Marcus Hook’s Surrey CCC column: Club’s youngsters can be proud of their progress in One-Day Cup

Surrey’s Royal London journey proved to be one of discovery. Coming into the competition without 10 key players and injuries to others, no one really gave them a chance of getting out of Group 1 let alone as far as the semi-finals.

Long before they bowed out, against an imposing Durham on Tuesday, I’m sure they must have learnt things about themselves as much as those of us, looking from the outside in, found out what they’re about.

Surrey’s young guns have every right to be proud of what they achieved in this year’s one-day cup.

Two more runs at Leicester and they would, as it turned out, have had the benefit of a home semi-final and two extra days’ rest.

But what was important was they reacted to the disappointment of losing narrowly to lowly Leicestershire by putting in stellar performances against Warwickshire and Derbyshire to round-off the group phase, before pummelling Gloucestershire in the quarter-finals.

Derided as a development competition (for ‘development’ read ‘why are we even bothering?’) the Royal London has given rise to positives for every one of the 18 first-class sides; just not for England, who are crying out for an in-form batsman who has faced a red ball in the last month.

The enormity of England’s current predicament can be measured in averages for the series so far against India. After two Tests: Joe Root, 386 runs at 128.66; the rest, 513 runs at 13.86.

You can always tell a team’s psyche by the number of catches they drop, and England seem to be playing with fear, rather than without it.

But enough of that, besides all that seems to matter to the ECB is The Hundred and this winter’s Ashes, probably in that order because the Ashes won’t generate much in the way of TV money.

The Hundred franchises must have been looking enviously at Surrey, thinking they missed a trick by not drafting Tim David (main picture) and Dan Moriarty. But whisper it because even just a couple more Surrey players in The Hundred and they would have been struggling to put out a team.

David, a Singaporean international, was signed on the recommendation of Surrey’s former head coach Michael Di Venuto, who had seen what he can do last winter when David was playing for Di Venuto’s native Hobart in the Big Bash.

In the last month, Tim has hit the ball as hard as anyone who has pulled on a Surrey sweater, averaging 150.44 runs per 100 deliveries in the Royal London. But, for hard hitting, Ryan Patel got things started against a much-fancied Notts side at Guildford with 131 off 70 balls.

It’s fair to say the jury was out on Patel prior to the competition, similarly Mark Stoneman, who, in recent years, had often been guilty of playing himself in without going big.

It’s contract time, and while Patel and Jacks have both signed extensions, Stoneman – who averaged 54.83 in the one-day cup – has moved across the River Thames to Middlesex, on a three-year deal.

The word is fast bowler Liam Plunkett might also be on his way if Surrey can talk Sussex’s Chris Jordan into returning to the Oval.
Some will question how much Surrey might see of Jordan, who is a white-ball regular for England and vital player for Southern Brave in The Hundred. But it’s hard to imagine him making fewer than the five appearances a season Plunkett has averaged since moving down from Yorkshire three years ago.