The Festival of Red Ball Cricket awaits as Surrey take on Essex in a top-of-the-table clash at the Kia Oval.
Rory Burns’ side will be looking to go from strength to strength in the Vitality County Championship after securing a comprehensive victory over Worcestershire at New Road earlier this week.
HOW CAN I KEEP UP WITH THE MATCH?
Play will get underway at 11:00am each day, and the game will be shown live on Surrey Live Broadcast. A link to the broadcast will be placed on the Surrey Match Centre and shared on the Club’s social media channels.
Surrey Cricket’s social media will provide live coverage from The Kia Oval, with match updates and clips posted throughout. At the end of play on each day, a written report with highlights and reactions will be published.
A live text commentary section will also be available on the Match Centre.
SQUAD
Surrey have named a squad of 13 players for Essex’s visit to the Kia Oval. Tom Lawes returns, and Sai Sudharsan signed with the Club for this fixture.
As centrally contracted players, Ollie Pope and Gus Atkinson have been made unavailable by the ECB for this round of fixtures.
LAST TIME OUT
Earlier this week, Surrey returned to winning ways with a terrific performance at New Road, overcoming Worcestershire by an innings and five runs.
Fifties from Dom Sibley, Jamie Smith, and Ben Foakes set the stage for Dan Lawrence’s superb, career-best 175 which included what, at that stage, was the joint most runs conceded in an over – 38 – at the expense of Shoaib Bashir.
Lawrence was then brilliant with the ball as was seamer James Taylor, both picking up three wickets each as Surrey bowled out their hosts for 212 and enforced the follow-on.
In the second innings, led by the unwavering Jordan Clark (5/65), Surrey seamers displayed great patience and bent their back for long durations to dismiss a resilient Worcestershire for 273 and take home 22 points.
ESSEX
Essex currently sit second in the Division One standings, 12 points behind Surrey, on 125.
In their previous fixture against Durham at Chelmsford, they conceded a 248-run lead and required a gutsy 120 not out from 232 balls from Dean Elgar in the second innings to dig out a draw.
Captain: Tom Westley
Head Coach: Anthony McGrath
2023 finish: Second (Division One)
2024 highest run-scorer: Jordan Cox (763 runs)
2024 highest wicket-taker: Jamie Porter (32)
LAST TIME OUT VS ESSEX
In 2023, the only time Surrey faced Essex was at Chelmsford early in the season, where the two sides played out a hard-fought draw that proved crucial in the Three Feathers lifting the trophy at the end of September.
Gus Atkinson’s lethal 6/68 disrupted Essex’s strong start and limited them to 314 all out in the first innings. There were starts for several Surrey batters but Essex, led by Jamie Porter’s (4/50), restricted the visitors to 240 all out.
Surrey didn’t allow Essex to bat freely in the second innings in order to multiply their 74-run advantage. The hosts were contained under 200, with Jordan Clark (4/58) and Sean Abbott (3/50) inflicting most of the damage.
Asked to chase 273 in 54 overs, a carrot was dangled in front of Surrey and they decided to dash for it. Ollie Pope was spearheading the charge but once he fell for 47, Essex tightened the grip on the game and had Surrey 103/6.
Jamie Smith, however, raised his hand to dig his side out of trouble and save the match, displaying his range of dimensions as a batter in a dogged knock of 39 not out from 126 balls.
