Nottinghamshire meet Surrey at Trent Bridge this week in the LV= County Championship. Both counties would happily like to go back to the start of the season and begin the campaign again, after not properly firing in their four-day fixtures so far. Notts have lost both of their home matches but managed to win away against Derbyshire. Surrey have played a game more than Notts and are yet to secure their first victory of 2013, having drawn their opening three matches before losing to Durham earlier this week.

Head to head

This is a fixture that has its roots right back in the 19th century, with the debut meeting taking place at Trent Bridge in 1852, with the home county triumphing by 10-wickets. That was the start of a grand total of 119 first class matches that have been played in

Nottinghamshire, with all but one of them taking place at the county headquarters. The one exception was in 1973 when wet weather severely disrupted a fixture at the Town Ground in Worksop. On the opening day, a Saturday, both Mike Harris and skipper Mike Smedley scored hundreds for Notts, with Robin Jackman, now a well-respected commentator on South African television, returning figures of 5-62.

Notts lead the overall head-to-head in home matches, by 42 wins to 35, with 42 matches drawn, but haven’t tasted victory since 1992. Since then Surrey have built up a seven match unbeaten run at Trent Bridge, winning three and drawing the other four clashes.

Last Meeting

The corresponding fixture last year won’t be fondly remembered by too many people, particularly those who attended on the second and third days as no play was possible due to rain.

Put in, Notts made 328 during a first innings which began on the first morning and ended on the fourth. Chris Read top-scored with 98 and Stuart Meaker claimed figures of 5-78 for the visitors. Unable to agree on a last day run chase the sides just settled on collecting bonus points as Surrey closed on 252-6 with Jason Roy making 83.

The return at The Oval went the way of Surrey, who manufactured a convincing 195-run victory. Sam Wood collected his first three wickets in championship cricket and Harry Gurney not only managed to dismiss Kevin Pietersen, he also opened the batting, as nightwatchman, in Nottinghamshire’s second innings.

Stats

Notts have posted scores of 500 or more on four occasions against Surrey but each instance has been at The Oval, with their 692-7 declared in 2005 their largest.

In 1947 Surrey scored 706-4 declared at Trent Bridge with four batsmen recording hundreds; David Fletcher (194), Stan Squires (154), Errol Holmes (122no) and John Parker (108no).

The highest individual score by a Nottinghamshire batsman is Steven Fleming’s 238, made at Surrey’s headquarters in 2005. Reg Simpson’s unbeaten 200 in 1949 is the only instance of a Notts batsman registering a double-hundred at home.

Mark Ramprakash holds the record for the highest Surrey score v Notts, making 279 not out in the 2003 fixture at Whitgift School in Croydon.

The highest individual score made by a Surrey batsman in Nottingham is by Darren Bicknell, who scored an unbeaten 235 in 1994. Four other batsmen, all England internationals, have scored double-hundreds for the same county at Trent Bridge; Andy Ducat, Jack Hobbs, Peter May and John Edrich. Three Nottinghamshire opening batsmen have carried their bats throughout a completed innings at home against Surrey; William Oscroft (1865), William Scotton (1886) and Jason Gallian (2003).

Martin McIntyre’s 9-33 at The Oval in 1872 is the best performance by a Notts bowler, with Harold Butler claiming 8-15 in 1937, the best at Trent Bridge. Butler’s achievement also included a hat-trick.

Played For Both

Usman Afzaal, who made three Test appearances for England in 2001, left Notts after the 2003 season. He spent four years with Northants before joining Surrey in 2008.

 

Kevin Pietersen

 

Other players to represent both counties in recent times include Darren Bicknell, Chris Lewis, Younis Khan, Scott Newman, Alistair Brown, Dirk Nannes and Kevin Pietersen.

History

In 1948 a ground record crowd of 35,000 flocked in to Trent Bridge on the May Bank Holiday Monday to see the second day of a match between Notts and Surrey. They witnessed centuries from Joe Hardstaff junior and Walter Keeton move the home side to a total of 420-9 declared, a first innings lead of just one. A day later the pair combined again to seal a thrilling four-wicket victory.

The last four Nottinghamshire home wins against Surrey came in 1981, 1984, 1986 and 1992. The visitors last four successes were in 1988, 1994, 1998 and 2003, with the most recent draws being 1996, 2005, 2008 and last season.

Bracegirdle's Interesting Fact

The lowest first class score made against Nottinghamshire is 16, jointly held by Derbyshire (1879) and by Surrey, who were dismissed for that paltry total at The Oval a year later. Fred Morley took 7-9 and Alf Shaw claimed 3-6 for Notts.

Milestones

Chris Read has claimed 749 victims for Nottinghamshire (712 catches and 37 stumpings).

On the overall list of dismissals he remains in 4th place, some way adrift of the top three, yet on catches alone he needs only 26 more to reach the top of the tree.

For Surrey, in first class cricket, Vikram Solanki needs only 50 runs to reach 17,000, whilst Gareth Batty has taken 494 wickets and Gary Wilson has scored 1493 runs.

Team news

Nottinghamshire will be forced into at least two changes from the side that played against Durham in their last championship fixture. Graeme Swann and Stuart Broad are confirmed absentees, as both will be on England duty at Lord’s.

Mick Newell, Director of Cricket, has indicated that the balance of the side will revert to four recognised seamers, so the likes of Ben Phillips, Paul Franks and Jake Ball will all be hoping for their first championship outing of the season, with Harry Gurney, Andy Carter and Ajmal Shahzad also in contention.

Notts will still be without the injured Andre Adams, who continues his recovery from a calf injury.

Surrey were dealt a major blow to their hopes this season when South African Test star Graeme Smith had to return home last week with an ankle injury which will require surgery.

They rested both Jade Dernbach and Chris Tremlett from the starting eleven which featured in their most recent contest, so both internationals may return for the Trent Bridge match.

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