Nottinghamshire begin their 2016 campaign in the Specsavers County Championship with a home match against newly-promoted Surrey.

The two counties meet at Trent Bridge over four days, beginning on Sunday (11am).

Head To Head

Nottinghamshire and Surrey have met in a grand total of 244 first class matches, many of them taking place before the start of the county championship.

A grand total of 120 first class matches have been played on Nottinghamshire soil with all but one of them taking place at the county headquarters at Trent Bridge.

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 five for 62 for the visitors.

Notts lead the overall head-to-head in home matches, by 43 wins to 35, with 42 matches being drawn.

The last five Nottinghamshire victories were achieved in 1981, 1984, 1986, 1992 and 2013.

Surrey’s last five successes were in 1983, 1988, 1994, 1998 and 2003, with the five most recent draws being in 1990, 1996, 2005 and 2008 and 2012

Nottinghamshire have only tasted defeat once in their last eight matches against Surrey, winning three and drawing four.

Surrey have failed to win in any of their last four trips to Trent Bridge, despite winning the toss on three instances during that time (D3 L1).

Last Time

It’s almost three years since Surrey last visited Trent Bridge for a county championship match and the build-up was dominated by some disappointing team news.

After playing in 98 consecutive championship matches Chris Read was ruled out of the starting eleven with a neck injury. His absence enabled James Taylor to captain Nottinghamshire for the first time.

The new skipper lost the toss and Gareth Batty asked the home side to bat first. Notts made 273 for nine by stumps, with Steven Mullaney top-scoring with 68. Michael Lumb made 47 and Taylor hit 44.

One more run was added on the second morning, with Stuart Meaker finishing with figures of four for 70. Nottinghamshire’s bowling five-man bowling unit then went to work and evenly shared the wickets as Surrey fell for 207, a deficit of 67 on first innings.

Four more wickets for Meaker kept Surrey in the contest, as Notts failed to take the game away from them, being bowled out for 191 on the third day, with Samit Patel playing the main hand, with 37.

Chasing a victory target of 259, Surrey reached 73 for three when the deteriorating conditions brought a premature close to the third day but any hopes of an away victory soon disappeared on the final morning.

Paul Franks, on his way to taking three for 16, made the initial breakthrough, getting Rory Burns caught behind for 53. With Harry Gurney collecting three for 40, the visitors slid to 144 all out, leaving Notts the victors by 114 runs.

History

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.

There has always been a special bond between the two counties and a significant number of players have represented both counties. Two batsmen who later joined the staff at Trent Bridge have special reasons for remembering the 1994 match in Nottingham. Darren Bicknell and Alistair Brown shared an unbroken fifth-wicket stand of 253, with opener Bicknell reaching 235 not out and Brown ending on 134 not out. Surrey won the match by an innings, after scoring 604-4 declared.

Astonishingly, Surrey’s highest score at Trent Bridge is much, much larger than that. In 1947 they declared their first innings closed on 706-4 after four batsmen, Fletcher, Squires, Parker and Holmes all made three figure scores. Notts were able to hang on for a draw in a match that was played over the Whit weekend. Traditionally, Notts v Surrey was always played at that time of year and amassed huge crowds either side of the war.

Surrey have also had their low moments in Nottingham, notably in 1875 and 1876 when they were dismissed for just 33 and 26.

Notts have never reached a total of 600 at home to Surrey but have a double-centurion, Reg Simpson, who scored exactly 200 not out in 1949.

In 1919 George Gunn scored a century in each innings of the match and in 1937 Harold Butler took a hat-trick in the fixture.

Played For Them Both

Former Derbyshire fast bowler Mark Footitt may be in line to make his championship debut for Surrey in this match. The 30 year old moved counties during a winter which also saw him included on a full England tour for the first time.

The left-armer failed to appear in any of the Test matches in South Africa, although did appear in a first class match against South Africa A.

Born in Nottingham he played in eight first class matches for his home county, taking 21 wickets with a best of five for 45.

Apart from Darren Bicknell and Alistair Brown (mentioned above) others to represent both counties include Usman Afzaal, Hashim Amla, Greg Blewett, Luke Fletcher, Gary Keedy, Chris Lewis, Scott Newman, Dirk Nannes, Kevin O’Brien, Kevin Pietersen, Roy Swetman and Younis Khan.

Stats

Highest Team Total

Nottinghamshire: 692-7dec (Oval 2005)

Surrey: 706-4d (Trent Bridge 1947)

Highest Individual Innings:

Nottinghamshire: 238 SP Fleming (Oval 2005)

Surrey: 279* MR Ramprakash (Whitgift School 2003)

Best Bowling:

Nottinghamshire: 9-33 M McIntyre (Oval 1872)

Surrey: 8-12 R Harman (Trent Bridge 1964)

Hat-Tricks

Nottinghamshire: HJ Butler (Trent Bridge 1937)

Surrey: ST Clarke (Oval 1980)

Did You Know?

Fresh from achieving the highest score of his career (27 not out) in the match against Cambridge MCCU which finished on Thursday, Harry Gurney has particular reason for remembering a match against Surrey in 2012 as he opened the batting for the county!

On the third evening of the match there was time for just one over as Notts prepared to start their second innings. Perhaps considered expendable, the number eleven was sent out to negotiate one over, bowled by the spinner Murali Kartik.

He survived, only to complete a pair at the start of the final day.

Milestones

Nottinghamshire players approaching first class milestones are:

Brendan Taylor (7449) needs 51 runs to reach 7500 in first class cricket.

Samit Patel (245) needs 5 wickets to claim 250 in first class cricket.

Will Gidman (198) needs 2 wickets to reach 200 in first class cricket

Steven Mullaney (49) needs one more wicket to reach 50 in first class cricket.

Samit Patel (98) needs two more catches to claim 100 first class catches for Nottinghamshire

Tickets

For details on admission prices for this match and for information on becoming a county member please visit the Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club website www.trentbridge.co.uk

Coverage

With live video stream, live scorecard, written updates, photography and a link to the BBC's live radio commentary throughout the four days, Trent Bridge Live is the ideal match-day companion for every Nottinghamshire supporter.