Gareth Townsend on the PG Academy, Second XI, his iPod and Graham Thorpe's house

23 September 2009

As I sit on a quiet Wednesday morning reflecting on what a very busy summer it has been, there is still a four day LV Championship game against Glamorgan to go and the last NatWest Pro40 and my iPod Nano is blasting out all of its 48 songs.

48 you ask? Well, I am building it up slowly having had it now for over a year! My friends don’t understand why so few, but to get onto my iPod it has to be a very special song. I won't go through my list, but it is varied. To give you a sample there is Free Falling from Tom Petty, A Horse with No Name by America, Anthem Genedlaethol Cymru (National Anthem of Wales), The River by Bruce Springsteen and John Denver's Annie’s Song!! Not everyone’s cup of tea but then again it is my iPod!

Back to the cricket and on reflection, 2009 has been outstanding. For that I mean across the majority of Surrey Cricket. It is a fact that the First XI is rebuilding and planning for the future, our early performances were much improved and that was evident in a more competitive effort in the Friends Provident, also our four day cricket was solid.

However, injuries at various times to Butcher, Ramprakash and Nel, added to Harbhajan not arriving and more importantly the exodus of some senior players in mid summer saw a squad that started in April with hope soon fighting for survival.

But here lies the reality of change, we have to rebuild and make changes and with that goes patience. New recruits are needed and our younger players need time to bed in and develop their games, both in regard to skill and temperament, to become dependable first team players.

To use a choice phrase the green shoots are appearing, for instance the recent performances that have shown that Arun Harinath can be a future top three batter for us.

Arun is particularly significant as he has come through with us as a player since the age of ten. I have always thought highly of him and have identified him as a player for the future whilst coming through our programme.

He was selected as a thirteen year old for our County U17’s and a year later I picked him for the County U19’s against Warwickshire at Cheam in a two day match.

We won the game chasing 350 with Sam Andrews, James Benning and Ali Raja scoring runs. Arun got 40 odd opening and I remember him playing a tired cut to point after an hour and half. I asked him how he felt it went and he thought it was OK, but shouldn't have got out. I agreed and pointed out that he had been in the nets for and hour and half getting anyone who could throw chucking him balls. He had done it to the extent that he had burnt himself out prior to his innings!!

That’s Arun for you though, hugely dedicated and desperate to be successful.

My shoulder is in need of urgent surgery due to the past decade of throw downs for Arun, but to be honest every ball has been thrown knowing that you were working with a lad who just wants to do well. He has looked the part and needs to build on this run in the first team, it will be great to see him score a hundred in the last game and I would be prouder than most to see him excel.

He is not alone on the sometimes lonely path to success in professional sport though; Stuart Meaker, Matthew Spreigel, Simon King and Laurie Evans are all experiencing the life and having to deal with the highs and lows. Strength of character coupled with sheer determination will give them a chance to achieve their aims, but the ultimate ability is that of performing under pressure and delivering when it is tough, Surrey need that now and these guys will have the opportunity over the next twelve months of varying degrees to do that.

It was with pride that a Pemberton Greenish Academy graduate scored his maiden first class hundred last week. The only disappointing part of it was that he now wears a Sussex shirt. However, congratulations to Rory Hamilton Brown for his performance against Yorkshire.

Still only 21, he has shown what some at Surrey always knew, his departure as a young nineteen year old from us was disappointing and is something that can't be repeated when developing young home grown talent. It also shows that faith and investment in young players will pay off but time is needed to let them flourish.

Our County Age Group awards took place last week and we celebrated the great performances over the season of our youth squads.

The highlights of these were our County U14’s boys winning the National ECB County cup for a second successive season, a feat never done before.

All of our squads reached a minimum of the quarter final stage in every competition we entered. The Girls County U13’s reached the final and lost on the last ball against Yorkshire at Wolverhampton on Saturday. So close in winning, they have been outstanding and in a difficult season have emerged with great credit.

Outstanding mention should be made of our County U19’s who won the two day Counties cup by chasing 408 against Lancashire at the start of September, Rory Burns 159no seeing us home with an over to spare.

That brings me nicely to the brilliant news of Surrey Second XI winning the ECB Second XI Championship, by securing a first innings win against Lancashire at Old Trafford last week.

The side contained seven U19 players and all season Ian Salisbury has played young home grown players from our Academy and youth system. It was pleasing to receive an email from John Stanworth – the Lancashire Academy Director – congratulating us on Surrey’s performance and effort against an older and more experienced Lancashire side.

Such a win and season from our county Second XI highlights the talent coming through and should give us great hope for the future.

The last time Surrey won the Second XI competition was in 1992, and I remember playing against them that year for Somerset.

I think we drew against them, and all I can remember was Andre Van Troost hitting Paul Atkins on the head early with a decent bouncer. Also Surrey’s overseas player for the year Rudi Bryson played in the match along with Mark Butcher, Alistair Brown, David Ward and Keith Medlycott.

I think I got a hundred in the first innings,enough said!!!! Must be a song on my iPod for that!!

Well the season is coming to a close and as my iPod gets to its 23rd song – ‘Sweet Caroline’ by Neil Diamond, we look forward to 2010 with positive feelings as our younger players take a step closer to fulfilling their dreams.

In other business, Thorpey’s house is still not completed, having had the builders in since the start of the New Year. What he is having done, nobody knows but it sounds like a huge project that has given work to about a hundred workers!!! Maybe his book sold more copies than I thought!!!

Congratulations to Michael Burgess for his selection for England U15’s and Matthew Dunn for England U19’s and also to Ebony Rainford Brent and Nicky Shaw in their part in England Women’s successes of 2009. Further more to the staff and coaches that have helped this season and given tireless hours to help make the next generation of Surrey cricketers the players we hope that they can be.

The Academy and Elite player development programme for the winter starts very soon, and much work is to be done to ensure we continue to produce talented players and winning teams. Our Professional coaching team will be closely integrated into this, and all will benefit from that.

One thing to mention before I go is the planned charity bike ride with the Rainbow Trust that I hope all our age group players, parents and coaches will participate in next summer. The planned date is Sunday 13th June 2010, and information will be out soon. The challenge is to get over 200 people from our age squads involved and hopefully raise some funds for the Rainbow Charity Trust and Surrey Young Cricketers.

Time to go… I still have £17.50 left on my iTunes card so could get my song list up to 50 by Christmas. Maybe I will release the Top 50 in my next blog – the trouble is most of you will think I am certifiable when you hear them!!!

Maybe I will play them at Thorpey’s house warming party when it’s finished – he says there is room for a few thousand guests when it is completed.