Author: Marcus Hook

Reece Topley is targeting the early rounds of the County Championship to state his case for a return to the international fold, following a 2021 season that was derailed by injury.

Last weekend, Surrey’s Nat Sciver became the first cricketer – male of or female – to hit a hundred for England in a World Cup final. But with Australia winning by 71 runs in Christchurch, it was bittersweet; much as it was when Sciver made an unbeaten 109 in England’s opening group game, which Australia also won, albeit narrowly.

Jamie Smith raised a few eyebrows by turning down the chance to play in The Hundred last summer, opting instead to remain with Surrey for the Royal London Cup, which ran alongside the new high-profile domestic tournament. It proved a wise move.

Surrey’s final game of the 2021 season, against Glamorgan, proved to be a run-laden draw – so much so the County Championship Division Two clash at the Oval produced 1,394 runs over four days for the loss of just 10 wickets.

Surrey fielded a staggering 34 players this summer due to international calls, injuries, Covid-19 and, of course, The Hundred.

Surrey’s Alice Capsey, Aylish Cranstone and Bryony Smith led the way as South East Stars chased down a target of 139 to become the inaugural winners of the Charlotte Edwards T20 Cup at Southampton yesterday (Sunday).

With this week’s championship game against Durham being cancelled due to covid, Surrey will not have played any competitive cricket for 18 days when they rock up at Northampton on Sunday.

South East Stars have marched into this Sunday’s final of the 20-over Charlotte Edwards Cup at Southampton, where they will face the winner of the second and third place play-off between Northern Diamonds and Southern Vipers.

Surrey’s four-day clash with Durham, due to get underway at Chester-le-Street yesterday, has been cancelled following a case of Covid-19, prompting confusion over how the covid protocols are being applied to County Championship fixtures by the England and Wales Cricket Board.

Now that the dust has settled on The Hundred, county cricket can return to normal, or can it? The Hundred proved a success, which will come as a relief to the England and Wales Cricket Board, which, despite making a 16.5million loss in 2020-21 – prompting more than 50 redundancies – is committed to investing £180m in the tournament over five seasons.

The news Surrey have lost yet another player to The Hundred, Gus Atkinson – taking their representation in the new tournament to 11 – makes me wonder where will it all end?

Richard Johnson, Surrey’s head coach for the Royal London One-Day Cup, summed up Tuesday’s five-wicket defeat at Cardiff as “a bad day at the office.”

Aside from the genuine concerns, The Hundred has so far proved a great advertisement for domestic cricket. The finish to Monday’s Trent Rockets v Northern Superchargers clash at Trent Bridge will live long in the memory.

Ryan Patel was the star of another satisfying Surrey performance in the Royal London One-Day Cup, this time against Notts at Guildford on Tuesday – the 33-run victory putting the Oval outfit top of Group 1 on net run rate.