Alec Stewart plots new era of glory after Surrey benefit from home comforts

Dressing-room joy: Surrey’s victorious players and staff toast their success
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Will Macpherson14 September 2018

WWKD. For Surrey teams of the recent past, that is an acronym which might have drawn thoughts of alcopops and nights out. For this side, the County champions after their thrilling three-wicket win at New Road on Thursday, it is a vital cue: What Would Kumar Do?

Managing situations by how Kumar Sangakkara would deal with them is not a bad way to live life, let alone play cricket. What Surrey learnt in his three years at the club has stuck and seen the slack picked up after he retired last year. It was some slack to pick up: he made 1,491 runs, including eight centuries, in 10 games in his final season.

As they basked in the glory of their first title for 16 years, Sangakkara was one of many absent figures lavishly credited for his role in the success. There were words for Gary Wilson, the former captain, and even more — in Jade Dernbach’s case, tearful ones — for Gareth Batty. He was captain until last year, when he moved aside to allow Rory Burns to lead and Amar Virdi to bowl spin. He is still on the staff but, in his new role as player-coach, was at Guildford with the second team.

These warm words showed that this was a triumph years in the making. Alec Stewart opts for understatement — “struggling” — when asked about the state of the club when he took over in 2013. Tom Maynard had died a year earlier and many of the recent signings had been short-termist. The Hollioake era in which Stewart played could barely have felt further away.

The board gave Stewart time to refresh the club and he resolved to return to what had worked when he played: a core of homegrown players maturing together and promoted from within.

He sat down with Gareth Townsend, the Academy director, and mapped out when he could expect to have lavish talent coming through.

“It’s important to have a nucleus of homegrown players,” said Stewart. “If you produce your own, they fight together and they can find that bit more when the going gets tough. And when you win something, it means that much more.”

Stewart wanted to blend his homegrown stars with the right talent from elsewhere too, so Surrey’s squad could weather calls from England, the IPL and injuries. Mark Stoneman and Scott Borthwick came from Durham with fine records, while Ben Foakes arrived with plenty of potential. As Sangakkara shows, the budget was always there for top overseas stars. Things fell into place last year, when Rikki Clarke returned to the nest, and when Morne Morkel became available, too.

The result is a big, deep squad; 20 players have been used so far and Jason Roy — and perhaps even Batty — will be involved before the season ends. Thirteen of the 20 have come through the club’s system and seven are aged 20 or under. Run-hungry captain Burns epitomises it all: he has been with the club since he was eight, while Clarke provides a bridge between the past, present and future because the 36-year-old sure is not giving up yet.

The 93 wickets shared by Clarke and Morkel made it highly appropriate they were out there together at the end.

Morkel, left, hit the winning runs
Stu Forster/Getty Images

As their agricultural swipes found the final 12 required for victory, Burns was unable to watch. “I would rather have done the job myself,” he said. “I was in the back, flicking through Instagram to distract myself and stay composed.”

Through the silence, Morkel felt the dressing room’s nerves as he walked out to bat. By the time he had done his bit, silence was not an option. Surrey were unbeaten, had won nine straight games, 10 in 12, and beaten every team in the league at least once.

Back to that expectation Stewart mentioned. The title was won but within minutes, talk had turned to dynasties: the county’s dominance of the Championship’s early years in the 1890s, the seven straight titles in the 1950s and three in four years at the turn of this century. “We don’t want this to be a one-off,” he said. “We won’t just say well done, we’ve won one. I played in a very successful side under Adam Hollioake and if we can mirror that, we will get more success.”

Superb Essex and Middlesex teams have echoed these sentiments in the last two years, only to fall away. From Batty and Sangakkara’s groundwork to the depth-building signings of Jordan Clark and Liam Plunkett next year, Stewart’s grand plan never had one County Championship title in mind. Do it all again? The ingredients are there, but the really hard work starts now.

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