One point separates Surrey and Nottinghamshire in the Rothesay County Championship title race as the pair prepare to do battle at the Kia Oval this week
Play gets underway at 10:30pm and the match will be broadcast on YouTube and Sky Sports Cricket.
HOW CAN I KEEP UP WITH PLAY?
The match will be broadcast live on the Surrey YouTube channel and Sky Sports Cricket. A link will be available on the Kia Oval Match Centre and the Club’s social media channels. Video highlights, a written match report and the Oval and Out podcast will be available at the end of each day of play, with clips and updates available on Surrey’s social media channels.
SURREY SQUAD
Will Jacks and Sam Curran are away with England’s white-ball squad for the T20 series with Ireland.
All-rounder Tom Curran comes in to the squad for this week’s match. Cameron Steel will miss the rest of the 2025 season due to an ankle injury.
SURREY SQUAD
Will Jacks, Jamie Smith and Sam Curran are away with England’s white-ball squad for the T20 series with Ireland.
All-rounder Tom Curran comes in to the squad for this week’s match. Cameron Steel will miss the rest of the 2025 season due to an ankle injury.
SECOND XI
Surrey’s Second XI will face Worcestershire in the Second XI Championship Final after beating Hampshire by 75 runs on Friday.
The match will take place at Loughborough from Tuesday to Friday this week.
LAST TIME OUT
Rain frustrated Surrey once again last week as we took 11 points from a draw with Warwickshire.
Half-centuries by Rory Burns, Ollie Pope and an unbeaten 72 by Ryan Patel took Surrey to 246 after being sent in by the visitors. Tom Lawes starred with the ball, taking 4/42 as Warwickshire were bowled out for 248 – a lead of just two runs.
Rain frustrated Surrey on the final two days of the match, but Dom Sibley – who had to retire not out due to injury, hit an unbeaten century as Surrey put on 391/8dec to set up a fourth innings chase. Warwickshire required 390 runs from the final 76 overs of the match. However, the rain once again frustrated Surrey as most of the final afternoon was taken away and the teams shook hands with the Bears 105/1 from 39 overs.
NOTTINGHAMSHIRE
The Outlaws have enjoyed a fantastic 2025 season and sit just one point behind Surrey heading into the penultimate round of fixtures. They have won five matches, with their most recent win coming last week in a tense affair at Worcestershire.
Preview at the start of the 2025 season by Jon Culley – ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay
Captain: Haseeb Hameed
Head Coach: Peter Moores
2024 finish: Eighth
2025 highest run-scorer: Haseeb Hameed (1,108)
2025 highest wicket-taker: Brett Hutton (28)
Key winter moves: South African seamer Dane Paterson’s move to Middlesex after 180 wickets in four seasons at Trent Bridge came as a surprise, although international cricket may now limit his availability. Australia’s 24-year-old pacy all-rounder Fergus O’Neill (four matches in April) and Pakistan quick Mohammad Abbas (six rounds, in May and September) arrive as overseas bowlers. Conor McKerr from Surrey further boosts the seam stock. South African wicketkeeper-batter Kyle Verreynne can offer significant middle-order runs.
What we’re looking forward to seeing: Remember Josh Tongue? Some 20 months after his move from Worcestershire to Trent Bridge was announced, the 27-year-old pace bowler is at last ready to make his Nottinghamshire debut after a torrid time with injuries that has restricted him to just 12 first-class matches since June 2021. As a contracted England player, his workload will be controlled but at least three appearances in the first block of Rothesay County Championship fixtures is on the cards.
Player to watch: After he burst on the scene with 22 wickets in four matches at the end of last season, Nottinghamshire accept it will be hard to keep record-breaking 17-year-old off-spinner Farhan Ahmed out of their line-up irrespective of the need to manage his physical development. Even with talented leggie Calvin Harrison and quality left-arm spinner Liam Patterson-White offering competition, Farhan is in pole position to be the side’s No 1 choice as specialist slow bowler.
Final thought: After looking more like relegation candidates than title prospects since returning to Division One two seasons ago, Nottinghamshire are sensibly not setting their ambitions higher than finishing in the top half of the table in 2025. Although they have a decent hand of bowlers, more is needed from the batters, particularly the middle order, and particularly in the first innings, where they have fallen notably short.
