due to some relentless bowling from Sean Abbott, stumbling to a score of 41/5. However, a fighting 133 from Jordan Cox was suitably supported by Joey Evison (58) and Wes Agar (51), which took the hosts to 301 all out.
Abbott was the biggest threat for Kent in the first innings and he finished with figures of 4/52, while Jordan Clark and Gus Atkinson also picked up two wickets apiece.
In their reply, Surrey fell well short of Kent’s score, ending with 145 all out, with Abbott (34) top-scoring for the Three Feathers. Matt Quinn and Agar claimed three wickets each for the host.
Leading by 156 runs, Kent piled on 344 runs in their second innings and set a target of 501 runs for Surrey, thanks to a stylish 78 from Tawanda Muyeye and an attacking 72 from Hamidullah Qadri. Clark bowled impressively throughout the innings, and it was reflected in his figures of 5/79.
Three extraordinary centuries from Dom Sibley (140 not out off 415 balls), Jamie Smith (114 off 77 balls), and Ben Foakes (124 off 211 balls) ensured that Surrey created history in Canterbury.
Like a glue to Surrey’s herculean chase, Sibley batted for 146.1 overs on his way to scoring the slowest century in the history of the competition, in terms of time and balls. Smith’s blistering knock as well as Foakes’ composed century complimented Sibley’s efforts perfectly.
LANCASHIRE
Lancashire sit seventh in the LV= Insurance County Championship table with 68 points. However, they are yet a lose a red-ball game this season. Out of six matches, the Red Rose have drawn five and won one.
Their sole victory arrived away against title-aspirants Hampshire, which was also the last time Lancashire took the field in the Championship. Notably, opener Phil Salt scored a first-innings century as Lancashire ultimately secured a six-wicket win that was majorly founded on a disciplined bowling performance.
Batters such as Josh Bohannon, Daryl Mitchell – one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year, and Tom Hartley are all averaging above 50, mitigating the loss of captain-and-opener Keaton Jennings, who was averaging 94.5 but was forced out with a hamstring injury in early May.
Seamer Tom Bailey is the leading wicket-taker for the Red Rose, with 21 scalps, while his bowling partner William Williams is two wickets behind him.
LAST TIME OUT VS LANCASHIRE
The previous encounter between these two sides was when the Three Feathers made the trip north to begin their 2023 campaign at the start of April.
Cam Steel (141 & 31) and Ben Foakes (76 & 103 not out) scored heavily in that fixture, which finished as a high-scoring draw.
Surrey posed a huge score of 442 in their first innings, courtesy of Steel’s maiden Surrey century as well as valuable contributions from Foakes, Jamie Smith (54), and Sean Abbott (42).
A tremendous display of fast bowling by Abbott, who boasted figures of 5/50, restricted Lancashire’s reply to 291, 151 runs behind the visitors. Captain Keaton Jennings (76) was the best Lancashire batter of the innings.
Foakes benefitted from the foundation laid by Rory Burns’ important half-century as the wicket-keeper-batter went on to score 103 at more than run a ball. Scoring at a rate of nearly 4.5, Surrey finished 292/6 declared and asked the hosts to chase 444 runs in the final innings.
A battling 108 from Josh Bohannon and an equally valuable 56 not out off 195 balls from Steven Croft took Lancashire to 247/3, which proved enough for them to avoid defeat at the Emirates Old Trafford.
