Surrey are ready to kickstart their 2024 campaign against Hampshire at Reigate Priory CC this Sunday (21 April) as the ECB’s Women’s County One-Day sets off.
Newly named the official skipper, Amy Gordon is ‘excited and a bit nervous’ ahead of the season opener but feels that the experience of leading the side last year would come in handy. “The girls have really got to know how I captain and I know what they want from me as well.”
After a busy pre-season, with “good vibes, brilliant energy, and everyone givining their 100%” in training, Gordon wants her team to play their “best cricket” from the very beginning.
The way to make that happen, in her opinion, is “for girls to have fun on the field.” Wanting to carry forward the philosophy she tried to implement last season, the 22-year-old adds, “As long as we all are having a good time together, the results should fall our way.”
SQUAD
A young and exciting squad of 12 will be travelling to Reigate for Surrey’s first game of the season.
Over the winter, talented wicketkeeper Rhianna Southby, having enjoyed winning campaigns in The Hundred and with the Southern Vipers, joined the England A squad on tours to India and New Zealand.
The end of last season also saw Maddie Blinkhorn-Jones, scorer of a scintillating century in the London derby last year, and Charlotte Lambert added to South East Stars’ senior side on Pay As You Play contracts.
Lambert also featured for England u19s on the tour to Sri Lanka, while her bowling partner Charlotte Stubbs, who was named the Club’s Young Player of 2023, joined her in England u19’s preparation camp for the tri-series in Sri Lanka.
Spinners Claudie Cooper, who made her debut for the Stars last season, and Priya Khatkar, Surrey’s Bowler of the Year in 2023, will be aiming to build on their performances from the previous campaign.
“We have a good team balance,” says Gordon. “We have a few young guns that like running in and bowling some absolute gas and some good experienced spinners coming through.”
For Gordon, 2023 was a “bit hit-and-miss, with many new players coming in, trying to find their feet” and with the semifinals of County T20 and London Cup at Lord’s getting rained off.
Heading into the 2024 season, the skipper believes that the squad is more settled and there are “more chances to get into a proper rhythm” with an increased number of matches in this season’s calendar. “We’ve got a good, solid starting ground and obviously if the Stars manage to drop back in, then that’s additional, but we’ve still got a strong team without them.”
“We all know each other, we know how we play, so there’s a bit of a higher expectation this year that we hit the ground running,” claims Gordon.
