Batty Happy Back at The Brit Oval

15 October 2009

New Surrey signing Gareth Batty was back at the Club this morning and took the chance to catch up with Surrey TV to talk about his return to the Brit Oval.

Batty, 31, who signed a three year deal earlier this summer after playing for England in the West Indies during the early part of the year, will return alongside the rest of the first team squad for winter training on November 3rd and said that he is excited to get to work and try and push to his game onto the next level.

“I start back in November and it will be the hardest winter of my career”, Batty admitted. “I’ve got some real burning ambition and have almost got my excitement back for the hard work and the game.

“The career path I had in mind I would be taking over Shane Warne for Test wickets around about now! When I left it was with the blessing of the Club and was to further my future in cricket. That went reasonably well for the time but reached a point where I suppose I could progress no further at Worcestershire. As soon as Surrey were interested it was a no brainer as I’d always dreamt about coming back some day.

“I like to think for the last eight years or so that I’ve been a pretty consistent first-class performer and it’s an opportunity for me to see if I can go to another level and really drive my game. Hopefully within that I will be driving what will be a very successful team at what is already a successful club.”

Batty also heaped praise on the current crop of all-star coaches that are helping Chris Adams marshall the Surrey side.

“The opportunity to work with Ian Salisbury on a daily basis was a massive factor. Obviously Grizz is an impressive man and that also played a big part. Thorpey’s brilliant and I’m really looking forward to working with him and I’ve kept in touch with Stewie forever. The list is endless and the possibilities are endless”, he said.

“The vision that Chris has is very exciting. To get a seasoned pro like myself really excited in one conversation is pretty impressive. From a personal and a Club point of view last year was a bit of an average season and that is something we both want to turn around.”

Speaking about what he hopes to achieve over the next three years, Batty admitted that he shares the common goals of personal performance and silverware but was also aiming at more specific personal goals himself.

“I suppose the obvious thing is that people are going to turn around and say ‘I want silverware’, ‘I want loads of wickets’”, he admitted. That’s everybody’s aim and it should be everybody’s aim as soon they pull on their professional shirt.

“I think for me it’s slightly different – there are a few things I need to find the key to unlock. I’ve been working on the doosra for two or three years and I can pretty much bowl it. It’s a question now of integrating it into my stock ball off spin bowling. I also want to get my batting more consistent and take my fielding to another level. For me the goal is to get every little bit of knowledge out of my head and put in into physical outcomes on the field.”

To watch the full interview, click Play Video in the top left hand corner of the image at the top of this article.