Match Preview: Hampshire Men v Surrey, Rothesay County Championship

Hampshire Men v Surrey

Rothesay County Championship

Wednesday 24^th-Saturday 27^th September (10:30am start)

Utilita Bowl

Hampshire Men face reigning champions Surrey in the final match of the season.

After a difficult week, Ben Brown’s side sit in eighth place, two points ahead of Durham and four points behind Yorkshire, who face each other in the final round of the Rothesay County Championship.

Having picked up two wickets last week against Somerset, pace bowler Kyle Abbott – who extended his contract until the end of next season – is now just a further two wickets away from 50. If successful, it will be the sixth time he has taken 50 wickets in a County Championship season.

In his first game for Hampshire, Washington Sundar claimed the wicket of Lewis Goldsworthy and scored 69 runs as the Rose and Crown eked out a draw as the batters dug in to survive the best part of 127 overs – 100 of which came from spinners Jack Leach and Archie Vaughan. Nick Gubbins batted for nearly four overs to score 37 runs, whilst Felix Organ, Fletcha Middleton, Ben Brown, and Ali Orr all dug in meaning the ninth wicket pair of Keith Barker and Kyle Abbott only had five overs to bat until the close of play.

Surrey were defeated at the Kia Oval for the first time in over two years when they lost to now-table toppers Nottinghamshire by 20 runs.

Fifties from Ben Slater and Liam Patterson-White followed by eight wickets in the match for England pacer Josh Tongue got the visitors over the line despite resistance from Dan Lawrence (50 off 56), Rory Burns (45 off 57), and Ollie Pope (41 off 75).

The Three Feathers have signed Indian leg spinner Rahul Chahar for this fixture in a bid to reclaim the top spot but will be without England men’s vice-captain Ollie Pope.

Hampshire

Hampshire have named a 15-player squad for the final match of the summer against Surrey.

Sonny Baker and Liam Dawson return to the fold having helped England Men to a 2-0 IT20 series victory over Ireland whilst Scott Currie is also included having flown back from his maiden England call-up to play in the final of the Metro Bank One Day Cup.

Keith Barker is omitted and has sadly played his final game for Hampshire; he helped the Rose and Crown to a draw over Somerset last week and will return to his home county of Warwickshire for the 2026 season.

Full Hampshire squad

Surrey

Captain: Rory Burns

Head Coach: Gareth Batty

2025 standing: Second (four wins, one defeat, eight draws, 189 points)

2025 highest run-scorer: Dom Sibley (1,223)

2025 highest wicket-taker: Dan Worrall (32)

Overseas players: Rahul Chahar (final match)

Key winter moves: The arrival from Yorkshire of Matt Fisher is expected to strengthen still further Surrey’s all-powerful fast-bowling stocks. Fisher, at 27, sees the move as a chance to push on an already promising career and reach new levels in both county and international cricket. From the start of May, too, the champions’ enviable pace battery will be boosted by Nathan Smith, who joins as Surrey’s latest overseas signing and who is available, outside any New Zealand commitments, for the rest of the summer.

What we’re looking forward to seeing: Can anyone stop Surrey, champions for the last three seasons, completing a fourth consecutive title triumph? And will newly-qualified pace ace Dan Worrall, the spearhead of the glorious ‘three-peat’ with 139 wickets at 21.17 since joining Surrey for the start of the 2022 season, continue his remarkable late-career Surrey surge by winning an England Test call at 33?

Player to watch: Although many eyes will be on Fisher, who won his only England Test cap of an injury-studded career to date in March 2022, expect exciting 22-year-old Tom Lawes to kick on this season. Lawes, who can also bat in the lower middle order, already has 74 first-class wickets at 24.36 but – swinging the ball both ways at sharp pace – he can get much better yet.

Final thought: As ever, Surrey will have to juggle their considerable resources cleverly given the many calls from England red-ball and white-ball squads, plus the Indian Premier League during the county season’s early stages. The spine of the championship team, however, looks as reassuringly solid as before: skipper Burns and Dom Sibley at the top of the order, Ben Foakes to keep wicket peerlessly and add consistent runs to a strong and deep batting line-up, while Jordan Clark (116 wickets in the last three years) helps Worrall (and Lawes) lead the attack.

Head-to-Head

Hampshire Men’s record in First-Class matches v Surrey:

Last five meetings:

• April 11-14 2025 | Kia Oval | Match Drawn
• May 24-27 2024 | Utilita Bowl | Hampshire won by an innings & 278 runs
• April 26-29 2024 | Kia Oval | Surrey won by an innings & 11 runs
• September 26-29 2023 | Utilita Bowl | Hampshire won by 52 runs
• April 13-16 2023 | Kia Oval | Surrey won by nine wickets

Tickets

Tickets for Hampshire Men’s County Championship match against Surrey are available here.

For Hampshire Cricket Members, this fixture is included in their membership package.

Coverage

A live stream will be available for the match and a link to this stream will be available in the at www.utilitabowl.com/cricket, along with a live match centre with the scorecard, statistics and insight available throughout the match.

Weather Forecast

Please follow the link to view the latest weather forecast for Utilita Bowl: https://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/2634447.