Surrey’s youthful approach in Royal London Cup failed to get instant success

Surrey bowed out of the 50-over Royal London Cup on Tuesday, the manner of their eight-wicket defeat to Notts – who booked a place in the quarter-finals with 18 overs to spare – demonstrating, yet again, that youth is no match for quality and experience.

The Oval outfit were without 15 players due to a combination of The Hundred and Test calls and fielded just two players over the age of 24. They were also the only side in the competition without an overseas player and the only one without a capped player.

That they came seventh in their group thanks to victories over Durham and Somerset, plus a tie with Warwickshire, exceeded expectations. Indeed, head coach Gareth Batty said his youngsters had “no right” to achieve what they did.

“I feel there has been some development,” said Batty. “It hasn’t translated into too many wins, which is slightly disappointing. But we’ll take that disappointment of wanting to win and channel it into developing future Surrey players.

“It was always going to be tough. But, for periods, when we possibly had no right, with the opposition we were playing against, we still believed we could put together a run. The game against Warwickshire at the Oval epitomised that.

“We’ve brought in four academy players, who we registered as pros for this competition. Yousef Majid has played incredibly well, playing in every game. Sheridon Gumbs coming in and getting that 66 against Somerset was also pleasing.

“Tom Lawes has gone from strength to strength with bat and ball. It was a great little innings of 75 from him on Tuesday and that little partnership with Nick Kimber gave us some sort of hope, but that really needed to be extended, which was always going to be a tough ask for the young fellas.

“When you are 36 for five after 11 overs to a side like Notts, you’re going to struggle to make an impact on a game. But, overall, it is a development competition and we have developed a few players really well, including developing leadership skills in Ben Geddes, who has led us very well.

“As coaches, we’ve learned a decent amount about them as individuals – about what they’ll need to work on this winter and how we can expose them to some things they need to get better at.”

Surrey benefited from having a settled side, albeit more through necessity than choice and, on occasions, the sum of the parts proved greater than the whole.

Lawes’ 318 runs at an average of 53 was the biggest plus. Lawes’ lowest score in the Royal London was 21 and given the impact he has made with the ball in this summer’s County Championship, the 19-year-old is facing a very bright future.

Lawes will continue to feature when Surrey’s championship campaign resumes at Northampton on September 12.

The Oval outfit, who are top of Division One, will go into it with a game in hand over their nearest rivals Hampshire.

How much will the weather play a part? It promises to be a fascinating end to the season.

PICTURE: KEITH GILLARD