Surrey Aim for Top Spot at Woodbridge Road

Published on: 8 Jun, 2017
Updated on: 8 Jun, 2017

Surrey’s Sam Curran celebrating a wicket – Photo: Getty Images courtesy Surrey CCC

By George Geaves

Surrey take on Essex in the County Championship for this year’s Guildford cricket festival.

The game starts on Friday, June 9 at the historic Woodbridge Road ground.

The last time the two sides met just days ago in Chelmsford, the game was a draw after Surrey’s Kumar Sangakkara batted brilliantly to dig his side out of danger. The Brown Caps will be vying to go one better this time around and go top of the Championship again. Surrey

Surrey has drawn their last four games so they will be hoping to break this run and get back to winning ways. But a draw would not be such a bad result for “The Rey” as it would keep them in the mix at the top of the table. Their main priority will be to avoid defeat and if this goes well then they can push for victory.

Surrey will be at almost full strength for the game with Ben Foakes, Tom Curran and Sam Curran all being available after their stint with the England Lions. All-rounder Sam Curran made 90 in Surrey’s first innings in their last game and he will be hoping to turn this good form into his maiden county century.

Kumar Sangakkara has also been in scintillating form this year and is averaging 109 in the County Championship after five games, with a high score of 200 against Essex. Named as County Championship player of the month for May Sangakkara was will be the one to watch at Woodbridge Road on Friday.

Surrey skipper Gareth Batty had a slight injury and was rested for the last game and it has not been confirmed if he will fit to play. Amar Virdi was the man to replace Batty and if the Surrey captain is still out then Virdi will look to build on his impressive Surrey debut.

Former England captain Alastair Cook will be playing for Essex at Guildford as England do not have a test match until July. Cook has been in good form for Essex and he will be pushing to continue this and put on a batting masterclass for the Guildford crowd.

Essex’s Jamie Porter recently received his first England Lions call up after impressing so far this season so he will be the bowler that Surrey needs to respect if they are to win the game. Porter took nine wickets against Surrey last time out.

But if Surrey win this game they will be top of the County Championship and they’ll be in a strong position to seriously challenge for the title this year. The Guildford

The Guildford Festival is sure to be fantastic this year and Surrey will be confident of impressing the crowd at Guildford.

Predicted line-ups:

Surrey: Mark Stoneman, Rory Burns, Scott Borthwick, Kumar Sangakkara, Dom Sibley, Ben Foakes, Sam Curran, Tom Curran, Gareth Batty, Stuart Meaker, Mark Footit.

Essex: Alastair Cook, Nick Browne, Tom Westley, Dan Lawrence, Ravi Bopara, Ryan Ten Doeschate, James Foster, Simon Harmer, Neil Wagner, Matthew Quinn, Jamie Porter.

Predicted result: Surrey win