Rory Burns admits he is dreaming about Surrey lifting County Championship title

BY MARCUS HOOK

When Surrey were last in County Championship action at the end of July, it was their two overseas players, Kemar Roach and Hashim Amla, who steered the South Londoners to victory over Warwickshire at the Oval.

Roach took 5-72 on the last day with the ball, and Amla hit an unbeaten 80.

But skipper Rory Burns says a feature of his side’s success in red-ball cricket this summer has been the collective effort of his players, with someone seemingly popping up with a match-turning performance at the right time.

A case in point was Conor McKerr’s all-round contribution against Warwickshire after answering a last-minute call, due to the shoulder injury to Dan Worrall suffered in the warm-up.

“What we saw in the last championship game, and throughout the season so far, is different people putting their hands up and performing when the team needs them,” said Burns.

“It shows the resilience of our squad, our real togetherness and, also the benefit of having multi-skilled cricketers right across the team.

“It was an outstanding win from where we were going into the last day. But we knew that if we had that kind of burst we could put ourselves in a position where we could win.

“I didn’t think it would happen as quickly as it did, in that first hour, but that was testament to the way the boys bowled.

“Kemar’s spell was so skilful and he deserved his wickets for the way he ran in all match, especially following the foot injury, the previous day, to Jamie Overton. Kemar bowled nearly 50 overs in the game.

“Jordan Clark also bowled really well in support of Kemar, and to take their last six wickets in an hour was better even than we could have hoped for.

“Then, with me and Pat [Ryan Patel] getting us off to a solid start chasing 248, the way the other guys came in and played around Hashim Amla was very pleasing.”

It meant Surrey went into the break for The Hundred with a hat-trick of championship wins, away to Yorkshire and at home to Essex and Warwickshire, to stay 16 points in front at the head of affairs.

While Burns envisages the closing weeks of the season being a continuation of the three-way battle between Surrey, Hampshire and Lancashire, he also admits thoughts of being crowned county champions at the end of the summer have crept into his mind.

“We seem to keep jousting, don’t we? And keep winning and keep trying to stay out in front” said the 32-year-old left-hander. “With three games to go now and being top of Division One, you can’t help but think about the title.

“Yes, we will allow ourselves that dream but, when those last three matches come along, we will simply stick with our processes and concentrate on doing our jobs.”

PICTURE: KEITH GILLARD