Gloucestershire have won the last four Lord's finals and that must make them favourites

Keith Medlycott

Bitcher is one of Medlycott's many internationals

Surrey scored an amazing 361 in their 50 overs, with half-centuries from Mark Butcher, Ian Ward and Alec Stewart, and the visitors could only muster 187 in reply.

Despite their all-round might, however, former Surrey left-arm spinner Medlycott says his side are the underdogs.

"Gloucestershire have won the last four Lord's finals and that must make them favourites," he said.

He was delighted with his own side's form in the semi-final, however.

"We scored 361 because we had quality players playing to a high standard. All our batsmen did fantastically well, but that game has gone now.

We have to try and maintain that level, but it will be tough. They haven't won five trophies in the last two years without being a good side.

"I hear talk of them being a strong unit but they have good individuals as well. We haven't played them for a while so it will be an interesting test for us."

Surrey have been hit by injuries this season, with nine players missing from their National League game at Leicester on Sunday.

Alex Tudor: Top cricketer

England's Graham Thorpe, Mark Ramprakash, Ian Salisbury and Alex Tudor were among the players who sat out the 128-run defeat.

"Tudor is obviously a top cricketer and Salisbury is a vital member of our attack, but he hasn't yet been ruled out for Saturday, despite the trapped nerve in his hand and a suspected broken toe," Medlycott said.

"We're glad to have Saqlain Mushtaq back now - he is one of the best one-day bowlers in the world and I would compare his worth to Gloucestershire's Ian Harvey, another proven one-day campaigner.

"To be honest you could go through our whole side picking out potential match-winners, but we've achieved our success by doing fantastically well as a unit.

"We've achieved a little more success in the four-day game but we've only been one game away from Lord's for the last three seasons so I'm not unhappy with the way things have gone."

Medlycott was rewarded with a new four-year contract after helping the county to their two consecutive titles.

Saqlain: One of the best

And many believe the side captained by Adam Hollioake is capable of matching the achievements of the great Surrey team who won seven consecutive Championships between 1952 and 1958.

Whitechapel-born Medlycott, 36, was a useful all-rounder for Surrey from 1984 to 1991. He scored 3,684 first-class runs at 25.94 and took 357 wickets at 32.26 in that time.

He was selected for England's tour to the West Indies in 1990 and took 4-36 in the second innings of the tour match against the Windward Islands, but failed to make the Test side.

Problems with his action then started to plague him on the England A tour in Sri Lanka the following year and he never completely recovered his confidence.

He said: "You have to live with these things - I'm certainly pleased with the way things have turned out."