Surrey are again deprived of the services of a quintet of key players as they attempt to secure their first Royal London One-Day Cup victory of the season against Notts Outlaws at Trent Bridge tomorrow.
Jade Dernbach, Chris Tremlett, Matthew Dunn and Zafar Ansari are all not fully fit while in-form Jason Roy is away with the Lions.
Surrey, bottom of Group B with one point from four matches, still have the luxury of picking performers with international class in the form of Sri Lankan Tillakaratne Dilshan and Pakistan’s Azhar Mahmood.
And Outlaws seamer Luke Fletcher knows his side have a challenge on their hands as they aim to maintain their place in the top four.
“Dilshan is a fantastic player and he is bound to help Surrey in their bid to get off the bottom of the table and start picking up results,” Fletcher told the club’s official website.
“They have tremendous depth of batting and the absence of Jason Roy on Lions duty shouldn’t affect their ability to post big totals.
“On top of that you have some top-class bowlers in the likes of Gareth Batty and Azhar Mahmood making them a hard side to beat on any day.”
Notts are once more missing the talent of Lions duo Alex Hales and James Taylor.
Middlesex Panthers and Durham will be hoping to build on their victories last night when they go head-to-head at the Emirates Durham ICG.
The Panthers’ second victory of the group came on the Duckworth/Lewis method versus Sussex Sharks at the BrightonandHoveJobs.com County Ground, while Graham Onions and Paul Collingwood took four wickets apiece in a fine victory over Glamorgan.
Middlesex are without England senior and Lions players Sam Robson, Steven Finn and Ravi Patel.
Durham have named an unchanged 14-man squad for the first of three home cup matches in the space of five days.
Elsewhere in Group B, leaders Kent Spitfires travel to Rugby School to face Warwickshire and second-placed Somerset welcome Sussex Sharks to Taunton.
In Group A, Derbyshire Falcons can move level on points with third-placed Essex with victory over the Eagles at the 3aaa County Ground.
The Falcons, deducted two points for a sub-standard pitch, have won two, lost one and suffered an abandonment.
Tom Taylor - fresh from signing a two-year professional contract– is ruled out with an ankle injury sustained in the recent defeat to Lancashire Lightning, meaning Academy graduate Ben Cotton could make his List-A debut.
Paceman Tony Palladino is hoping the Falcons can bounce back from the loss to the Lightning against his former county, who are without Lion Ravi Bopara.
“We will come back on Saturday for a good training session and review this game, see where we went wrong and improve for the Essex game," Palladino told the club’s official website.
“Essex are a good one-day side; they’ve got some big-hitters and some very skilful bowlers. Make no mistake, it’s going to be a very tough game for us.
“They aren't really challenging for the other tournaments so they will be fully focused on this game and hoping to give us a good game and vice-versa.”
Essex have added paceman Tymal Mills to their travelling party but spinner Tim Phillips is a doubt through illness.
Leicestershire Foxes have the opportunity to keep hold of their top-four spot when they face second-bottom Northants Steelbacks at Grace Road.
The Foxes’ quarter-final hopes suffered a blow yesterday when they suffered a narrow defeat to leaders Yorkshire Vikings.