Veteran of six seasons at Surrey Stewart Walters has departed the club by mutual consent. He has one year remaining on his deal but he won't see that out, choosing instead to go into cricket clothing retail.
I am always reluctant to be too critical of a player who is released, it must be tough for the player to give up like that. Having said that I was never really convinced that Walters was ever going to be a regular contributor at the level we needed him to be. He was always lively in the field and despite dropping a couple of horror catches when I saw him this season he was reliable in the field.
Walters always scored heavily in the Second XI but the step up to first class cricket was maybe a bridge too far. His average of 25 after 34 matches with only 2 hundreds, was nowhere near good enough and I'm sure he'll be disappointed with that return as well. His uber-purple patch of June 2009 where he scored those two hundreds was never repeated.
It does however leave us another batsman short and with Michael Brown sounding not all that confident about making the new season in his injury diary, unless Chris Adams has another signing up his sleeve (Tom Maynard?) we are going to be really susceptible to an injury or two - not a great position to be in. The next few weeks are going to be very interesting.
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leaving Surrey to sell socks... not something I would have done, but given he has had a load of opportunities to show he is good enough it isn't a surprise he is being released.
We are going to be horribly short of batting next season, we definitely need 2 more - but I am not sure who Chris Adams will go for... The young Leics left hander James Taylor would be a nice pick... might not be a cheap option but fits the bill as a young English qualified player, who will be a class act.
Perhaps he's identified a gap in the market for cricket socks? Must be tough to give it up like that.
I'm not sure Taylor would be let go by Leics and as you say not a cheap option. Agree we definitely need two batsmen, but don't see where they're coming from right now - we can't keep releasing players (even if they are distinctly average) and not sign any replacements - I hope Adams has a plan!
I hope he has a plan too, but who knows, it may depend on how much budget he gets given. I hope he doesn't try and bring in a load of kolpak Saffers or overpriced overseas (unless one is Sehwag - but that is wishful thinking!!! Also apparently Chris Jorden is back in training (well it's on the BBC website at least!)
Who ever wrote this needs to get their facts right. Stewart Walters is NOT and will not giving up on anything especially not his dream to play good first class cricket!! What a disgraceful artical how dare you make such harsh comments about something you obviously know nothing about. Who ever is responsible for writting this artical need to sort their facts out!! What a disgrace to someone that has put in so much and got so little back....
Hi "Wife2 - sorry if we have caused offence. I am certain that was not meant to be the case. GreenJJ whose page this is has been a supporter of Stewart Walters for many seasons and if you read other comments on his blog you will see that he has consistently said that he hopes he can transfer his second team form into first team runs.
I have been a Surrey support all my life and base my comments on what I have seen and what the stats say. Stewart has batted 54 times in first class cricket and has an average of 25. Given that a reasonable proportion of those innings will have been at the oval playing division 2 cricket don't necessarily point to him becoming a champion cricketer at Surrey, so the move may do him good.
As with the owner of the blog, I am sure, I really hope he is a success at whatever he does next or where ever he plays.
To say this article is a disgrace is slightly harsh, nowhere does this article, or anywhere on this blog question the effort put in by Stewart or the commitment and service he gave to the club.
Ok, a few things. First of all, as in most blogs, there's a lot of opinion on mine. If you don't like it, go elsewhere, I am free to opine on whatever I like (within the confines of the law, obviously). Secondly, when you sign to play professional sport for one of the biggest cricket clubs in the land you submit yourself to the (sometimes harsh) judgement of the fans - Surrey is my club as much as it was Stewart's. I don't think I was overly critical in my judgement, there's nothing in my blog that wouldn't stand up to scrutiny. Thirdly, if the final year of his contract was nullified by mutual consent, or if it was paid off, he has effectively given up on playing for Surrey - if he goes on to play first class cricket for another club good on him, but its not something I'm really interested in. It is not my intention to offend and I think I've been very even handed in my judgement of Walters, I praised him when he did well and criticised when he didn't, that is my right. Do you really think I didn't want him to succeed? If he scored runs it was good for the club, the club that I love. I wish him all the best in whatever he does in the future, I'm sure he'll make a success of it, and if blogs like this spur him on then more's the better.
And thanks Chappers!
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