Surrey v Hampshire

Twenty20 / Editor / 23 June 2007 / Leave a Comment

Surrey v Hampshire, Sunday 14.40

Two of the Twenty20 Cup's early favourites do battle in this televised clash. Surrey, winners of the inaugural tournament in 2003, host Hampshire, finalists in this season's Friends Provident Trophy.

The Lions cruised past Middlesex by six wickets on Friday night, whilst the Hawks were disappointed to share a tie with Kent. Needing just one run from the final delivery to take both points, Greg Lamb holed out to give the Spitfires a share of the spoils. Essex beat Sussex in the other South Division fixture.

The Twenty20 Cup has proved to be more than just a gimmick, as over 500,000 spectators watched last year's matches and the Oval alone is expected to pack in more than 100,000 into its four fixtures this season.

With the first ever international Twenty20 Championship on the horizon in September, the format is only likely to gain popularity and respect. England selectors have shown that the national team is not a closed shop, and so home-grown Twenty20 specialists will be seeking to impress ahead of that showpiece tournament.

Tactics and skills have developed over the last four years so much that we can expect the highest quality tournament so far. Four of the five highest team totals came in last year's competition and the first round of matches this time around gives an idea of what can be considered to be a par score: the first innings totals in the seven completed matches ranged from 148 to 165.

Surrey are extremely experienced and well-placed to take their Twenty20 performances to a higher level this season. They have reached each of the finals days, following their 2003 triumph with a runners-up medal in 2004 and two subsequent semi-final appearances, when they did not do themselves justice. They trade at 10 in the winner's market.

The Lions have some of the tournament's top performers in their ranks. Alistair Brown, consistently the county game's most destructive top order hitter, holds the record for six-hitting, having cleared the ropes 39 times before the start of this season's tournament.

Brown's England career might be behind him, but his opening partner might be one of those lining up in international colours in South Africa in September. James Benning averages 22.86 with a strike rate of 145.03 and the pair's opening stand of 294 in Surrey's record-breaking total against Gloucestershire in the Friends Provident Trophy showed their credentials for the shortest form of the game.

Mark Ramprakash is proof that cultured stroke-makers can prosper in the big-hitting world of Twenty20: he averages 37.95 at a strike rate of 130.65. His unbeaten match-winning 85 on Friday came off just 52 balls, his highest ever Twenty20 score. Like Benning, he was among the top 10 highest run scorers last term.

The Surrey bowling attack has international experience in Australian Matt Nicholson and Pakistani all-rounder Azhar Mahmood and incisive spin-bowling options in Chris Schofield and Nayan Doshi. The pair's eight overs on Friday cost just 52 runs and Doshi has proved to be both economical and threatening: his wickets cost just 14.02 and he has an economy rate of 7.01 runs. He was last season's highest wicket taker with 21.

These two teams only meet once in the Southern Division - each team plays three teams twice and two teams once. Surrey won last year's clash by 10 runs and would be confident of quarter final qualification with another win here.

The Lions' fine Twenty20 pedigree sees them ranked third in the official worldwide Twenty20 ranking list, the highest place achieved by any English side. Hampshire have never prospered in this form of the game and are ranked in 36th place.

The Hawks have progressed from the group stage just once, in 2004, when they reached the quarter-finals. They won three group matches last term and finished fifth in the Southern Division table.

However, their run to the Friends Provident Trophy final - where they are currently 1.76 favourites to overcome Durham - proves they can compete in limited-overs cricket. They are available at 13 to go the distance in this tournament and will be ruing their missed opportunity on Friday.

It was a different side to the one that accounted for Warwickshire in the Friends Provident semi final, with veterans Shane Warne, Shaun Udal and John Crawley rested. Stuart Clark has been replaced by a fellow Aussie, batsman Adam Voges, who hit the fastest ever domestic Australian One Day century on his Western Australia debut in 2004.

Dimitri Mascarenhas celebrated his England One Day call-up with a fine individual display against the Spitfires, taking three for 17 from four overs and hitting 31 from 20 balls. With a Twenty20 batting average of 29.3 and bowling average of 17.25, he is sure to be central to the Hawks' plans.

The Oval has a reputation for being a high-scoring ground, but last season's Twenty20 matches were in line with the scores recorded in the first round of matches on Friday.

Those seven completed opening fixtures produced a first innings average total of 156.1 and last season's four matches at Kennington saw an average target of 158, with Surrey's 198 against Kent the highest.

Two of the Lions' three Southern Division defeats came on their own patch, whilst Hampshire were dismal on the road, losing all four away assignments with an average team total of 135. They batted first on three occasions and were unable to post testing targets, although their inability to secure an apparent regulation run chase on Friday does not bode well for Hawks fans, especially if the Lions bat first and their batting big guns start firing.

Hampshire have another London assignment on Monday, at Middlesex's Southgate ground, whilst the Lions' next fixture is a trip to Essex on Thursday. The Eagles were losing semi-finalists last term and as reigning Pro40 Division One champions are sure to provide Mark Butcher's men with a stern test.