This year, the County Championship has a new format.
The 18 teams have been placed into three Groups that should be roughly evenly matched, due to a seeding system based on the last two years’ red-ball performance (with a bit of leeway to incorporate local derbies). They will play the other five teams in their pool home and away, before moving into Divisions 1, 2 or 3 for the final four matches against teams from the other pools. That will create a final ranking of 1-18 for each team after 14 matches. The top side will be crowned County Champions, but will also play the second-placed team for the Bob Willis Trophy.
Surrey start the season in Group 2 along with (in order of meeting): Gloucestershire, Leicestershire, Middlesex, Hampshire and Somerset.
Captain: Rory Burns
Coach: Vikram Solanki
Overseas: Hashim Amla, Kemar Roach (until late May), Sean Abbott (from late May)
Ins: Roach, Abbott, Jamie Overton
Outs: Scott Borthwick (Durham), Morne Morkel
The story of 2020: Let’s be honest, the less that’s said the better. Due to England bubbles and injury hell, Surrey had an availability crisis that saw them living week to week, with plenty of loans (sympathy from elsewhere, it should be noted, was thin on the ground). With some England stars back, they won their final game against a callow Sussex side to at least finish fifth in the South Group.
Strengths: In the first couple of months at least, Surrey shouldn’t struggle for runs. Their top six looks like: Burns, Stoneman, Amla, Pope, Foakes and Smith, which is full of class. Even with Borthwick gone and Jason Roy at the IPL, Will Jacks, Laurie Evans and Ryan Patel wait in the wings.
The spin department is in decent health too, with Amar Virdi likely to plough a lone furrow early on before being joined by Dan Moriarty.
Weaknesses: Surrey have dozens of bowlers but, with Morkel gone, is there an obvious attack leader? Some of their quicks are not young (Rikki Clarke, Liam Plunkett), others have long histories of injury (Reece Topley, Jamie Overton, Matt Dunn), so there is likely to be lots of rotation, and it may be left to Roach to settle quickly and take a central role.
Key player: Ollie Pope may have had a tough winter with England, but he averages 71 in first-class cricket for Surrey and warmed up with a century at the weekend. Behind that classy stop three, he should thrive once more.
One to watch: Jamie Smith is only 20 and has numbers that don’t quite reflect how richly talented he is just yet. Looks set to fill the final spot in that fine batting order.
Overview: As ever, Surrey look strong. Their squad is big and broad but disparate and vulnerable to calls from the bright lights of international cricket and the IPL. Will need a senior bowler to emerge and for the Clark(e)s, Jordan and Rikki, to contribute regularly with the bat from No7 and the ball as a fifth bowler. If they click, they can challenge Somerset to top the Group and push for the title.
Group 2 Prediction: 1) Somerset, 2) Surrey, 3) Middlesex, 4) Hampshire, 5) Gloucestershire, 6) Leicestershire