Surrey Season Review 2024

Surrey Season Review 2024

Surrey have to be considered the Sky Blues of county cricket, able to field a team of superstars even when international call ups can deprive them of so many players. Other counties might look at them as the “haves” of the game, but it should not be forgotten that a significant number of their players have been developed in-house, albeit their success also attracts top players to their ranks. Only eleven can take the field and competition for places is therefore high, driving up the standards.

They have been led by one such local product, Rory Burns since 2018, when Surrey won the County Championship for the first time since 2002 and this year’s success was the third in as many years. Essex and Somerset were within touching distance at different times of the season, but Surrey kept winning, their only two slip ups being against Hampshire, who eventually finished second and Somerset, whose late challenge faltered against Lancashire.

Burns topped their Championship run scoring with 1073 at 53.65, followed by fellow opener Dom Sibley with 832 runs at 43.78. One of England’s new stars, Jamie Smith scored 677 runs in nine games, while new recruit Dan Lawrence made 617 at 47.46. The Test credentials of all these players cannot be ignored and we have not mentioned Ben Foakes or Ollie Pope.

However to win eight games needs wicket taking bowlers and even with the notable absences, Surrey were able to field a potent attack led by Dan Worrall. The 33-year-old Australian took 52 wickets at a ridiculously low average of 16.15. Jordan Clark picked up 38 wickets at 25.97 to go with his 467 runs, while leg spinner Cameron Steel took 23 at 29.30, 20 of those wickets coming in the first three games. Dan Lawrence was given more opportunities with the ball than he had at Essex and took 15 wickets with his unorthodox action.

The only criticism might be the way that Surrey parachuted overseas players in at different points in the season, in particular Shakib Al Hasan for the game against Somerset, when Will Jacks was absent and a turning pitch was expected at Taunton. Al Hasan took nine wickets in the match, but Surrey ended up losing.

Surrey also dominated the South Group in the Vitality Blast, assisted by two Australian quicks, Sean Abbott and Spencer Johnson. Due to the disjointed scheduling of the competition, neither were available for the knock out games and in the absence of some of their England players, they lost at the semi-final stage to Somerset. Tom Curran only played nine games, but led the way with the ball, taking 16 wickets, with Sean Abbott one behind. There were no standout performances with the bat, runs coming from all down the order, regularly posting scores in the 180’s. However, the stand out statistic is the strike rate of Smith, scoring at 203.57 runs per 100 balls!

It was no surprise that even a squad as strong as Surrey’s would struggle when deprived of 15 of their best players and that was the situation in the Metro Bank One Day Cup. They won just two matches to finish eighth in Group B.

Results

Vitality CC: Champions

Vitality Blast: Losing semi finalists

Metro Bank ODC: Eighth in Group B

Leading run-scorers

Vitality CC: Rory Burns 1073 at 53.65

Vitality Blast: Jamie Smith 285 at 35.62; Strike rate 203.57

Metro Bank ODC: Dom Sibley 350 at 43.75; Strike rate 90.20

Leading wicket-takers

Vitality CC: Dan Worrall 52 at 16.15

Vitality Blast: Tom Curran 16 at 13.68; Economy rate 7.55

Metro Bank ODC: Cameron Steel 17 at 21.82; Economy rate 6.08

Player of the season

While Rory Burns captained the side and scored over 1000 Championship runs, bowlers win you games and Dan Worrall is as good as any on the county circuit. He had four four-wicket hauls and two fifers in his 52 wickets and took a wicket every 38.21 balls. This is his third season with Surrey, having played on an overseas basis for Gloucestershire between 2018 and 2021. He was born in Melbourne, but picked up by South Australia at the age of 21. He went on to play three ODIs for Australia, but registered with Surrey in 2021 as a local player based on his UK passport. The talk is now whether he will come into contention for an England place when he becomes eligible for selection next April.

Breakthrough Player

Breaking into the Surrey team is not easy given the quality of the squad, but someone who has stuck his hand up is 21-year-old Yousef Majid. The slow left arm bowler was awarded a contract after impressing in the One Day Cup in 2022 and picked up six wickets in this year’s competition, registering the lowest economy rate of any of the Surrey bowlers at 5.26 runs per over. He went on to make his Championship debut in the last game of the season, taking two wickets.

Previously he has played for England at under 19 level.

Could have done better

Ben Foakes has dropped out of the England reckoning and while he remains Surrey’s first choice wicket keeper, his batting has dipped this season, scoring just 404 Championship runs at 26.93. This compares with a first class average over his career of 37.76.

At 31 years of age he still has plenty of time left in the game and hopefully can keep himself motivated. Jamie Smith has certainly made a strong start with the bat for England, but there must be question marks over his keeping, missing chances behind the stumps. This is not helped by him not taking the gloves for his club and it is difficult to see how this is resolved if he stays at Surrey.

Need to work on

It is difficult to criticise a club that has won three successive County Championships and who continues to bring players through. They will clearly be keen to win the Blast, not having held the trophy since the first year it was played, back in 2003. However the ridiculous scheduling makes player availability for the knock out stages a lottery.

What’s next?

The move of Matthew Fisher form Yorkshire will strengthen the seam bowling, while we wait to see if England will show any interest in Worrall. He would obviously be a big loss if his availability is restricted.

However, it is a brave man who would best against Surrey making it four in a row.

Season Rating

Another excellent season marred only by the loss at the semi final stage of the Blast.

Mark: 9/10

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