HAMPSHIRE will be doing their level best to ensure Surrey’s bid for the Specsavers County Championship title fails to ignite this weekend.

They meet over four days from Friday at the Kia Oval with Alec Stewart targeting an improvement on third place last season by his men, who have a new captain in Rory Burns.

“We look to get better every year, so on that basis we’re looking upwards” said director of cricket Stewart.

It needed deft footwork to secure a replacement for Australian all-rounder Mitchell Marsh, who was unveiled last autumn but forced to pull out two weeks ago for ankle surgery.

South Africa’s nuggety left-hander, Dean Elgar, was due to arrive on Tuesday – for the early Championship and Royal London Cup one-day matches – and joins up with fellow countryman Morne Morkel, signed last week as a Kolpak registration for two years. But the giant paceman’s side-strain could see him miss the early action.

With Tom Curran also away, playing in the Indian Premier League, his younger brother Sam plus Jade Dernbach and all-rounder Rikki Clarke are set to lead the home attack.

Hampshire finished fifth in the Championship last year and launched their campaign on an encouraging note last weekend by inflicting a 196-run defeat on Worcestershire.

They will be hoping to find a rather quicker way past Burns though – when the sides met at the Oval last July, he cracked an unbeaten 219, his career-best, and spent all but half an hour of the match on the field as the hosts secured a draw, having followed on in reply to a mammoth 648-7dec.

Burns led Surrey in that match, with Gareth Batty injured, and having now taken charge he said: “I would hope as captain to lead by example. I’m not really one for Churchillian speeches.”

After England’s failures last winter in Australia, he could yet open the batting for his country but has yet to persuade the national selectors of his worth despite being one of the most consistent run scorers in the country.