‘Rory Burns one of the great county captains’ – Surrey head coach praise as hat-trick of championship titles achieved

BY MARCUS HOOK

After Surrey were confirmed as county champions for a third successive season, head coach Gareth Batty hailed Rory Burns as one of the great county captains, alongside the likes of Adam Hollioake and Stuart Surridge.

“Rory’s name should be put up in lights,” said Batty. “As far as I’m concerned, in the modern generation, he’s comfortably the most successful captain in domestic cricket. He keeps improving as a cricketer as well.”

Batty was referring to Burns’ lack of runs when the South Londoners lifted the trophy last year (just 631 at an average of 27.43). However, in this summer’s championship the former England opener, who has led the Oval outfit to four County Championship titles – the first being in 2018 – has notched up 1,057 red-ball runs at 55.63.

“Anybody who watched Rory 18 months ago and watches him as a player now, it’s a transformation,” said Batty. “He’s absolutely paramount to everything that goes on here and long may it continue.

“They always used to say [ex-Australia captain] Steve Waugh never got easy runs, he always got the difficult runs and Rory’s very much in that mould for us.

“It’s a whole squad coming together and putting in a heck of a lot of work over a long period of time.

“Every time you get over the line it’s the hardest one, because other teams are trying to close the gap, trying to improve their squads, improve their players.

“I feel like we are still keeping some distance, in a healthy, confident way, not in an arrogant way, because we’re working incredibly hard trying to improve our performances year in and year out.”

Following the Oval outfit’s victory over Durham with a day to spare, Lancashire ensured this summer’s title race was settled a week early by taking just 32 minutes and 7.1 overs on the fourth morning at Old Trafford to complete a 168-run victory over second-placed Somerset.

When asked to name the standout moment of the campaign, Batty highlighted the defeat to Somerset at Taunton that blew the championship race wide open a fortnight ago.

“This is going to sound really silly,” said the former England off-spinner. “But the people who understand the game will understand where I’m coming from, the performance of the season was last week at Taunton.

“It’s not a surface we are as proficient on as we are at home, but we put in one heck of a shift to stay in the game.

“All three outcomes were still on the table going into the last day and we just lost concentration for an hour and lost a game of cricket.

“I think that’s a compliment to the other 17 counties. We have the best domestic structure in the world and we’ve got to start getting behind it.

“There’s some wonderful cricket being played and there’s some wonderful people involved.”

Batty also hailed the ‘three-peat’ – the first in the County Championship since Yorkshire won back-to-back titles in 1966, 1967 and 1968 – as a perfect send-off for Alec Stewart, who is stepping down after 11 years as the South Londoners’ director of cricket.

“For Stewie to get three in three, it’s very fitting,” said Batty. “He is Surrey through and through.

“He was as a player and he has been as director of cricket. His skillsets and achievements are irreplaceable. There is no man in world cricket that can come and replace Stewie in the role he does.

“Anyone who thinks they can do what Alec Stewart has done here is delusional. He is the heartbeat, he is the brains – everything here comes through Alec.

“You don’t often get a cuddle and a bit of a tear from Stewie, but when the Lancs boys got the final wicket there was a big outburst of emotion.

“It was wonderful to see an iconic English cricketer get some rewards for his dedication and the club will forever be thankful to him.”

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