Surrey quartet selected for England’s Test matches against West Indies

BY MARCUS HOOK

Four Surrey players have been named in England’s squad for the first two Test matches against West Indies.

Jamie Smith receives his first Test call after an outstanding couple of years in Surrey colours.

The club’s academy product is averaging just over 50 with the bat in the County Championship on top of turning in some fantastic knocks in the T20 Blast.

Smith joins fellow academy graduates Gus Atkinson and Ollie Pope in the squad, alongside team-mate Dan Lawrence, who joined the Oval outfit from Essex at the end of last season in a bid to further his England career.

Atkinson – who has taken 24 wickets in all competitions for Surrey this summer – and Smith have yet to taste Test cricket.

“It was an incredibly exciting phone call to get,” said Smith, whose Test debut will see him keep wicket to James Anderson, who will be playing his 188th and last.

“As is often the way with these things, I missed the first call from Baz (England head coach Brendon McCullum) and then got a text to ring him back. It was a surprise to me. You never expect these things, or at least I don’t, but I am so excited about joining up with the Test squad.

“It will be a wonderful few weeks, starting with Jimmy’s last Test and all of that. The England Test team seems an environment where players can really thrive and be themselves, and I am really excited about it.”

Controversially, Smith’s inclusion as wicketkeeper is at the expense of Surrey’s Ben Foakes, who was in possession of the gloves throughout England’s recent Test series in India.

Rob Key, managing director of England men’s cricket, said: “We’ve been watching Jamie Smith for quite some time. You just see players who are rare talents and he looks exactly that.

“There’s a lot made of us wanting someone who can go out there and play shots, but that’s not the case. We want someone who can not only up the ante when they’re batting with the tail, but soak up pressure when they need to as well and we feel Jamie can do that.”

“Ben is an excellent keeper. His keeping’s not in question at all, but often you’re not making judgements on what guys have done, you’re making judgements on what they’re going to do.”

Attention now reverts back to the T20 Blast, starting, for Surrey, with tonight’s derby against Middlesex at The Oval, ahead of which head coach Gareth Batty has stressed the importance of attacking the six remaining group fixtures as a squad.

“We’re like an algorithm,” said Batty, whose side have suffered just one defeat in this season’s Blast.

“We’ve been learning as we’ve been moving forward, which is very good and very pleasing. We’ve been getting better and better and been more unified in terms of understanding how we move in the field, batters’ partnerships, bowlers’ partnerships and the rhythm of the game.”

Adam Hollioake is set to re-join Surrey as an assistant coach. Hollioake, who led the club to three County Championship titles in four years a couple of decades ago, posted on Facebook: “Hopefully I can pass on some of the things I have learnt to help the young players at Surrey in the circle of life.

“Alec Stewart, Jade Dernbach and Gareth Batty are the only faces from my time that are still here.

“Alec is like a father to me (he will hate that cos he thinks he’s as young as me), but the amount of advice that man has passed on to me is a blessing and I will be eternally grateful to have been in the same changing room and to have learnt from him (and the other senior players).”