After three weeks of white ball cricket, Nottinghamshire return to county championship action on Sunday 19 June 2016, when they travel to The Oval to play Surrey.

The contest will mark the halfway point of the championship season, with both sides looking for an upturn in fortunes.

Surrey sit at the bottom of the Division One table, with 50 points, whilst Notts are two places better off, having picked up 69 points, with a win over this week’s opposition already banked this season.

 

Head To Head

Nottinghamshire and Surrey have met on 245 occasions in first class cricket, with 91 of the matches being drawn.

Surrey shade the head-to-head record, with a total of 83 victories, whilst Notts have been successful on 71 occasions, most recently in April, when the sides met at Trent Bridge.

Surrey have hosted the contest on 124 occasions, winning 48 (most recently 1999, 2003 and 2012).

Notts have won 27 times (the last three victories being in 1992, 2005 and 2008).

Of the 49 draws, the three most recent came in 1989, 1991 and 2013.

Apart from the 1854 match, which was staged at Broadwater Park, Godalming, the three matches at Woodbrige Road, Guildford (1974, 1989 and 1995) and the 2003 meeting at Whitgift School, Croydon, all of the fixtures in Surrey have been played at The Oval.

 

Last Time

Notts haven’t played a county championship match at The Oval since 2013, a match that saw Ricky Ponting bow out of first class cricket.

The former Australian Test match captain denied Nottinghamshire with a second innings century, ensuring that Surrey would hang on for a draw after they had been heavily outplayed over the first half of the contest.

Three wickets from Ajmal Shahzad helped dismiss the home side for only 198 in their first innings, with very little support coming for Rory Burns and Steven Davies, who both hit half-centuries.

Notts established a first innings advantage of 212 after Steven Mullaney scored 104 at the top of the order and Samit Patel weighed in with 110 in the middle of the innings.

Faced with a huge deficit, Surrey were indebted to Ponting’s unbeaten 168, to help them to safety. He batted for exactly seven hours, facing 319 balls, with 18 fours.

Despite chipping regularly away at the other end – Patel took three for 109 - the visitors ran out of time and Surrey were able to declare in the final hour on 395 for eight.

 

History

 

1880: Tuesday 27th July 1880 was a good day for two of Nottinghamshire’s bowlers. Fred Morley’s seven for nine, and three for six from Alf Shaw, condemned Surrey to an all-out total of just 16 at The Oval – the joint-lowest total ever against Notts.

 

1891: Notts fielded a father and son combination against Surrey at The Oval, with 55 year old Richard Daft returning to the county side after an eight year gap, to help a side handicapped by injury. Neither Richard, nor his 25 year old son Harry Butler Daft, had a match to remember with dad making scores of 12 and 2, with his son contributing only 5 and 0 in an innings defeat.

1939: The highest individual score ever made by a Nottinghamshire batsman was made at The Oval in 1939. Walter Keeton scored 312 not out – but his runs were scored against Middlesex, rather than Surrey, with Lord’s hosting an Eton v Harrow match.

2005: Nottinghamshire bettered any score they had ever achieved away from Trent Bridge when they visited Surrey at The Oval and made 692 for seven declared. Captain Stephen Fleming scored 238 not out, Jason Gallian made 141 and former Surrey batsman Darren Bicknell added 91 against his old county. The total was surpassed with the county’s fourth-highest of all time two years later when 791 was scored against Essex at Chelmsford

 

Stats

Highest Team Total:

Notts: 692-7dec (The Oval 2005)

Surrey: 706-4dec (Trent Bridge 1947)

Highest Individual Score:

Notts: 238 SP Fleming (The Oval 2005)

Surrey: 279* MR Ramprakash (Whitgift School 2003)

Best Bowling:

Notts: 9-33 M McIntyre (The Oval 1872)

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

Hat-Tricks:

Notts: HJ Butler (Trent Bridge 1937)

Surrey: ST Clarke (The Oval 1980)

 

Played for Them Both

Nottinghamshire’s Luke Fletcher spent a brief period on loan with Surrey last season, playing in three county championship matches. The fast bowler took eight wickets at an average of 19, with a best performance of four for 58. He scored 39 runs, with a best of 23.

Amongst the many other players to represent both counties are, Usman Afzaal, Hashim Amla, Darren Bicknell, Alistair Brown, Greg Blewett, Mark Footitt, Gary Keedy, Chris Lewis, Scott Newman, Dirk Nannes, Kevin O’Brien, Kevin Pietersen, Roy Swetman and Younis Khan.

 

Did You Know?

When Notts played at The Oval in 2012 their scorecard listing showed No.11 as being Harry Gurney and No.12 Neil Edwards.

At the halfway stage of the match Alex Hales was summoned away to join up with an England one-day squad and he was officially replaced in the match by Edwards.

Notts second innings began just before the close of the third day. 

With time allowing for just one over to be bowled before the end of play, Gurney was sent out as nightwatchman to face Murali Kartik.

Edwards opened with him – a true case of a side reversing their batting order!

 

Milestones

Nottinghamshire players approaching milestones this week are:

Brendan Taylor (7846) needs a further 154 runs to reach 8,000 in first class cricket.

Jake Ball (480) needs a further 20 runs to reach 500 in first class cricket.

 

Tickets

Admission prices for this match (as displayed on the official Surrey County Cricket Club website www.kiaoval.com ) are: Adults £15.00 Under 16 £1.00.

All other matchday information is available on the website.

 

Coverage

For live scorecards, updates and a link to the BBC's live commentary, Trent Bridge Live is your ideal matchday companion.