So that leaves us short of an opener (or two if Michael Brown doesn't recover from a second bout of surgery in time for next season), and unsurprisingly given the cash situation there have been no other signings. I would've thought that given the departures of Afzaal and Evans, and the likely departure of Andre Nel, that there might be some room in the budget, but apparently not. I presume Roy and Lancefield will be signed to full time contracts but there should still be space for a couple of signings before we tip over the edge of the £1.8m ECB salary cap.
That is of course if the senior management are interested in Surrey ever becoming a front running County Cricket Club any time soon. There is talk of a cut of £500k to the cricketing budget over two years, Graham Thorpe has departed to work within the England setup and 20% of the staff at the Oval has been sacked - how can the club progress in a cricketing sense at the moment?
I am all for blooding youth, but the squad for next season is looking a bit thin even if (and its a big if) Chris Jordan and Michael Brown are available. Seren Waters, Freddie van den Bergh, George Edwards and Zafar Ansari could become regulars at this rate but as promising as they undoubtedly are, there is no way we will be challenging for trophies and promotion without some experience in the side.
It may be the case that in light of the recession and perhaps some not-so-wise spending over the last few years that the 3-5 year recovery Chris Adams spoke of is now a thing of the past, but so little information is forthcoming from the club that we really don't know.
It is probably very naive of me to expect that the club keep the members and fans alike appraised of every minute decision, but at this stage we don't know if Adams intends, or will be allowed, to pursue any signings at all. It may be that in the coming weeks the intention to plug the gaps with signings will be made clear, but it might well not. Where does Surrey Cricket Limited see Surrey County Cricket Club going next year? Anyone?
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4 comments:
Welcome back!
I am surprised there was no mention of the new Chairman in this blog - he will have an impact.
In reality I think it is possible that KP may sign - although I am not sure what that will do to the salary cap - and the rest will be spent on an overseas, which Adams will be working on (hopefully) I think next season is a massive one for Adams as the members will get grumpy if we aren't at least challenging for promotion.
I wonder if Rory is spending the winter working on building an innings and the leave or the block (!!!)
hope you had a good holiday
Chappers
Afternoon Chappers, glad to see you haven't abandoned the blog!
I think I posted this just before he was officially announced, but yes you're right, he will have an impact - fingers crossed a positive one. I know nothing personally of the new appointment however, so it will be interesting to see how he interacts with the members.
Next season is huge, I think plenty of members are already grumpy, especially because the perception is that there is little movement on the signings front. KP may well join but its only really positive from a PR point of view, he'll surely play very little.
Adams has got some thinking to do, a spinning allrounder is needed I think and there aren't loads of them about - my suggestion would be to go out and poach Shakib from another season at Worcestershire because Vettori is unavailable!
Failing that signing Steven Smith as an overseas wouldn't be the worse signing in the world - although not from an England cricket point of view!
David Stewart has been a good Chairman (I would say that, he and my father are close friends) but I think it is the right time for a change. The club is making money, has worked hard at improving the ground - we just need to play better. Some of the former surrey players must wince when they see the team these days. Next season will be a huge one for Meaker and Durnbatch too.
certainly wont be abandening the blog for a while, I have to look at something that reminds me of the "glorious" summer months as the nights draw in!!
Steve Smith would also be good - though not sure how their international schedule would affect his availability.
I think Stewart has avoided much of the criticism, perhaps because he didn't poke his nose in too much, or at least not to my knowledge. Meaker and Dernbach have to kick on next year, no question. Apart from anything else, we don't have many to come in in their place!
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