Marcus Hook’s Surrey CCC column: We’re still looking the team to beat

Surrey remain the team to beat. Indeed, at the time of writing, they’re the only county yet to lose a game this season in any format.

Sam Curran has shown a real Midas touch in the Vitality Blast, averaging 37 with the bat and just 7.50 with the ball. But he’s not the only multi-faceted performer in the Surrey dugout.

Along with Sunil Narine and Jamie Overton, the South Londoners boast a powerhouse of a middle order not to mention a plethora of bowling options. In Narine’s opening 20 overs in this year’s T20 he has conceded just one six and two fours, which is just inconceivable.

“We’ve got seven or eight guys who can all put their hand up and bowl,” said Overton. “Will Jacks hasn’t even bowled this year and he had a great comp last year, so it’s nice that we’ve got that depth.

“Obviously we’re going to lose a couple of players [to England] in a week’s time, but we’ve still got that confidence that we can stand up.

“Having Chris Jordan around has helped me massively. He’s making me a lot calmer and relaxed at the end of my [bowling] mark, talking to me after every ball.”

Overton certainly knows how to push the button with the bat. After hitting 27 off 11 balls against Kent last Friday he smacked 48 off 21 to help Surrey post a competitive 160-9 at Cardiff. Unfortunately, the weather, rather than Glamorgan’s batters, put paid to the chance to making it five wins out of five.

When you think that the likes of Jordan Clark, Dan Moriarty and Jason Roy are yet to put their stamp on the T20, expectations are sky high, even with half of the South Group schedule still to be played out.

Gareth Batty is doing a great job, pulling the strings as interim head coach. It can’t be too long before the ‘interim’ is dropped from his job title.

Batty is passionate about the game and even more passionate about Surrey. It is rubbing off on his players – so much so, it’s clear how much they’re enjoying their cricket.

“We’ve seen teams and squads very tight and chummy off the field, but what this group is showing is they’re tight off it and on it,” says Batty.

“They’re pulling together. It’s nice to see with these lads that, yes, we’re mates off the field, but, by gum, we’re going to play as a team on it.”

PICTURE: KEITH GILLARD