Surrey CCC Match Preview - 6/5/21

The Running Foxes host Surrey CCC tomorrow after travelling back to from Bristol Sunday evening following a tough-last day defeat with our hosts chasing down 348 with four wickets to spare after our attacking declaration in the morning. 

County’s record so far this season is one draw and three losses from our four matches, which have all been against Division One opposition.

Our draw came at The Oval against Surrey, with this week’s opponents having won one and lost two of their other three matches. Surrey are currently fourth in Group Two with 46 points, having a 21 point advantage over us going into this match.

The visitors travel to Leicestershire on the back off a three-day victory of an innings and 289 runs against Hampshire CCC.

Watch the Foxes live through our online streaming service

As confirmed by Leicestershire County Cricket Club last month, every LV= County Championship fixture played at the Uptonsteel County Ground will be available to watch via our live streaming service, free of charge.

This season, the Club has worked tirelessly to enhance its live streaming service for all Running Foxes Members and fans that want to tune in and follow Leicestershire throughout the 2021 season.

This year’s live streaming service will include up to five cameras, BBC commentary, graphic overlays and will be available to watch on PC, mobile, tablet, games consoles and TVs via the Club’s social media channels.

Last Time We Met:

In mid-April, Leicestershire travelled to London to face a Surrey team which contained six internationals and earned a creditable draw following a superb last-day batting display. Our highlights included centuries from Sam Evans (138 in the first innings) and Hassan Azad (144* in the second innings to go with his first innings 55).  Lewis Hill (70 and 69*) made twin fifties in the match as well.

Batting first, the Running Foxes made 375 all out before Surrey amassed 672-8 declared on what was a batting-friendly pitch, with England batsman Ollie Pope making 245 and Jamie Smith contributing 123. We then negotiated over a day’s play to end day four on 295-3 before both captains shook hands on a draw, with Azad and Hill unbeaten at the crease.

The Running Foxes:

Sitting above Surrey’s Pope in the County Championship run-scorers so far is Lewis Hill, who has already scored 481 runs to rank him fifth in the charts at this stage. Averaging 68.71 at this point, Hill has scored one century and four fifties in eight innings and our number five will be looking to continue his fine form in the coming match.

Sam Evans notched up his second century of the season against Gloucestershire, adding 102 to his 138 against Surrey. This has been a real breakthrough season so far for our 23-year-old opener, who had never scored a century for the Running Foxes prior to this year, and Evans will be keen to continue his run of fine form against the visitors.

At the age of 35, Chris Wright picked up a career-best in Gloucestershire’s first innings last week, taking 7-53 to give him his 14th five-wicket innings haul. Following that performance, Wright is our leading wicket-taker this year with 12 wickets so far in the 2021 season.

Opposition players to watch:

Given his performance against us in our first meeting with Surrey this season, Ollie Pope will be a key wicket in this match.  He followed up his 245 with another century against Hampshire, and currently sits seventh on the run-scorers list in the County Championship with 452 runs at an average of 75.33.

Hashim Amla joined Pope as a double centurion this season, scoring 215 before he retired hurt against Hampshire last week. The South African has accumulated 18,102 first-class runs at a career average of 48.66, and assuming he is fit to play, will be another big wicket for us to take.

Jordan Clark has started the 2021 season in strong form, with the all-rounder scoring 125 runs (including 61 not out against us in the first match) at an average of 25.00 while taking 14 wickets at 22.78 with the ball.  He was another strong performer for Surrey last week against Hampshire, taking a career-best 6-21 with the ball in the first innings.

Leicestershire Squad

Paul Nixon has named a 13-man squad for the clash against Surrey CCC at the Uptonsteel County Ground.

Captain Colin Ackermann comes back into contention for County after successfully passing his concussion protocol from the injury picked up against Somerset CCC.

Ed Barnes is included in a match day squad for the first time as a Running Fox and will be looking to make his debut, coming in for the injured Dieter Klein who picked up a hamstring injury against Gloucestershire CCC.

Harry Dearden is the other man to miss out.

Leicestershire CCC from 13: Colin Ackermann (C), Hassan Azad, Ed Barnes, Alex Evans, Sam Evans, Gavin Griffiths, Marcus Harris, Lewis Hill, Ben Mike, Callum Parkinson, Rishi Patel, Harry Swindells (wk), Chris Wright.

Match Sponsor: We would like to thank The Commercial Flooring Company for being our match sponsor.