During Alec Stewart’s reign as Director of Men’s Cricket, 11 players have made their England men’s debut having either come through the Surrey talent pathway or made considerable developments at the Club to go on and secure England honours. Across the three formats, there have been 25 debut caps handed out to those 11 players – the most of any county in the country on both counts.
Jamie Smith and Gus Atkinson, England’s latest red-ball recruits, are part of an illustrious list of the Surrey stars, many of whom have been integral to England Men’s red-ball and white-ball setups, playing a major role in lifting two world cups as well as bringing success in Test matches home and away.
When Stewart became the Director of Men’s Cricket at the Club in 2013, he determined two main objectives – restoring Surrey to the pinnacle of the national game and producing players for England.
Since then, 11 players have stepped up to play for the Three Lions. Some came through the county’s development programme while others had already reached first-class level but have relished the opportunity to refine their skills at Surrey. Mark Stoneman is the 12th player to have debuted for England whilst representing Surrey, although he did so shortly after joining the Club having developed at Durham.
That success has not only been restricted to the realm of men’s cricket, with four players going on to earn their England women’s cap post-2013.
Richard Spiller highlights those who have made it up the ladder…
Jamie Smith (ODI 2023, Test 2024)
If Jamie Smith’s century on his first-class debut in 2019 was a surprise to anyone, that didn’t include Alec Stewart.
The day he was named in England’s Test squad as the solitary wicketkeeper, Smith struck a scintillating century under testing conditions at the Kia Oval against a high-quality Essex side. Last week, in James Anderson’s farewell game, he made his Three Lions Test debut, thrilling the crowd with a delightful 70 whilst batting with the tail alongside being solid behind the stumps throughout the game.
Having joined the Surrey pathway at U9 both his technical skills and temperament impressed through age-group cricket, making his first appearance at senior level for the county in a T20 match against Middlesex at Lord’s when he was 17. Just under a year later, Smith’s 127 for the County Champions against MCC in Dubai made him only the ninth Surrey player to hit a century on his first-class debut.
Establishing himself as a key member of the side, his role in the title successes of 2022 and 2023 was punctuated through the winter in between by a century for England Lions against Sri Lanka A in Galle, reaching three-figures in just 71 balls to establish a new record.
Smith has proved a highly able deputy behind the stumps to Ben Foakes, keeping for much of the 2021 season because of the latter’s injury and first choice in T20 games. He earned his England ODI debut against Ireland in September 2023, his Test debut in July 2024, and there seems much to come.
Gus Atkinson (ODI 2023, Test 2024)
Patience has been a key ingredient in Gus Atkinson’s path to international cricket. The lanky young speedster’s development was slowed by suffering stress fractures to the back in successive seasons.
Surrey had faith that his time would come and so it is proving. His debut at first-class and T20 level came in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season and since then he has progressed steadily, becoming one of the fastest bowlers in English cricket while also making handy contributions with the bat.
Atkinson’s international breakthrough was in 2023, making his T20 debut against New Zealand with his 4-20 the best figures by an England debutant in that format. From there he was selected for the ODI World Cup and the England Test tour of India earlier this year.
Last week, he took Lord’s by storm, producing one of the finest performances ever by an Englishman, claiming a remarkable 12-106 against West Indies with his impressive seam and speed.
Will Jacks (T20i 2022, Test 2022, ODI 2023)
The power of Will Jacks had been no secret in Surrey cricket, making his Surrey Championship debut for Guildford aged 15, shining at age group levels and playing for England in the U19 World Cup.
Jacks was unleashed at county level in 2018, aged 19, making a match-winning 121 against Gloucestershire in only his third List A match. His fielding and catching was as impressive and the outstanding catch he took at short-leg to wrap up a nerve-tingling victory over Lancashire that season was a key moment in the winning of the County Championship.
But for England’s potency in white ball cricket, Jacks might well have made his international debut before 2022, his first T20 appearance in September followed soon by an entry to Test cricket – where his improving off-spin earned him six wickets against Pakistan – and then ODIs.
Jamie Overton (Test 2022)
Born in Devon and making his debut for Somerset in 2012, aged 18, Jamie Overton’s pace bowling and hard-hitting batting always suggested he would be a candidate for international honours. He joined Surrey on loan in the final month of the pandemic-hit 2020 season, making 55 on his debut in the Bob Willis Trophy and helping his new county to the final of the Vitality Blast.
After an injury-hit 2021, his work with bowling coach Azhar Mahmood produced a new, dynamic Overton whose performances saw him called up for England’s final Test against New Zealand in 2022, making an accomplished 97 and removing top-order bats in Devon Conway and Tom Latham.
Since then, two stress fractures have held up his progress, the latest wrecking his hopes of participating in the World T20 this year.
Jason Roy (T20i 2014, ODI 2015, Test 2019)
Moving to England as a 10-year-old, having been born in Durban, Jason Roy’s ability was never in doubt. He first represented Surrey at U11 level and his ability to hit a cricket ball with immense power was obvious. Roy attended Whitgift School and played for Reigate Priory, where car owners were best advised to park out of reach – some still suffered a nasty surprise – and joined the Surrey Academy in 2008. He had already made an appearance for Surrey county’s second team a year earlier, making 48 from 33 balls. Roy’s first-class debut came in 2010, signing a two-year contract at the end of the season.
The top-order batter was establishing himself as one of the hardest hitters in the country and now thrived under the new disciplined environment created by Stewart, making his T20 international debut against India in 2014 and his first appearance in ODIs came the next year. He established himself at the top of the order to become a key member of the 2019 World Cup-winning side and, if a short spell opening in Tests the same summer proved unsuccessful, he has proved one of Surrey’s most illustrious players of recent times.
Ben Foakes (Test 2018, ODI 2019, T20i 2019)
As number two at Essex behind James Foster, Ben Foakes knew he would need to move in order to play regular first-class cricket. Alec Stewart was all too keen to oblige at the end of 2014, seeing in Foakes someone who would become acknowledged as not only the best in the country but – to many eyes – the world.
Foakes, who has 25 red-ball caps to his name, became only the second England men’s wicketkeeper after Matt Prior to score a century on his Test debut when his chance finally came in Sri Lanka in 2018. His superb glovework is what really makes Foakes stand out, making him a cornerstone of the Surrey side which won the County Championship in 2018, 2022 and 2023.
To watch Foakes and Stewart prepare for play each day is to witness coach and player in perfect concord.
Rory Burns (Test 2018)
Rory Burns would be a leading candidate if you had to pick a player who embodies Alec Stewart’s time as director of men’s cricket.
Other counties were sniffing around the left-hander – also a highly capable wicketkeeper – when he was signed by Surrey in 2011. Burns scored his maiden County Championship century against Middlesex the following season, getting there in the same over as long-time teammate – and now board member – Arun Harinath.
And amid many changes over the next couple of years, Burns continued his advance to becoming one of the most consistent players in the country. Having been deputy to Gareth Batty, he took over the Surrey captaincy in 2018, achieving the County Championship title in his first season – since repeated twice – and weight of runs finally earnt him an England call up.
In 32 Tests over the next four years, Burns scored 1,789 runs at 30 and if the critics disliked his technique they could not fault his perseverance and desire to keep Surrey on top.
Ollie Pope (Test 2018)
Ollie Pope’s opening taste of first-team cricket came when in August 2016, when he was 18 and just out of school. Within two years he would be an England Test player and playing a major role in Surrey winning the County Championship for the first time since 2002.
Pope’s excellence as a batter had been obvious all the way through Surrey’s age groups, shining at Cranleigh School and making his first-team debut at Guildford when he was 15. His development into being a core member of Ben Stokes’s Test team – and his vice-captain – has been slowed by the string of shoulder injuries which beset him but are (hopefully) a thing of the past. As the head boy in a generation of players who rose through the ranks together, his peak should be yet to come.
Pope joined the Surrey pathway at U9s and was part of the same age-group cohort as Gus Atkinson and Sam Curran as well as Ryan Patel and Amar Virdi.
Sam Curran (Test 2018, ODI 2018, T20i 2019)
Like brother Tom, Sam Curran’s emergence was fundamental in Surrey’s return to the top tier of English cricket. He was described by Alec Stewart as “the best 17-year-old cricketer I have seen” and made his first-class debut at that age, having grown up in Zimbabwe and then moving over with the family.
No one who witnessed his advance through the age groups doubted that he was a player to watch. At 17 and 40 days – having already appeared in T20 cricket – he became Surrey’s second youngest first-class player and duly celebrated with five wickets in an innings against Kent at The Kia Oval.
Sam’s Test debut came just a year later, earning the player-of-the-series award as India were beaten 4-1. More recently he has been confined to white-ball formats, winning the player-of-the-tournament prize in the victorious T20 World Cup campaign in 2022 and gaining the OBE the following year. Given the opportunity, he could yet add to his 24 Test caps.
Tom Curran (T20i 2017, ODI 2017, Test 2017)
He has become a short-form specialist but Tom Curran’s role in the Surrey revival should never be overlooked.
When just 20, he led the attack in 2015, taking 76 wickets as promotion back to County Championship Division One was secured under Gareth Batty. That secured the first target set by Alec Stewart, to make sufficient progress that Surrey should regain a place among the elite.
Curran had come to Surrey’s attention playing school cricket in South Africa, former county captain Ian Greig noticing him and making a crucial connection. A highly impressive trial in 2012 saw him join the following summer, the competitiveness which marked the game of father Kevin – the Zimbabwean all-rounder who had played for Gloucestershire and Northants – obvious from the start.
Curran’s international debuts in white-ball formats both came in the 2017 season and he added two Test caps the following winter in Australia, remaining a regular England squad member until 2021, since when injuries have taken a toll. But his recent performances in the Vitality Blast as well as franchise cricket around the world, have shown Tom is returning to his best form with both bat and ball.
Zafar Ansari (ODI 2015, Test 2016)
Zafar Ansari was always going to be England captain, assumed many people – but not him.
Skipper of the national U15 side and remaining a member of it through the U17 and U19 stages, it’s perhaps no surprise about those expectations.
With a double first at Cambridge, Ansari knew his own mind. Having made his county debut in 2010, he would be an important member of the team as it was rebuilt by Stewart after relegation from the County Championship in 2013, his top-order batting and left-arm spin offering balance to the side.
A serious thumb injury prevented him from taking his place on the England tour to Pakistan in 2015-16 and although he would make his Test debut just over a year later, playing three matches in Bangladesh and India, his other ambitions were beginning to take precedence.
If Ansari’s shock retirement from the game early in the 2017 season cost Surrey a talented and resourceful cricketer, the legal world has been the beneficiary and he was a member of the Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket which reported on inequality in cricket. He was elected a member of Surrey’s general committee in April 2024, where he can sit alongside his old opening partner Arun Harinath.
Alice Capsey (T20i 2022, ODI 2022)
One of the brightest talents in world cricket, Alice Capsey has become a mainstay in England’s white-ball set-up as well as a sought-after superstar by global franchises in India and Australia.
The destructive batting allrounder got her first England cap in a T20I against South Africa in 2022 shortly before getting the nod in ODIs versus India as an 18-year-old. Since then, she has appeared for the Three Lions over 50 times, including during the 2023 T20 World Cup, where she struck a 21-ball fifty against Ireland – the fastest-ever in a T20I by a female English player.
Born in Redhill, Capsey climbed up through the Surrey pathway and played for the first team aged 15, swiftly being regarded as someone who would break into the international side sooner rather than later. In the coming years, her rise continued at a striking pace and before making her England debut, Capsey took the Oval Invincibles to a Hundred title and the South East Stars to a Charlotte Edwards Cup triumph in 2021, topping the batting charts of the competition.
Sophia Dunkley (T20i 2018, Test 2021, ODI 2021)
Sophia Dunkley debuted for Three Lions in the 2018 ICC T20 World Cup in the West Indies and has earned over 85 caps so far, including five Test appearances. Having been left of England’s squad at the start of this season, Dunkley roared back into the set-up, letting her bat talk and scoring bundles of runs for South East Stars.
Born in Lambeth, Dunkley was raised north of the river and joined Middlesex at youth level before moving to Surrey Stars. The 25-year-old rose to prominence during her three years with Stars, steering her side to their first Kia Super League triumph in 2018.
The batting all-rounder is the highest-scoring woman in The Hundred’s history and has found joy playing T20 cricket across the globe.
Bryony Smith (T20i 2018, ODI 2019)
Expressive with the bat and effective with the ball, Bryony Smith earned her first England cap in 2018 during a T20I tri-series in India and then made a comeback into the team four years later in 2022.
The 26-year-old, who hails from south London and whose first cricket club was Wallington CC, joined the Surrey set-up at the age of nine and went on to make her senior team debut at 16. She was a part of the Surrey Stars side that won the Kia Super League under the captaincy of Nat Sciver-Brunt, coming through the ranks and building a reputation for being an explosive batter.
A feather in her cap as the Stars skipper has been lifting the Charlotte Edwards Cup in 2021, scoring an express 37 in the final against Northern Diamonds and finishing as the competition’s leading wicket-taker. In the following years, her Stars side have stayed true to their identity as an attacking team and reached the Finals Day twice.
In a full-circle moment, Smith will be back at Surrey to lead the Club’s professional side next year.
Nat Sciver-Brunt (ODI 2013, T20i 2013, Test 2014)
Touted for great things when she made her England debut in 2013, Nat Sciver-Brunt has gone on to achieve those and more across all three formats, winning the ODI World Cup at home in 2017 as well as being named the ICC Women’s Cricketer of the Year twice to go with a host of individual awards.
Born in Tokyo and raised in the Netherlands, she moved over to the UK and was part of the Surrey Academy as a teenager, playing for Epsom College and her club Stoke d’Abernon.
The genuine all-rounder stormed onto the scene after scoring heaps of List-A runs for Surrey, having made her Club debut in 2010. Sciver-Brunt, as Surrey Stars’ skipper, also saw her side to Kia Super League glory in 2018, smashing 362 runs at an average of over 45 along the way.
A lynchpin in England’s lineup, the 31-year-old has over 6000 international runs and 160 wickets to her name, and is among the greatest players to not only wear the Three Lions but grace the game.
