Can Surrey Gain T20 Glory?

Published on: 8 May, 2017
Updated on: 8 May, 2017

By George Geaves

It’s been 14 years since Surrey won the inaugural T20 competition in England but success in the 20-20 format has eluded them since.

Our county side always has an extremely talented squad but they never seem to be able to actually go all the way in the T20 blast.

Could this year be different?

Since Jason Roy’s emergence into the Surrey team, they have been relying on his runs to win games and when he fails they tend to post below average scores.

Surrey have signed Aaron Finch, Kevin Pietersen, Scott Borthwick and Mark Stoneman to bolster their batting line up. Kumar Sangakkara and Moises Henriques will also both be playing at the Oval this year.

This is a fantastic batting line up that should be able to consistently score in excess of 180 every game and if they do that then they’ll have a great chance of winning The Blast.

Players such as Tom Curran, Sam Curran and Ben Foakes have been touring the sub continent over the winter with England Lions and they will be keen to push for full international honours in all forms this year.

Their best route into the England team will be through T20 so they will have to impress in The Blast which should make Surrey’s team even stronger.

Jade Dernbach and Stuart Meaker are both quality bowlers and generally tend to take wickets up front which is key to any successful T20 team. If they manage to consistently do this then Surrey’s spinners will be able to strangle opposition teams in the middle overs which is vitally important to any T20 side.

Surrey have three spinners in Gareth Batty, Zafar Ansari and Scott Borthwick who are all not too far away from international call ups as they are all classy bowlers.

So the balance of Surrey’s team seems to be perfect as they can all pitch in with bat and ball.

The new format of The T20 Blast may also play into Surrey’s hands. The tournament has been shortened, meaning counties can focus on specific formats as they are not played at the same time as other competitions.

This will benefit all counties as players can get in the rhythm of playing white ball cricket and as a result their form will improve and be sustainable.

The Oval is sure to be rocking all season as they welcome some of the biggest names in the game into their team. The Londoners will be hopeful of lifting their first T20 trophy since 2003 and they have a huge chance as long as their star players consistently perform.

Surrey’s T20 campaign starts on Friday, July 7 against Essex. Their first home T20 fixture is the following Sunday, 2.30pm July 9 at the Oval against Somerset.