A badger's perspective on Surrey's season and and what can be expected from them next year

I am, by my own admission, an incredibly pessimistic Surrey fan. My relation with somewhat love-hate shall we say. I wasn’t brought up on the glory days. One of my early Rey experiences was watching Jason Gillespee score a first class hundred on a very cold day at the Oval (the real home of cricket), I have never been so embarrassed watching a sporting event.

Yet last year showed that Surrey once again have some promise which they collectively may fulfil.

Although I was one of the doubters calling for Chris Adams’ head last year, the start of this improvement definitely started with his work in the off-season. The signings of Zander de Bruyn and Tom Maynard were exactly what the squad needed. De Bruyn did take over from Ramprakash as the dominant senior figure in the batting department. He exuded calm at the crease and added some much needed steel, nouse and experience to the middle order of stroke-players.

De Bruyn also added an extra option in one-day and t20 with the ball which allowed three spinners, Ansari, Batty and Schofield, to play without the side lacking balance. His bowling, at points, was more than useful in the Championship as well.

Maynard, however, was my player of the year. The way in which he looked to dominate bowling was at points outstanding, as anyone who watched his hundred at Guildford would testify. In my seven seasons watching Surrey, it was the best innings I have seen from a Surrey batsman (The best was Justin Langer’s 342- I have never seen someone make batting look that easy). The distain in which Maynard played Finn, Murtagh and Collymore, arguably the best seam attack in Division 2, on an interesting track was incredible. He looked every inch someone who should be in the England senior squad in the near future, especially in the shorter formats. His finishing in both shorter formats was impressive, especially in the CB40 semi-final against Sussex.

Maynard seems to have the sort of inner confidence and belief that a certain Mr. Pietersen showed at the start of his international career. If I was an England selector, I would be looking for a way to fit him in the ODI side already.

The other outstanding performer of the year was Tim Linley, someone who I had major doubts over at the start of the season. To me he looked like a good player playing a standard too high. In retrospect, 70-odd wickets later, I feel I should write an apology to Mr. Linley. Some of his performances were top notch.

For those regular viewers of Surrey TV, his performances should possibly not have come as a surprise. He seemed to put in a vast amount of work over the winter and it paid dividend (young aspiring cricketers take note).

However, a note of realism: the real test of Linley, and the likes of Surrey old boy Tim Murtagh, and David Masters, is can they repeat their success with the change to the Dukes ball?

I am personally a fan of the Tiflex, as a fully paid up member of the seam bowler’s union. I think it makes far more interesting cricket and challenges batsman more. Furthermore, it makes for more interesting cricket. I’m sure that even the likes of Marcus Trescothick would have struggled at points at the “lesser” bowlers in Division Two using the Tiflex.

I used Tiflex balls for three years in school cricket, on fairly flat wickets, and I found it kept batsman honest and evened up the game considerably. It can be argued that the Tiflex makes it too much of a bowlers game, allowing average bowlers to become more successful, however I think that the use of it aids the development of the more subtle arts of swinging and seaming the ball, not just “bowling nice areas” to use a cliché. I certainly think the Tiflex should be used in places, like the sub-continent, where boring cricket seems to prevail.   

Undoubtedly the real success of the year was the immergence of the home-grown Surrey players on the first team and the promotion of messrs Dernbach and Meaker to the full England side. Jordan, Roy, Hamilton-Brown and Ansari made strides forward this year, setting themselves up for a challenging year next year.

Roy and Hamilton-Brown looked better players at the end of the year, but still frustrate me greatly in the longer format. Yes, both of them are extremely gifted stroke-players and they both have the ability to take bowling attacks apart. Yet they both lack the restraint at this point in time to go on and score big runs. Hamilton-Brown is the worst of the two culprits; a player of his talent and with the burden of both opening and skippering this young side should be leading by example and should be averaging more than in the mid-30s.

Unlike some, I was not surprised by the impact Zafar Ansari made on the t20 side. Having been fortunate enough to play with him, and unfortunate enough to drop the odd catch off him. I saw him as someone who had the ability, application and maturity to make an impact. He will, in time, become an integral part of the Surrey first team in all formats. The Surrey faithful will have to be patient due to his commitments with Cambridge but their patience may well be justified.

Looking forward to next year, I can see Surrey making a major impact on Division One of the Championship. The acquisition of John Lewis, although at 36 will have his best days behind him, may be a good one as he is an incredibly consistent performer.

The loss of Chris Schofield, in my opinion, was a mistake. He exudes so much enthusiasm and commitment. In his six years at Surrey turned himself into a genuine all-rounder and was one of the reasons that Surrey were a force in limited overs cricket. I can see why Adams let him go- wanting to promote youth and the possibility of an overseas spinner, however I totally disagree.

Surrey are not short of spinners. Batty, Ansari Schofield and Van Den Bergh would have sufficed in the First Division. The really pressing matter is the opening position. Adams has arguably forced himself into getting an overseas spinner, when that was not the real issue, although Ojha was outstanding.

 The real issue throughout the season was that Surrey had no natural openers throughout the season. With the injury to Michael Brown and Tom Lancefield, Arun Harinath was the only real opener in the squad. An experienced opener would have taken the pressure off Hamilton-Brown, limited the exposure of Ramprakash to the new ball and would have allowed Steve Davies to bat in the middle order. Someone of the calibre of Chris Rogers would have fitted the bill perfectly. His runs were very valuable for Middlesex and Surrey’s progression to Division One cricket may have been smoother with him.

Overall, however, I have nothing really to complain about. Surrey for the greater part of the season were very impressive and highly entertaining. Great things should await this side. Next year may well be a season too early for them. I will be very interested to see how a team, excluding Ramprakash, de Bruyn and Lewis, with very little Division One cricket experience copes with the step up.