2008 Season Review: Surrey

Final placings:
Championship Division One - 9th;
FP Trophy - 4th, South-eastern Conference;
Twenty20 Cup – 6th, South Division;
Pro40 Division Two - 5th

Amidst the fallout following one of the worst seasons in Surrey’s history and all the psychobabble, the fairest summation of the club’s state came, perhaps surprisingly, from skipper Mark Butcher. He said simply “it is probably a year overdue for us”.

Surrey finished fourth last year – and, given that they were as good as anyone in the second half of the season, notions of a title challenge did not seem so fanciful. But of course they were. For their resurgent end to the 2007 season owed an extraordinary amount to the brilliance of Mark Ramprakash and Harbhajan Singh. Patently, gaping problems remained within the side. Just no one seemed willing to recognise them. Surrey had this awful season coming to them, with the lessons of last season and their ’05 relegation unlearnt. Essentially, the side who won eight trophies between 1996 and 2003 have just kept getting older, with young players lacking in ability, attitude, or both.

Taking 20 wickets: mission impossible
The most fundamental problem with this side was their hopelessly ineffective bowling attack. Failing to take twenty wickets in any of their 15 games is the most damning of statistics. New signing Pedro Collins was too inconsistent; Chris Jordan likewise as he suffered from second-season syndrome. James Ormond began the season leaner and with renewed nip. But the awarding of a new contract on the back of a few encouraging weeks is a further indictment of the whole Surrey set-up: what sort of message does it send that 13 first-class wickets at 43 are sufficient for a new deal?

Hopelessly bereft of penetration, Surrey succeeded in embarrassing themselves further with the disastrous locum recruit of Shoaib Akhtar. But they were doomed when he arrived. A bigger reason for their relegation was the utter ineffectuality of overseas bowler Matt Nicholson. Though he has retired from Australian state cricket, Surrey, in their desperation, signed him up. But 11 wickets at 57 from nine championship games is an appalling return for an ‘overseas star’, for all his admirable batting.

Star winter signing Saqlain Mushtaq began encouragingly; but, like so many of the ‘golden generation’, his best years have gone. In truth, he did better than expected to finish with 38 championship wickets (11 more than the next best) but failed to provide the late-season inspiration Harbhajan had delivered a year previously. Unfortunately, Chris Schofield’s season was decimated through injury, one mitigating circumstance in the atrocious Twenty20 Cup campaign. Once masters of the game, Surrey lacked regular six-hitters and canny bowlers alike. Their near-complete reliance on locum Abdul Razzaq for inspiration was embarrassing.

A lack of leadership
Butcher’s injury woes, coming just after a return to the opening position and a superlative run of form, evoked ‘Four More Weeks’, Ramprakash’s 2005 diary named after Butcher’s pronouncements whenever asked about the date of his comeback.

Surrey had made a reasonable enough start to the campaign, drawing their first five games, with their batting unit looking better than for several seasons. Butcher’s injury severely weakened that, while Ramprakash struggled as captain – immersed in his quest to reach his 100th century, and frustrated with such an impotent bowling attack. Alan Butcher has correctly been removed as coach; his son will probably lose his job likewise, provided that a satisfactory replacement can be found. Indicative of the lack of forward thinking at The Oval, any new skipper would have to be recruited externally.

Batting buckling under pressure
Surrey actually claimed more batting points than at least five sides in Division One – although this is a somewhat deceptive statistic, given their penchant for collapsing brainlessly under pressure. The most pathetic such instance was in the crucial game against Kent. Cruising at 53/0 in their second innings, with an overall lead of 177, they somehow conspired to lose their last ten wickets on a sunny day and a docile track for 80, with the very occasional spin of Martin van Jaarsveld claiming his first ever five-wicket haul.

There seems a collective failure to score runs under pressure, Ramprakash excepted. Scott Newman at least managed two hundreds, while Usman Afzaal’s average of 45 was hard to argue with, but Jon Batty had his worst season for several years and had to be moved down from opener. The collective efforts of the next generation – Stewart Walters, Chris Murtagh and James Benning – were woeful, though at least Matt Spriegel showed a certain amount of resilience.

Any signs of hope?
Surrey’s one-day exploits were slightly more encouraging than their County Championship and Twenty20 efforts, thanks largely to Jade Dernbach. A true wicket-taker, the seamer claimed 23 scalps in the eight Pro40 games thanks to movement and aggression. Add in a Championship six-wicket haul and he was the nearest to a ‘positive’ from the calamitous season.

It is axiomatic that Surrey are a club in need of big changes, with the appointment of Graham Thorpe as batting coach appearing a shrewd start. But years of muddled thinking and short-termism will not be easy to rectify, especially with so many serial under-performers still contracted.

Player of the season:
Ask a stupid question. The gap between his 99th and 100th first-class centuries – the result of age-old mental frailties, say his critics; a broken bat, says the man himself – may have been agonising, but either side Mark Ramprakash was as good as the ’06 and ’07 player who averaged 100. Six hundreds in Division One, in the weakest side, by far: tremendous by any criteria.

Most disappointing player:
Where to start? Shoaib Akhtar would be an obvious candidate, but it would be unfair to scapegoat a man who played only two games. While a plethora of ‘promising youngsters’ flattered to deceive, the experienced West Indian left-armer Pedro Collins singularly failed to impress. Too wayward, too often.

Highlight: Off-field finances have never been better; the story was rather less satisfactory on the pitch. The Butcher-Nicholson double-century stand against Yorkshire was perhaps as good as it got. Butcher’s stroke-play was spectacular, better than at any point since his England days – but he was injured almost immediately afterwards.

Lowlight: No shortage of options, clearly. But two consecutive home innings defeat constituted an aptly pathetic end to a season in which Surrey were perhaps the worst county in the country.

How can Surrey end their slump? Share your views by leaving a comment below.

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2008 Season Preview: Surrey

Continuing our county previews, here is an assesment of Surrey's chances in 2008.

2007 in a Nutshell:
Surrey initially looked out of their depth, losing four and winning none of their first seven Championship games - and it would have been even worse had Mark Butcher and Matt Nicholson not batted over 20 overs together to scrape a draw against Worcestershire. Their bowling attack was totally bereft of penetration, but the mid-term additions of Harbhajan Singh and Chris Jordan gave them the tools to bowl sides out. Mark Ramprakash was phenomenal yet again, culminating in twin hundreds as they secured a flattering fourth-placed finish on the final day. The limited-overs competitions were all deeply frustrating, as Surrey thrice crumbled when on the verge of advancing.
Full season review

2008 Prospects
Surrey were busier than most over the winter and much will depend on how their new recruits fare. They have totally revamped their bowling line-up and will almost certainly begin the season with a completely different attack to 12 months ago. Nayan Doshi left mid-way last season, joined by veteran Ian Salisbury. Rikki Clarke finally accepted he would not realise his potential at The Oval, and it will be intriguing to see how he fares as Derby skipper. Pakistani star Mohammad Asif was signed to spearhead their Championship push, but his deal has now been cancelled and Surrey will have to make do with steady Matt Nicholson instead. West Indian Pedro Collins should prove a shrewd recruit too, while club legend Saqlain Mushtaq faces the onerous task of replacing Harbhajan. With the mercurial Usman Afzaal signed to shore up the middle-order, and a series of promising youngsters, Surrey will begin the season with a better squad then they ended the last campaign given the limit on overseas players.

As such, they will expect to finish in mid-table, while making a renewed tilt at the limited-overs competitions. Promotion from the Pro40 is expected; progress beyond the quarter-finals of the Twenty20 and Friends Provident Trophy less so.

Batting:
Surrey's batting was top-heavy to say the least last campaign. There are few more startling statistics than the fact there was just a solitary score over 70 made by any member of the side outside the top four over the 15 games.

The peerless Mark Ramprakash broke history in averaging 100 for the second consecutive season, but his team-mates must do more in support of him and the dependable pair of Butcher and Jon Batty. It is a big season for Scott Newman, who disappointed in the Championship but broke through, belatedly and spectacularly, in the one-day game. Afzaal's flamboyant strokeplay will surely improve the middle-order, as well as the one-day side. But Ali Brown must prove he is not being retained out of mere sentiment after struggling even in Twenty20 last season; James Benning must bounce back from his poor campaign; and youngsters Stewart Walters (who is nearly 25) and Laurie Evans will be given opportunities to establish themselves.

Bowling:
With no star overseas bowler, it will require a real team effort to collect 20 wickets. Expect the admirable Nicholson to perform similarly to last campaign when he snared 44 wickets at 29. Collins is a canny left-arm swing bowler and could prove surprisingly effective, while much - possibly too much - is expected of the exciting Jordan in his first full campaign. Keeping the unfit and injury-prone James Ormond may well prove a flagrant waste of club funds, while Jade Dernbach will look to build on a fine end to last season and Neil Saker admirably rejected offers to go out on loan. Both the main spinners are something of an unknown quantity, having played very little first-class cricket in the last few years; there is also Pakistani off-spinner Murtaza Hussain, who has an outstanding first-class record and did well at the end of last season. Only one member of the potential first-choice attack - Nicholson - has played more than ten championship games in the past three campaigns, indicative of how difficult the attack's strength is to gauge.

Probable side:
Championship
Newman
Batty
Ramprakash
Butcher
Afzaal
Benning (Brown/Walters)
Nicholson
Schofield (Ormond/Dernbach/Murtaza)
Jordan
Saqlain
Collins

Aside from whether Ramps can average 100 yet again, the big questions lie in the bowling. Can Chris Schofield maintain his one-day form while building on match figures of 8/139 in his last Championship game? And can Saqlain Mushtaq rediscover his brilliance of the turn of the century? If both answers are resoundingly positive, Surrey could find themselves with one of the most varied and exciting attacks in the division, possessing a left-arm swinger (Collins), a tall 'hit-the-deck' bowler (Nicholson), a young and quick rising star (Jordan), a leg-spinner (Schofield) and an off-spinner (Saqlain). Otherwise getting 20 wickets consistently will prove beyond them.

One-day and Twenty20
Benning
Newman
Ramprakash/Butcher
Afzaal
Brown
Batty
Schofield
Nicholson
Jordan
Saqlain
Collins

Expect Surrey to continue with their policy of rotating Ramprakash and Butcher in limited-overs games. If they are truly serious about the Twenty20 then Butcher, who averaged only 8 in the competition last season, should not play in it. Dernbach, after claiming 5/43 in a Pro40 game, will get plenty of one-day chances.

Key Man:
The astonishing Mark Ramprakash is obviously essential, but Surrey need to pose more of a wicket-taking threat to avoid last season's relegation worries: without Harbhajan's intervention, even Ramps's runs would not have saved them. On the spin-friendly Oval track, another off-spinner, Saqlain Mushtaq, will not match the exploits of '99 and 2000, when he took a total of 125 wickets at less than 14. But, rejuvenated by a year with Mustaq Ahmed, during which he took 18 wickets at under 20, he needs to win Surrey some matches to ensure they do not slip into the bottom two. Amazingly, he is just 31 and, with the doosra heading his box of tricks, a Mushie-esque resurrection is not beyond the realms of possibility.

Rising Star:
The choice will win no prizes for originality, but the then 18-year-old Chris Jordan made a spectacular impact in helping revive Surrey's fortunes. With 20 Championship wickets at 24 and 13 Pro40 wickets at 20, it was hard not to be impressed by his pace, accuracy, cricketing maturity and raw enthusiasm. Though he did not always show it, he can bat too. The second season is notoriously difficult for bright young things, however, and it is crucial Jordan is well-managed.

Captain and Coach:
The two Butchers did not always convince last season, and there is a feeling that certain senior players - Ormond and possibly Brown - are very fortunate to remain at the club for the 2008 season. Butcher junior, aided by vice-skipper Ramprakash, is undoubtedly tactically astute. But fundamental questions remain, especially over why youngsters often shine briefly only to falter. Surrey need Chris Jordan to end this trend and help them towards a season of upwardly mobile consolidation.

Saqlain Mushtaq

As the 2007 county season approaches, we will be compiling a list of six men to watch; not necessarily the finest players, but those with particularly significant and interesting seasons ahead.

Saqlain Mushtaq (Sussex)
Saqlain has had an extraordinary career. He is often acclaimed as the first off-spinner to master the doosra; he has also claimed 496 wickets, and was the fastest ever bowler to reach 100 ODI wickets.

In county cricket, his subtle variations and the desperate unease shown by English batsmen playing spin meant he was undeniably the key man in Surrey’s three County Championship wins of 1999-2002. His brilliance was such that he took 124 first-class wickets from just 19 games during ’99 and 2000 – at an average of 13.

But he over-bowled during his heyday, making him susceptible to injuries and reducing his mystique. Batsmen slowly grew accustomed to his bowling, and began picking his variations more readily. Accordingly, his effectiveness diminished; in ’03, he took 41 wickets for Surrey at 33 and, in his last Test, in March 2004, Sehwag and co plundered him for 204 runs.

He has been a sadly peripheral figure since, after an injury-ruined three years. But he is just 30 – and many spinners have peaked at a later age. Saqlain only needs to look at his compatriot Mushtaq Ahmed for evidence of how cricketing careers can be rejuvenated. If Sussex can reinvigorate Saqlain as they have Mushtaq, the sight of the two Pakistanis whirling away in tandem this campaign will be quite something.