Like Surrey, tomorrow's visitors to Whitgift, Lancashire, have not lived up to expectations in this summer’s County Championship. By the same token, though, they have been difficult to beat and certainly do not share their hosts’ relegation concerns. But for a deduction of two points for a slow over-rate the Red Rose county would have been lying joint fourth in the Division One table prior to last week's round of matches. India’s Dinesh Mongia has been a revelation with the bat since coming in to replace Stuart Law (who is out with a back complaint) as one of Lancashire’s two overseas players, whilst the supporting cast, led by Mark Chilton, Iain Sutcliffe and Mal Loye (809 championship runs at an average of 62.23) have chipped as and when necessary. However, Loye will not be travelling to Croydon after damaging an Achilles tendon against Warwickshire a fortnight ago. 21-year-old Paul Horton is therefore likely to make his second championship appearance of the summer. When it clicks, the Red Rose bowling attack is a highly effective unit. Augmented by the arrival, this season, of the former England seamer Dominic Cork from Derbyshire, there is no shortage of options in the seam department. Indeed, Kyle Hogg has hardly featured this summer, despite Sajid Mahmood averaging in excess of 47 runs per victim, and Peter Martin only seems to get a game when James Anderson is not required by England. The slow left-arm spin of Gary Keedy (37 wickets at 30.64 runs apiece) has been a permanent presence, while acting skipper Carl Hooper has played a respected second-fiddle in addition to being a safe pair of hands and free-flowing middle-order batsman. But if wicketkeeper Warren Hegg overcomes his hamstring problem in time to play, Hooper will have to hand back the reins. Alternatively, Jamie Haynes will continue to deputise behind the sticks. Quite a few of Surrey's line-up have milestones approaching: Mark Ramprakash is set to make his 50th championship appearance for the Club and is 131 runs away from making 1,000 first-class runs against Lancashire. Azhar Mahmood needs 12 more runs to reach 1,000 first-class for Surrey. Jonathan Batty now has nine f-c hundreds to his name; how the Surrey faithful would love to see a tenth over the next few days. Rikki Clarke needs 3 more wickets for 50 first-class over his career. Finally, Jimmy Ormond has now bagged 19 f-c five-wicket hauls in his tenth season.
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