Rory Burns and Gareth Batty talk about Surrey’s hunger to retain their title.
The start of the County Championship season is just days away with eyes firmly set on last season’s top two sides, Surrey and Lancashire, facing off against one another on the 9th of April. Whilst Surrey won the Division 1 title by 25 points, their only loss last season was to Thursday’s opponents Lancashire at Old Trafford and the Brown Caps will be looking to take revenge this time around.
Pre-season
Whilst speaking to the Sports Gazette, Surrey’s head coach Gareth Batty spoke about the importance of some of his squad playing abroad over the winter break.
‘‘I think we’re in a fortunate position here in some ways that at least half of the squad have been away all the winter if not more,’’ Batty said.
He went on to say: ‘‘We didn’t have a pre-season because of not having enough bodies to facilitate games abroad. That’s one for us to think about and how can we make it work in the future because of the weather we sometimes get in England. But I’m certainly incredibly comfortable where the boys are at, sat here now, we’re good to go.’’
Will England’s playing style rub off on Surrey’s game?
The national side has had an incredibly successful 12 months. They’ve won 10 out of 12 Test matches since Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum formed a formidable partnership as captain and head coach of England respectively. Their brand of cricket has caught the imagination of the British public who have thoroughly enjoyed the front-foot aggressive play, which has included some of Surrey’s players, namely Ollie Pope and Ben Foakes.
When asked about whether the positive approach from England will influence Surrey’s brand of cricket, Batty replied, ‘‘There’s a bit of me that thinks I’m not too sure we couldn’t have been too much more positive.’’
He added, ‘‘We can always look for improvements and we are 100%. I think when you look at the glut of players we have playing for England, there’s probably an amount of that already going on for us because they want to be playing for England and that is our job here and our want.
‘’It’ll be interesting to see how some of the other counties may go about it. I suppose taking the diplomatic stance it’s not really anything I need to care about, we’re going to do our thing and I’m very comfortable in the way that we are bowling and batting to deal with whatever is thrown our way.’’
This positive approach from Surrey last year was clear to see. Batty’s side achieved 48 batting bonus points over the course of last season in division one, 11 more points than the next best side Hampshire.
Surrey’s hunger to retain their Division One title
One of the hardest things to do in sport is to retain a championship the season after winning it the previous year.
After lifting the Division One title last season, captain and opening batsman Rory Burns seems to have that same hunger his side had last year when chasing the title.
When asked about Surrey’s hunger for back to back league wins, Burns replied: “It’s one of the hardest things to do.’’
‘’I think our challenge as a squad is coming out with the same intensity as last year as that’s how we won our games and took teams out of the equation. First of all, we’ve got to try and maintain that standard. As Batty has said, we’ve had guys off to various parts around the globe. It’s coming back here to home and Surrey and our way of doing things and trying to build on the standards that you are trying to maintain.’’
Whilst Burns has enjoyed considerable success as captain of Surrey, he has also played several times for his national side since making his debut back in 2018. Recently, however, he has been out of the Test side since the last time England played Australia back in January 2022.
Burns averages just over 30 in his 32 test matches for England. But, his main focus now is to continue the success he’s had as Surrey’s skipper.
‘‘I wouldn’t say it’s my primary focus right now,’ Burns said when asked about an England return.
‘‘I want to maintain the standards we set last year and win another championship for us. If I do that, the rest of it takes care of itself. So, I want to contribute wins for Surrey County Cricket Club and I want to be the best version I can be for the blokes in their (dressing room).’’
Talking further about his motivations for Surrey, he added: ‘‘I walk in every morning passed the run of County Championship winning teams and every time I look at it, I just want to stick another one on the wall. That’s my burning desire here at Surrey. I want to stick championships on that wall and as long as I can keep contributing I will do.’’
