Surrey CCC 2019 Discussion Thread

[SimonofSurrey]

After over 10000 views and 310+ articles spread over seven pages (which you have to scroll thro one by one on an i-phone) I've decided it's time we moved  on from the 2016 thread to this year. Here we go...

Cheers all,

Simon

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Good work Simon

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Wow big news is that Mark Footitt has asked for, and been granted his release due to personal reasons (ie. not settling in London).

That is not good news at all.

[guildfordbat]

Wow big news is that Mark Footitt has asked for, and been granted his release due to personal reasons (ie. not settling in London).

That is not good news at all.

Although not reported on the Surrey website, Footitt has signed for Notts on a contract to the end of the 209 season.

This is an absolute mess.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Wow big news is that Mark Footitt has asked for, and been granted his release due to personal reasons (ie. not settling in London).

That is not good news at all.

Although not reported on the Surrey website, Footitt has signed for Notts on a contract to the end of the 209 season.

This is an absolute mess.

Guess we now know why they hooked McKerr back from Derbyshire so quickly...

We do have experienced backup in Meaker, Dernbach and Dunn available - but Footitt leaves a huge hole and a lot of experience gone.

[Corporalhumblebucket]

That has certainly weakened Surrey's bowling resources considerably.  I guess as professional cricketer there must long hours when you're not actually playing - but are training, travelling etc - when things are going round and round in your head.  At Surrey alone three recent examples spring instantly to mind - we've recently had Steve Davies with his issues of mental health, Ansari wrestling with whether he actually wants to do cricket as a career, Footitt now with his domestic issues....

[guildfordbat]

That has certainly weakened Surrey's bowling resources considerably.  I guess as professional cricketer there must long hours when you're not actually playing - but are training, travelling etc - when things are going round and round in your head.  At Surrey alone three recent examples spring instantly to mind - we've recently had Steve Davies with his issues of mental health, Ansari wrestling with whether he actually wants to do cricket as a career, Footitt now with his domestic issues....

Possibly playing bad cop to the Corporal's good cop (who as always makes fair and valid comments) but what really bugs me is the timing and immediacy of Footitt's resignation, identical to Ansari's in terms of its suddenness.

I don't expect players like Footitt and Ansari to remain troubled indefinitely being uncomfortable in their job or location but they both signed up to a ''putting the team first'' ethos [as spoken about by Alec Stewart] and have been well supported and rewarded in the process. Whilst I can't properly diagnose problems of those I don't know from this distance, my gut feeling is that they could and should have offered to see the season out at the Oval and give it as near to 100% as they could during that time. Instead, they've immediately swanned off to do what suits them best without any apparent thoughts as to leaving their employer in the lurch.

PS I understand Matt Dunn is currently recovering from a broken rib. Not a serious injury but one which prevents him being parachuted into action straightaway.

[jimbohammers]

Hi guys, Interesting news with Footitt. I'm with Guildford, strange timing. I get that he is missing home/family etc.. But leave at the end of the season? Surrey have backed you, you could at least see it out until then. You're a professional sportsman who is very lucky to be paid to play a game.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Not particularly Surrey related but an excellent podcast with Kumar Sangakkara interviewed by Colin Murray looking back at his upbringing etc - http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0596l7m

He really is just a class bloke

[guildfordbat]

Olly - as you say, he's a class act. All can learn from him. That's why I was pleased when Stewie said at the last forum meeting that he planned to get Sanga back next season to talk to the squad and do a bit a mentoring.

Btw, no need to attach a link to Graeme Smith's recent interview for my benefit. Two of the worst signings Surrey ever made were him and his wife.

With that, I'm away for a bit. Back as the Champo match in Cider country begins - expect Virdi for that.

[Corporalhumblebucket]

Btw, no need to attach a link to Graeme Smith's recent interview for my benefit. Two of the worst signings Surrey ever made were him and his wife.

Lol!  Guildford never was a fan of these BOGOF offers.  Pay a premium price for the first item and you get another one for free!  Have a good break!

[Corporalhumblebucket]

Several of the Surrey youngsters involved in U19s Eng v India. Sounds like England team having a tough time and will get heavily beaten. Jack did at least score a few runs in the first innings and Virdi took a few (rather expensive) wickets. Not much joy for Patel.

[Corporalhumblebucket]

Surprising news that Surrey have re-signed all rounder Rikky Clarke on a two year deal.  Clarke came up through the Surrey youth system and was an important member of the squad for several years before moving away.

Alec Stewart spoke about Clarke as cover for both the Currans - who might be away playing for England at some point, or as part of an all rounder-strong bowling attack including the Currans.

Clarke, age 35, is presumably nearing the end of his career and has had a less than stellar season with a struggling Warks team. My impression (not sure if backed up by stats) was that Clarke's batting had rather fallen away for a season or two now, whereas his bowling had held up better tho he had progressively become more of an economical stock bowler. He is also a very fine slip fielder.

Is this a good signing. I would say probably so - if Surrey are satisfied that the hunger is still there and that there are good prospects of rediscovering something like his best form. It also makes sense to be able to rest one of the Currans occasionally -  at times Surrey have placed a very heavy burden on both of them.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

I think it's a decent signing - we do lack all rounder backup for Sam Curran

The cricinfo report mentions that we've offered Sibley a 3 year deal, but he seems set to sign for Warks. I'm not sure why he would do that? He's playing regular championship, one day and T20 games here!!

[James100]

https://www.kiaoval.com/main-news/sibley-opts-warwickshire-move/

Sibley leaving at the end of the year.

At least it's not mid-season like Ansari and Footit, but it doesn't speak to a well functioning team or to the atmosphere at the club that players are seemingly racing to get out.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

https://www.kiaoval.com/main-news/sibley-opts-warwickshire-move/

Sibley leaving at the end of the year.

At least it's not mid-season like Ansari and Footit, but it doesn't speak to a well functioning team or to the atmosphere at the club that players are seemingly racing to get out.

Seems Sibley has left because he was given assurances he is to bat top 3 in all formats for Warwickshire. I'm glad we didn't match that because he isn't good enough to do that, simply put. That statement is strong from Stewart, clearly not happy to be let down by a kid he's developed and given ample opportunities too.

Personally I think we can do a lot better. But then I've never been a fan of his

[jimbobgooner]

will he play for surrey again?

[Corporalhumblebucket]

Mixed feelings - disappointing that he wants to leave. After that stellar double century he had a poor run - quite a long one as I recall - but had been doing at least OK / reasonably since then. To be fair, Surrey have given him quite a lot of chances in both cc and limited overs over a period, even when his form was not so good. On the evidence so far it seems fairly unlikely that he would be a star player in a Div 1 side, though he might well hold his own in Div 2.

[Corporalhumblebucket]

I would back Alex Stewart 100% about not offering players guaranteed positions in the line up. There must be at least a dozen Surrey cricketers who have as good, if not better, claim to a guaranteed starting position in the team:

Surrey CCC Director of Cricket, Alec Stewart, said: “Dom was offered a very good three-year contract but has told me the reason he is leaving is that he feels his opportunities at Warwickshire would be greater, given the written assurances he has received that he will be batting in the top three in all forms of the game next year.

“In performance sport, this was not something that I was prepared to do – for him or any of our players – as we will always select the best possible XI for each occasion and it would be wrong to give anyone these guarantees.

“We’ve had numerous conversations with Dom and his advisors over the last eleven months and I’m comfortable in knowing that we could not have done any more in showing how much we wanted him to be a big part of this club.

“We believe we were moving Dom in the right direction and are bitterly disappointed he has chosen to leave us at this stage of his career.”

This season, Sibley has played seven of the eight Specsavers County Championship matches, averaging 33, with no centuries and four fifties. He started four of the ten games played in the Royal London One Day Cup and has so far played every match of the NatWest T20 Blast campaign.

[wisden]

IMO good move for Sibley, will surely open the batting which is where he is best, also i think he will be groomed for captaincy there too, Ian Bell won't go on forever, good move IMO

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

I miss Sanga

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Hearing reports we've offered Morne Morkel a lucrative Kolpak deal...

[guildfordbat]

Hearing reports we've offered Morne Morkel a lucrative Kolpak deal...

Thanks for the tip off, Olly. I didn't know anything about that. Your hearing is always very good.

Morkel would be a top player to get but I'm uneasy about signing someone if it means he has to quit Test cricket before his time at the top level is properly up. Hard to comment further without knowing more but cheers again.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Hearing reports we've offered Morne Morkel a lucrative Kolpak deal...

Thanks for the tip off, Olly. I didn't know anything about that. Your hearing is always very good.

Morkel would be a top player to get but I'm uneasy about signing someone if it means he has to quit Test cricket before his time at the top level is properly up. Hard to comment further without knowing more but cheers again.

I don't think it's a given he will sign a Kolpak deal - but he's considering it. And we're not the only club who's offered him a deal. Would be an amazing signing if we did pull it off!

Finn to Lancs seems on too - a lot of seam bowler movement this winter it seems

[James100]

Really hoping Morkel doesn't go the Kolpak route. Others to move over have been fringe SA players—Abbot the most high profile—but this would be terrible for South African cricket. They'd be losing their second best Test bowler, probably lowering the bar to the extent that Duane Olivier (a potentially very good player, and one who I like as a prospect!) becomes a first choice test player way before he's ready for it.

Quite apart from that, Surrey seem so keen to recruit from outside that homegrown players never seem to get a chance unless they're instant successes like the Currans. Matt Dunn would have played many more matches than he has at Surrey at pretty much any county, probably excluding Yorkshire.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Not sure about that final comment James - plenty of homegrown players play for Surrey!

Seems Warwickshire have leaped to the front of the pack for Morkel, but there's a report from a respected SA journalist yesterday that Hashim Amla is considering a Kolpak deal from a London club. Just putting two + two together here, but Amla has been very complimentary of his past Oval stint and it's well known we're in the market for a batsman....

[alfie]

Don't like the sound of all that ! Or the way this seems to be trending...
Kolpak has much to answer for already : but the death of SA Test Cricket would be too high a price to pay.

[guildfordbat]

Don't like the sound of all that ! Or the way this seems to be trending...
Kolpak has much to answer for already : but the death of SA Test Cricket would be too high a price to pay.

Alfie - yes, that's where my unease comes from.

To be fair to Surrey CCC, Dobell tweeted this today - ''You won't see Surrey try and persuade a player to go the Kolpak route, either. It works the other way round. Players make approach.''

My standpoint is that much as I want Surrey to win the Championship, our attempts to do so should not contribute to the death (or decline) of Test cricket in South Africa or anywhere else.

I recognise it may be seen as a thin dividing line between a player being enticed to quit Test cricket by an English county and a player knowing if he quits Test cricket he can pick up a lot of money from an English county. I feel that's all part of the Kolpak problem and am unsure there is currently an answer to that.

[guildfordbat]

Surrey Supporters' Club is about to seek votes from its members for the end of season awards bash. Categories include:
1. Surrey Player of Season
2. Most Improved Surrey Player of Season
3. Young Surrey Player of Season
4. Surrey Moment of Season.

Sanga must be nailed on for number 1 but the other categories are not straightforward. Thoughts would be welcome.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

1. The King himself obviously

2. Most improved is a tough one for me...I guess you'd have to say Ben Foakes for his performances with the bat in the one day arena. Not sure you can say Stoneman cos he wasn't here last year!

3. Sam Curran id say - guess you could say Pope for his T20 performances but then he dropped the one day trophy...

4. Moment of the season? Maybe Tom Currans final over against Essex in the first T20? Sanga's 5 centuries in a row? Rory Burns's double hundred? Stoneman's 149* in the one day final?

[James100]

1. Sanga

2. Tough. As Olly says, Foakes has had a really good RL50 season but not scored many First Class runs, whereas Burns has done almost the opposite. I'd actually go Pope here, after playing one game last year, he's nailed down a regular spot in both one-day formats

3. Sam hasn't had a great season by his standards. Pope I'd say.

4. Rory Burns double hundred, almost single handedly drawing that game

[guildfordbat]

Thanks, Olly and James. Other than 1, very tough. In the end, I went for:

1. Sanga. Obviously.

2. Ryan Patel. Massive improvement since I saw him playing for Surrey seconds at Guildford - didn't expect him to make it to County Championship level.

3. Bit of a surprise here, I suspect ... Tom Curran. Still only 22 and has shouldered a heavy workload and responsibility throughout the season, his youth often overlooked due to the emphasis given to brother Sam's age.

4. Our signing Rikki Clarke in place of Dominic Sibley. We did the better out of this deal during a season in which players melted away like ice cubes in the sun. [I also gave an honourable mention to Rory Burns' double hundred.]

Although he's not mentioned by me above (I had him just about a contender for all categories apart from 1), I fully expect Olly Pope to do well on the night.

[Corporalhumblebucket]

1. Sanga (definitely!)
2. Not sure really, possibly Pope
3. Possibly Pope - particulary if we are allowed to take his recent century into account. I don't think Patel has played enough for first team to be realistic contender.
4. Sanga's reaching 5th century in a row. Tho' there are several other worthy contenders including Burns' epic batting to salvage draw, plus some good final over bowling in ltd overs.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

ECB announce that Stoneman is available for the final 3 county championship games - and obviously due to the ODI/T20's Roy and Tom Curran are not

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

ECB have given Ollie Pope an overseas placement in Sydney this winter - he will play in the premier club competition as well as train with New South Wales state side.

Same thing Mason Crane did last year iirc

[jimbobgooner]

The treatment of rory burns by the ECB is disgraceful

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

THE BURGER VAN LIVES ON FOR ONE MORE YEAR

[guildfordbat]

Meanwhile, Ravi Rampaul departs for Derbys on a 3 year contract. Getting a contract of that length is a brilliant deal for him.

He's 33 tomorrow and, ahem, not exactly the fittest of players. Anyway, good luck to him. He came across as a good natured guy and had some success with Surrey, particularly in 2016.

[jimbobgooner]

the canteen will be a lonely place without him

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

He should do well at Derbyshire in Div 2 tbf

Tom Curran has signed a deal with Hobart to take part in the Big Bash League this winter - George Bailey said "he will lead our attack".

Great to see him progressing in the cricket world

[James100]

Mitch Marsh signed as our overseas player for 2018.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

What an awful awful overseas signing that is

Genuinely relegation inducing

[guildfordbat]

Olly - I wouldn't go that far, not today anyway. I'll settle for underwhelming and unexciting.

Although it's sad, we have to accept Sanga left us last month. I feel we have to see Marsh not in any way as a replacement for Sanga but someone who at least makes the squad better than it was yesterday.

Anyway, you know current world cricket better than me. Are there many who are both better and available for 2018 or even a decent chunk of it?

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Sorry but I really just don’t think Marsh is good enough - he can’t bat in the top 6 imo, averages 28 in first class cricket. He’s ok with the ball tbf, but imo we should have gone after a bat. Aussies are about next summer so someone like Khawaja, Handscomb etc I expect are floating around.

Think we need to do some serious recruitment over the coming weeks - need a new top 3 bat and seamer imo

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

In news that will delight Kingdaveeagle, Dernbach has his contract extended to 2020, as does Meaker.

Would be surprised if Dernbach’s legs still work by 2020 tbh

[Corporalhumblebucket]

Matt Spriegel has been brought in by Surrey as performance manager for the Surrey Academy. I've no idea whether that's a good appointment - but I hope it works out and he always struck me as someone who was both thoughtful and gave it all he could for Surrey. (I even saw him take a first class wicket - and he didn't get too many of those if all recall correctly!)

[guildfordbat]

Announced today by the Club that Gareth Batty is staying on the playing staff for 2018 but standing down as captain. Rory Burns has been appointed captain for CC and One Day games with Jade Dernbach leading the side in t20s.

Batty did a sterling job at a terrible time in our history when so many others were demonstrably unable to cope. He will always have my gratitude for that. However, the time for change is now right and, in all honesty, probably overdue. The new appointments have merit and I wish both well.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Announced today by the Club that Gareth Batty is staying on the playing staff for 2018 but standing down as captain. Rory Burns has been appointed captain for CC and One Day games with Jade Dernbach leading the side in t20s.

Batty did a sterling job at a terrible time in our history when so many others were demonstrably unable to cope. He will always have my gratitude for that. However, the time for change is now right and, in all honesty, probably overdue. The new appointments have merit and I wish both well.

Makes a lot of sense all round - Batty can still do a good job with the ball, but shouldn’t be a fixture game in and game out. Staying around he can help manage the transition for the two new captains as well as help Virdi in his transition to first XI cricket.

Feel Burns will be a Cook-esque captain personally. Not sure I see him being a tactical mastermind, more a lead from the front type.

[Corporalhumblebucket]

I agree the change makes sense - and potentially could help in bringing on Virdi (and possibly the Burger Van).

Batty has certainly given the job his all, including at the time club was going through very dark times, so I think he is entitled to have a somewhat less pressurised role. Will be interesting to see how Burns gets on - I imagine until part way through last season Ansari was probably viewed as next in line!

[jimbobgooner]

rip Richard Doughty
I'm sure Guildford and corporal will be able to tell us more about the 2 years he played for us

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