Surrey will begin their quest to defend the London Championship title against Middlesex on Tuesday (May 30) at Guildford.
Following the opening contest against the local rivals – who the Three Feathers will meet again when they fight it out for the T20 London Cup on July 14 – this year’s 50-over campaign will see Surrey take on Essex (11 June), Kent (17 July), and Sussex (TBC). Each victory will bring the winners 10 points, with batting and bowling bonus points also to be won. The team that finishes on the top of the table after four rounds of matches, will get their hands on the trophy.
Skipper Amy Gordon is optimistic that “it should be a good competition” for her young side. “We want to go out and obviously enjoy our cricket, but at the end of the day, we are defending champions, so we’re going to go in looking to win,” says the all-rounder.
After a busy winter and a productive preseason, which was followed by some positive outings in the County T20 competition, Gordon believes that spending this time together has brought the team closer. “We really gel quite well as a team, and I think that’s definitely helped us on the pitch,” she comments.
Last season, Surrey built their unbeaten, triumphant campaign on the back of impressive bowling performances – not letting any of their opponents reach 200 – that were complimented by effective batting displays.
Pacers Charlotte Lambert and Priyanaz Chatterji, who bowled with great rhythm and took six wickets apiece, spearheading Surrey’s bowling unit along with off-spinner Claudie Cooper, who also claimed five scalps and recently made her senior team debut for the South East Stars, will be vital for the team, heading into the new season.
Lambert, an exciting prospect who possesses shades of stylistic similarities with her captain, is viewed in high regard by Gordon. “[She] has been a really good player for our team in the last two years. She was in the England under-19 squad over the Christmas period and you can see that her hard work is really paying off.
“She’s definitely one of our fastest bowlers… she opens the bowling, starts the attack off really well, normally gets a wicket or two very early on, and she can hit the ball very hard towards the back end of the innings… If she just continues the way she is, I think the next year could be really good for her,” tells Gordon.
From a batting perspective, last season’s top-scorer Rhianna Southby, who was also fifth in the tournament run charts, as well as quick-scoring Gordon and emerging batter Maddie Blinkhorn-Jones, will want to leave their mark on this year’s edition.
Gordan, who recently played a fantastic innings of 52 in the win over Oxfordshire in the County T20, says that she is “looking to hit the ground running’ in the 50-over competition, and she’d “love to score another 50 and then try and convert it into 100, having more overs to bat.”
In the just-concluded County T20 competition, Thea Brookes, Anjali Ketan, Priya Khatkar, and Robyn Bentley made their senior team debuts for Surrey, and they would be eagerly looking forward to doing the same in the 50-over format.
Gordon believes that the introduction of younger players has been a benefit for the club: “I think having a good balance of experience and newer players has really helped us because there are new people coming in with different skills that we don’t have.”
As the captain, Gordon feels it is crucial for her to be “someone who is easy to communicate with” and “make sure that everyone, especially the new players coming in, can have fun and enjoy the cricket” in order for Surrey to successfully defend their title.
Surrey have named a 12-player squad for their opener against Middlesex:
