WE HAVE SHOWN YOU CAN WIN IT WITH KIDS
After clinching county title, Surrey chairman Richard Thompson reveals how they did it...
Surrey may have appeared to be rushing towards an inevitable first Championship win in 16 years all summer, but the seeds for a title they hope will spark a new era of success were actually sown four years ago.
That was when chairman richard Thompson had talks with the then coach Graham Ford, changing the direction of a county rich in tradition and achievement — but who had somehow lost their way.
‘I remember a conversation with Fordy vividly, we were languishing in Division Two and we weren’t in a great place,’ said Thompson after Surrey had wrapped up the most emphatic of title successes at Worcester yesterday.
‘I didn’t want him to feel the pressure of coming straight back up. I wanted him to feel the pressure of improving players who we felt were either going backwards or standing still and giving others a chance.
‘When we came back to Division One we wanted to do it with momentum. We didn’t want to sign anybody for the sake of it. We wanted to focus on improving what was in front of him.’
It was a new philosophy for a county that had somehow forgotten their heritage by becoming reliant on short-term fixes like Kolpak players and had gone 13 long years from 2003 without producing a single england cricketer. The focus for a county who have been beset by three tragedies, with the deaths of Graham Kersey, Ben Hollioake and Tom Maynard in a 15-year period, returned firmly to their roots and the production of their own cricketers.
‘ We’ve worked really hard towards this moment of truth,’ said Thompson, one of the most forward-thinking figures in the domestic game.
‘And now we really think we’re building something in the longer term. I can’t emphasise the word authenticity enough.
‘We want something here that is truly Surrey, where the spine and core of our success is built on academy players who have come through the club system and have got their chance.’
The result has been a team full of Surrey products who have earned england recognition, like Ollie Pope, Sam and Tom Curran and Jason roy, others set to be called up like captain rory Burns, and english players produced elsewhere like Ben Foakes and Mark Stoneman, who have fulfilled their potential at The Oval.
The team that clinched the title yesterday included seven Surrey academy graduates. They have been joined by top- quality overseas players, prepared to invest fully in what Surrey are trying to achieve. Players like Kumar Sangakkara, ricky Ponting and, spectacularly this season, Morne Morkel, have played huge parts.
‘ We felt this was going to happen four years ago because you could see what the likes of the Currans, Pope, Amar Virdi and ryan Patel were beginning to do — but you never quite know when it will happen,’ said Thompson.
‘But it has. you could say 16 years is a long time for a club like Surrey to wait for this. We might have been able to do it sooner, but I don’t believe we would have done it the right way. That is the key.
‘I’ve seen too many sides get relegated because one overseas player has got all the wickets or runs and when they’re not there any more they can’t sustain that success. I certainly don’t want that to happen to us. We want to build on this now and develop it.’
To that end Surrey have looked to the example of the most glamorous football club in the world for the right way to build from within.
‘ Barcelona have got that brilliant philosophy of putting their best coaches in their age groups,’ said Thompson. ‘ We are trying to do that.
‘It starts with having a club legend in Alec Stewart as director of cricket and excellent first-team coaches in Michael Di Venuto and Vikram Solanki.
‘rory Burns has made such a difference as captain too.
‘Then we have guys in our system who make a difference, like academy director Gareth Townsend, and add people like Martin Bicknell in the winter.
‘Geoff Arnold at 72 is still the best bowling coach in the country while Alec’s brother Neil looks after the 15-year- olds. We want that Surrey way imbued in everything we do.’ And Surrey, both on
‘We want success with players from our academy’
and off the field, are doing an awful lot right. The Stars won the women’s Super League this year, while the Oval was a model venue for the thrilling fifth Test against India and Alastair Cook’s golden farewell.
With their wealth and resources, the critics say, they should be able to get things right, but Surrey’s status as the richest county in England has not always led to success.
Thompson says they have now got their priorities right. ‘ The Surrey name got swallowed up,’ he admitted. ‘The Kia Oval is really important to us, but this is Surrey and everything is about Surrey.
‘If you go round the ground the “Surreyfication” thing is very important to us and I want people to come here and be under no illusions that this is Surrey County Cricket Club.
‘ Financially this is the strongest we have ever been but, on the playing side, the 50s cast a long shadow and Adam Hollioake’s era in the 1990s and early 2000s cast a long shadow. I hope now this is the start of another era of success. Could this be Surrey’s third coming? That’s what we’ve all got to work very hard towards. There’s no complacency. This is the real deal.’
There could be a lot more titles to add to this one in the coming years.