Points to prove: Surrey duo Ollie Pope and Rory Burns will want to win back their England Test places
(Picture: Getty Images for Surrey CCC)The cricket seasons converge in March. So, as England are grateful the final Test of a hitherto winless winter gets under way today in Grenada, spring arrives for many county teams who are back in action.
One of those is Surrey, who are looking to put right a year of underachievement in 2021. They are playing Sussex at Hove ahead of a visit to county champions Warwickshire in the first round on April 7.
It has been a winter of change at Surrey. Steve Elworthy has arrived from the ECB as chief executive and head coach Vikram Solanki has been replaced on an interim basis by Gareth Batty, who has finally hung up his boots. Richard Johnson, the assistant coach, has returned to take charge at Middlesex, meaning Jim Troughton and Azhar Mahmood have been roped in.
Staying put is Alec Stewart, who has withdrawn from the running to be England’s next managing director for family reasons. He says he is delighted with the coaching staff he has been able to pull together at short notice after Solanki, who is now working in the IPL, and Johnson departed.
On the field, Batty, Rikki Clarke, Jade Dernbach and Mark Stoneman (plus Liam Plunkett, whose time at the club was wrecked by injury), are gone. Australia Daniel Worrall should plug some of that seam-bowling shortfall.
Perhaps, though, the best news for Surrey is the access they will have to skipper Rory Burns and domestic run-machine Ollie Pope, both of whom find themselves looking to win back Test places.
Also around is Sam Curran, who should be fit to start the season as a specialist batter — if selected — after a stress fracture to the back. The bowling will follow later in the season, but Curran has underachieved with the bat (he still has never scored a top-level century) and this is a chance to knuckle down.
Stewart believes early-season runs for Burns and Pope, who has been out of favour on the tour of the Caribbean but averages 73 for Surrey in first-class cricket, will have a dual purpose: it can underpin their Championship hopes, while propelling them back into England contention.
“We want those boys to play at the highest level available to them, but selfishly it is great to have them back,” Stewart told Standard Sport.
“To have your captain back makes such a difference. Rory Burns the leader is second to none, in how he leads on and off the field.
“Pope, we know, is a high-class batter. It is only a matter of time before he is back in the England set-up.
“But they both have points to prove. Burns wants to get back in. The only way he will do that is sheer weight of runs with Surrey to nudge whoever the selectors will be. Pope has to earn the right.
“Both we and England know how good a player he is, but he has got to prove it again, because the hardest thing is getting back in the team when you’re outside it. He will be really driven to show that.”
Stewart says there are no plans to move Pope from his slot at No4, behind Hashim Amla, to challenge him further, partly because Joe Root is now ensconced back at No3 for England.
“If we feel it’s right for the team to move people about, then we will,” he said. “All he can do is score runs.”
