Surrey put dynasty back on track after dark times
New champions’ decision to build from within rather than trying to buy success has brought reward, says Simon Briggs
‘We have hated the lean years. It’s been torture just watching’
Certain clubs just have charisma. It does not matter which division Leeds United are in, there is always something interesting going on at Elland Road. And you could say the same of Surrey’s cricketers, who have just won the County Championship for the first time in 16 years.
Surrey are a club of dynasties, a club of tragedies and a club of big spenders – a glossy soap opera at the heart of county cricket. To take one example, the Oval provided a base for Kevin Pietersen in his final incarnation as a first-class batsman. He was signed by Chris Adams, the controversial director of cricket who once nipped off to Portugal for a sneaky break in the middle of the season.
Because of their wealth, Surrey have often fallen victim to the easy-fix fallacy: when in doubt, import a few top players from other counties. Yet, as the past few months demonstrate, cricket teams need more than stars. They need something to fight for too. “You’ve got to understand Surrey to work there,” said Alec Stewart, who succeeded Adams in 2013, during a break in Thursday’s champagne-soaked celebrations. “This group of players has grown up together.”
Fifteen years after his own retirement, Stewart’s first instinct was to push the academy kids – he had been one himself, after all – and the likes of the Curran brothers (Tom and Sam) and Ollie Pope have trained on so superbly that all three have now represented England.
One of the key moments of the 2018 campaign came in May, when Stewart invited every living capped player to a dinner at the Oval. “I think it was instructive for the current team to see how much it meant to us all,” said Jon Batty, who won his own Surrey cap in 2001. “And how much we have hated the lean times. It’s been torture just watching.”
Batty stood behind the stumps in the Adam Hollioake-led team who won the championship three times in four years. He arrived at a turbulent moment, too, just after the car accident that had robbed Surrey of muchloved wicketkeeper Graham Kersey. “Graham was held in such high regard,” recalls Batty now, “that his death made the whole dressingroom pull together.”
Heartbreakingly, Surrey lost three active players in the space of 15 years. The second tragedy – another car accident, this time involving 24-year-old Ben Hollioake
– took place in 2002, and probably hastened the break-up of a team who looked to have more titles left in them. Then, in 2012, came the devastating news that Tom Maynard had accidentally electrocuted himself on the railway tracks near Wimbledon Park Station.
Again, this drew a thick black line under the existing regime. Club captain Rory Hamiltonbrown quit at the end of the season, and Adams left the following year.
So there is darkness in Surrey’s back story. But while Stewart cannot change the past, he has instilled the no-nonsense work ethic that he inherited from father Micky – a former England coach. The upshot is a team with the dynastic potential to emulate, or outdo, the Hollioake mob.
Several recent championship-winning teams have gone on to flirt with relegation the following season, or even to slip straight down, as Middlesex did last year. But this seems unlikely in Surrey’s case.
“A lot of these boys are in their early 20s,” says Batty, in an observation that might alarm rival counties. “I think they could still be four years from their peak.”