Surrey CCC Match Preview - 02/08/2022

Leicestershire begin their 2022 Royal London One-Day Cup Campaign with three successive matches on the road, kickstarted by Tuesday’s opener against Surrey at Guildford.

The fixture will be the Club’s second List A visit to Woodbridge Road, after a four-wicket John Player’s County League (JPL) win back in August 1972.

The Running Foxes will be without Colin Ackermann, Callum Parkinson, Rehan Ahmed and Ben Mike, who have all received Hundred call-ups, but will be buoyed by overseas stars Wiaan Mulder and Beuran Hendricks, as well as the return of white-ball contacted Arron Lilley.

Nat Bowley, Tom Scriven, Scott Steel and Roman Walker are all in contention for their List A debuts for the Club.

On a grander scale, Surrey’s squad has been decimated by Hundred picks, affording opportunities to some of the Club’s younger playing contingent. Ben Geddes has been given the honour of leading the side.

Last Time We Met:

You don’t have to rewind too far to find the last RL50 meeting between the two teams. It came last August in a thrilling encounter at Uptonsteel County Ground, with the Foxes emerging victorious by just one run on DLS.

Harry Swindells hit a List A career-best 75, while an unbeaten 33 from Ed Barnes helped the Foxes post 253 for nine from their 50 overs.

Rain reduced Surrey’s target to 227 from 39 overs. The visitors were coasting to the aforementioned total, before four wickets in seven balls, including three in a Ben Mike over, helped the Foxes sneak home by the narrowest of margins.

In Focus:

Lewis Hill will prove a pivotal player in the Foxes’ fortunes in this campaign. He assumed the captaincy role in the format last summer, but was unperturbed by the added responsibility, topping the team’s run scoring charts with 322 runs at 46.00, including two centuries.

He comes into the competition in healthy form, having struck 84 off 66 balls and a quickfire 19 in the two preparation fixtures. It adds to his 38.36 average at a strike rate above 70 in the County Championship, as well as 195 runs striking at 132.65 in the Vitality Blast this summer.

Opposition Player to Watch:

In a much-changed Surrey squad, Ryan Patel remains a persistent threat. The 24-year-old has acclimatised seamlessly to List A cricket, averaging 49.22 and striking at an impressive 110.47.

The left-hander averaged 55.14 striking at 113.19 during last season’s competition, including a 27-ball fifty in the thriller at Grace Road. With the traditional poster boys of Surrey’s white-ball firepower absent due to Hundred commitments, Patel will be crucial to their hopes of glory this time around.

Although, the Foxes will be hoping he succumbs to a similar fate to Sunday’s defeat to Buckinghamshire, in which Patel was dismissed for a golden duck during the opening over.

Squad:

Leicestershire Foxes: Bowley, Hendricks, Hill *, Kimber, Lilley, Mulder, Patel, Scriven, Steel, Swindells +, Walker, Welch, Wright.