Former England spinner Gareth Batty, aged 37, has been charged with the task of captaining an exciting Surrey squad this season as they look to build on a promising 2014.
Kevin Howells (BBC radio)
Certain promotion. One of the world’s best batsmen of all time in their ranks, and also some of the country’s most exciting young talent – for example Roy with the bat and Dunn with the ball. What could possibly go wrong? #Silverware
David Fulton (Sky Sports News)
What a signing Kumar Sangakkara could be. The only question would be how he motivates himself on a cold day somewhere like Derby. I like their bowling too, with Tremlett, Meaker, Dunn and others. Should go up.
Despite the pundits backing Surrey for silverware this term, new skipper Gareth Batty is refusing to talk about “massive outcomes.”
A second successive appearance at Twenty20 Finals Day, an encouraging LV= County Championship Division Two campaign plus the emergence of an array of exciting youngsters showed signs that the sleeping giant was stirring in 2014.
Add the capture of Sri Lanka great Kumar Sangakkara to that and Graham Ford’s squad appears capable of challenging for all honours.
But former England off-spinner Batty, who won 18 caps for his country, is not looking too far ahead.
The 37-year-old told ecb.co.uk: “I don’t think we are going to set many targets, other than we will try and win every single game we play.
“The ideal scenario is, come the end of the season, you are in the semi-finals, finals and you see where you go from there.
“I don’t want to be talking about massive outcomes because I feel if we go about building our foundations then the process of getting to your outcomes will be in a fine place come the end of the season.
“Hopefully that is where we want to be, we want to be top of tables and in finals. We are very driven to get back on the cricketing map.
“We just want to reach our potential and our potential is hopefully to progress a lot further in all forms of competition.”
However, despite setting any specific targets, Batty reckons a talented Surrey squad are capable of challenging on all fronts in 2015.
The former Worcestershire and Yorkshire player said: “I think both our club and our squad suggests we look at all three competitions.
“Whether it is realistic to win all three, we shall see. We will certainly be trying. I know it hasn’t been done for a very, very, very long time and I think that is down to the different skills required for all three.
“I think we are very, very well placed as a squad across all forms with skill, talent and experience. I believe we are very nicely placed for everything.”
Having a player of Sangakkara’s calibre in their ranks will certainly boost Surrey’s hopes of success.
The 37-year-old, widely regarded as one of the best players in the world, has scored 12,203 runs in 130 Tests and 15,616 in 460 limited-overs appearances.
The batsman has shown his class recently, becoming the first player to hit four consecutive one-day international centuries and quartet in a World Cup as Sri Lanka reached the quarter-finals.
Batty believes Sangakkara, who has worked with head coach Ford at international level, will have nothing but a positive impact on the Surrey roster.
Batty said: “Anybody that has watched the World Cup, if you didn’t know already, he is a world-class player.
“It will be down to people’s opinion as to who the best player in the world is, but I would suggest there is a lot of people saying he is one of the nominees.
Training outside with the sun shining pic.twitter.com/2oJC22KSHt
— Surrey Cricket (@surreycricket) March 23, 2015
“He is a great addition to the group. I know he has worked very closely with Graham Ford, our coach, before and he speaks very highly of him as a man as well as a wonderful player. World-class players are always a good addition.”
Batty will take on extra responsibility at the Kia Oval this term after becoming the club’s full-time captain.
“It is a real privilege, a great honour, and it is very exciting,” he added. “It is a new challenge for the group and for me personally. It is something I am relishing.
“The group are relishing this season and hopefully the aim is to set something up, not only for this year, but to build something for a very long time to come.
“Our group can play for years together. The thought it not just now, it is also about the future as well.”
Surrey
Captain: Gareth Batty
Head coach: Graham Ford
In: Ben Foakes (Essex), James Burke (Somerset), David Balcombe (Hampshire), Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka), Azhar Mahmood (Pakistan)
Out: Tom Jewell (released), George Edwards (released), Jack Winslade (released)