The Surrey Brown Caps’ captain, Mark Butcher, will return from his achilles injury to lead his side in their London derby clash with the Middlesex Crusaders in the first round of Twenty20 matches at the Brit Oval this afternoon.

Butcher and his opposite number Ed Smith exchanged pleasantries when they posed for photographs on London’s South Bank yesterday, however that will all be forgotten when the two teams go head to head later on today.

Tonight will be the seventh time the two London clubs have come together in the Twenty20 since the competition’s inception in 2003. Having won the previous six contests, Surrey will be looking to kick start their campaign with a seventh consecutive win against their London rival.

The return of Butcher will be a real boost to the Brown Caps, who lost their last two Friends Provident Trophy Matches and as such missed out on qualification for the semi finals. After acting as the stand in captain, Mark Ramprakash will resume his role as vice captain.

Injury news

Mark Butcher has recovered from his achilles strain that he sustained whilst in the field against Worcestershire in the LV County Championship Match at New Road. He will lead the Brown Caps out today.

Medical staff are starting Jimmy Ormond on a reintroduction bowling programme that will work towards building up his strength and getting him match fit.

The Surrey squad for this afternoon’s Twenty20 match against Middlesex is as follows:

Ali Brown
James Benning
Mark Ramprakash
Mark Butcher
Rikki Clarke
Azhar Mahmood
Jonathan Batty
Chris Schofield
Matthew Nicholson
Nayan Doshi
Jade Dernbach
Mohammad Akram
Stewart Walters
Rory Hamilton-Brown

Match information

There will be a limited number of tickets available at the ground from 3:30pm onwards today. Tickets can be purchased with cash only.

Gates will be open from 3:30pm with the match scheduled to get under way at 5:30pm.

As always ball-by-ball commentary will be available from www.surreycricket.com. You will also miss none of the action if you watch Surrey TV by going to www.surreycricket.tv.

As well as tomorrow, Surrey are hosting three other Twenty20 fixtures at the Brit Oval. These are as follows:

24 June – Surrey v Hampshire – 2:40pm
5 July – Surrey v Sussex – 5:30pm
6 July – Surrey v Kent – 5:30pm - LIMITED NUMBERS

Add to Del.icio.us Digg it share on Facebook (What is this?)

• Get the Surrey CCC Twenty 20 Shirt 07/08, Adults