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How do Surrey go one better and win back the County Championship after finishing second last season? How does Head Coach Gareth Batty pick up the likes of Ollie Pope and Jamie Smith after a difficult winter with England? Should more England players play in the County Championship at the start of the season? Is Dom Sibley in line for an England recall after impressing with over 1,200 runs last season? How does he stay motivated when it's perceived to be hard to break into the England setup under this current regime?
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Okay, Seven stops to write this best man's speech.
Hi, I'm Liam.
And I've got nothing.
Stop funny.
When he's good.
I beat her.
He'd never forgive me.
What about friendship?
Is a journey.
Ugh.
Crank.
Come on.
That's it.
In year five, Dan had the bright idea to cracking the best best man's speech.
On the train.
You can.
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And on today's show, we're just over two weeks to go until the start of the new County
Championship season.
We head to the Kia Rover, sorry to see how they are going to win back the County Championship
after losing it to Nottinghamshire in 2025.
They did win it three times in a row in 2022, 2023 and 2024, but narrowly missed out
on the title, two nots by 16 points.
This year now, from their head coach, Gareth Batty, I spoke to him about the new season
ahead, their preparations and rebuilding Oli Pope and Jamie Smith after a difficult
wincer in Australia.
Gareth, lovely to see you.
Let's start by having some quick reflections on last season, having thought of the wincer,
where did it get away from last season?
I look, you don't just lose it in one game, which everybody remembers the game against
Nottingham, an absolute credit to them to come and beat us here, was, you know, it dented
to me, Gus, so we've had six months to reflect on that.
A few wrongs from how we allowed the season to get away from us.
And just to identify key areas where we want to just brush up on what we need to do.
It's the first time for a decent period that we are now chasing, rather than later
of the pack.
Yes, and so does the mindset change coming into first-day
preseason with no longer being chased through other chases?
What's the change in mindset?
It's a really interesting one, because you can put it into what my words are, but I think
there's a very obvious sort of analogy and we'll see first-game.
We didn't have a play across the White Wash last year that didn't want to win and didn't
compete, but I think you'll see a different person this year.
There's just something extra.
So whether it is a dent on the ego or whatever it could be, but at the moment, and it needs
harnessing, there's a wonderful energy and desire around the group.
Just an update on any overseas place, if not bought in any do we have an update on that?
We don't have anything that we can sort of say publicly, but we're very, very close.
We're just waiting on some paper work, so rather than me making a rash decision and
blurt out, we'll wait for that paper work to be completed and then there'll be announcements
to come and you'll be the first to know.
You've got a couple of England players coming back into the fold after a difficult win,
sir.
Someone like Oli who's lost his place in England, so how'd you pick him up after a difficult
win, sir?
I think it's our sort of promise and our stance to players and our members that we
want players to be as good as they can be for us and then we want them to fly.
But when they come back, we're going to look after them tenfold.
So we're just trying to create an environment for Oli to be the man that he wants to be
and to get back to some work where he can hope we do it within the realms of a bit more
confinement at Surrey without possibly the bright lights of England to get himself beyond
where he's finished with England and really reboot because he's a young man, he's got so
much long, so much longevity in his career.
In some ways he won't see it now but if he has a very nice reset now which we're in
the process of and it looks like it's going wonderfully well, he adds to what's already
60 odd test matches, it's a really exciting thing for a young man that he's got such a long
and prosperous career ahead of him.
I guess the proof in the pudding is to start the season and on that, how difficult is
it for any player, not just Oli, to you've had a preseason, you've got everything where
you want to be technically, then there's so many games you can't really, once you get
into a lot of playing games and if you're out of form you can't really fix stuff, how
do you find that challenge?
County cricket is very much a grind, the volume is the real positive, particularly for
batters because you get opportunity to put numbers on paper often.
It only becomes a mental grind if you allow it to be, so it's just trusting a process,
it's trusting an outcome and we've got a young man there up until a couple of years ago
that was average in 99 or whatever it was, batting at the oval, so he plays half his
game here, so hopefully you reproduce some of those memories and some of those thoughts
in your mind.
I see nothing but it's not even a reset, it's just a small bump in his career which everybody
has and he'll reset and see it at the end of his career as a wonderful thing.
It's the first sort of time in his career really, he's had a major setback, so what have
you seen in the body language of Oli in training that makes you think, right, Oli's back?
The desire to improve, the desire to work, the desire to be actually a good teammate
around the rest of the squad is a wonderful human being, he's got a wonderful skill set
and sometimes you just need to just immerse yourself in what is a very good group here,
it's a wonderful talent but there's also good human beings, immerse yourself in it and
come out the other side.
And on Jamie Smith as well, he had a difficult ashes and you'll obviously know it's sorry
is to win the county championship, so how would you find that dynamic with Jamie not
keeping it sorry but then going to keep into England and what you do to provide Jamie
with the tool so that when he does go to England as a wicket keeper, he can fright.
Yeah it's the mix of county cricket and England I suppose, county cricket is there to facilitate
the growth of players for England to be the best team in the world.
So we're trying to in practice up skill give Jamie the best opportunity to have cumulative
workload so that he's able and physically able to do the job with England.
So our sentiment, our intention is to create and make it almost a positive for him so that
when he goes to England he's fresh and ready to go.
But yeah it's a difficult one but no player has gone and played for England without coming
through county cricket and hopefully now we have a bit of a reset that this is the breathing
ground for our next future England players.
There is an accusation that the pathways not blocked entirely but it's changed over
the last few years under the current regime of England I'm not asking you to comment
on that but someone like Dom Sibley for example who's had this time with England probably
come back a better player, 1200 runs in the championship, normally they'd be talk of Dom Sibley
getting in England side.
So how'd you keep Dom motivated, 30 years old, prime risk career when that opportunity
may not be as obvious as it was in the past?
It's very simple, get 400 runs, make it so that the question and keeps getting asked.
Nobody in County cricket is saying that it is making people ready for test cricket but
it's the best first-class structure in the world and if we keep trying to dilute it
you're going to dilute your national team.
That's not the intention of anybody in County cricket so I think players need to keep getting
the runs, keep trying to evolve their game.
Situations have changed and that is what you alluded to with maybe how the pathway might
be this, it might be that.
Well the world changes in front of us, if we think we've cracked it and we're not trying
to get better and we're not trying to improve then the game will pass you by so that is
something we're not doing here, absolutely not, we're trying to get everybody as good
as they can be but also better than what they've been before which then hopefully could be
a different story for Sibs this year, it might play a knock where they see it and all
of a sudden they go, oh he's changed what he did, he's changed from three years ago
and he's now the player we want but you have to go out there and get the runs, you have
to have the work in place to be able to set new benchmarks.
And a lot of what's sorry to do well I think is the fact that Ollie and Jamie and Gus
come back from England and they want to play for sorry, they want to play County cricket
so how proud is that mate you, of the culture you've created that even when they've got
a test on their eyes and they want to play for sorry first and foremost.
Yeah I mean you can probably see over me there's a there's a marquee in the background,
they've been in that marquee for the last three to four weeks, they want to be in a marquee
in February and March at the key role so I don't know if it's anything other than just
we were starting to invest in people to be better and if you feel like okay I want to
get some work done, they want to come back and hopefully I have a nice environment to
work in but more importantly you know we're trying to almost give people the sort of
start and the kick start into achieving the dreams that everybody hoped for within
our squad has.
Stront on that point as well about them playing for their counties, are you disappointed
that other counties don't play their England players would you like to see more players
from England?
You look at someone like Joe Ruth, Harry Brook, they only played one max two before a test
summer and if you want to make the county championship the best comp surely you want the
best players playing.
I think it already is the best comp I think that's the that's the point I'm trying to get
across I think the world acknowledges that now but I think England players need to be dealt
with on an individual basis and sometimes some tough decisions need to be made from management
the staff to say well you're not where you think you are so I'm actually going to do the
right thing and get some accumulative load in you if you're a boulder and batting sport
is about repetition at the highest level over and over again and you only need to look
at tennis and the couple of grits that are well there's one still going that almost every
comp he plays now he has a nugget of genius and one that's recently retired they're training
program the volume that they're put to achieve their great heights is second to none you don't
get anywhere in sport without doing the work and getting out there in the middle so look
it's very individualized of course it is and I would be the first to say that but it will
be nice to get some players out there.
Just finally talk about the volume six games in seven weeks start the season and then
congested into the season is there any concerns always at just embracing the grind as you
mentioned earlier.
I think it's professional sport isn't it you know we think we have it tough in cricket
but if you look at baseball there's something like 165 days you look at basketball you look
at NFL it's you look at Premier League football sport is about playing the game that's what
the fans want to see so if players want to get paired a bit more they want the adulation
and all this sort of a thing I'd suggest that you get out there and do your job rather
than worry about how much you're playing because before you know it the game will pass you
by.
Okay seven stops to write this best man's speech hi I'm Liam and I've got nothing stop
funny and he's good I beat her he'd never forgive me what about friendship is a journey
uh Crane come on that's it in year five Dan had the bright idea cracking the best best man's
speech on the train you can do you want your soccer analysis more direct than an arsel set
peace join me max russian and the guardians expert soccer journalists for the latest action and
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so as a head coach sheriff batty speaking to me ahead of the start of the tournament I also
spoke with their captain Rory Burns didn't store a county championship hundred last season and
he's looking to put that right this season as we looked head to the start of the new campaign
Rory thanks for joining us let's start off by looking back at last season you've had six months to
to think about it to dwell on it where do you think it went wrong or not wrongs you came second but
the title slipped away for you it just came down to that title decided didn't it we lost the game
acrylic here against knots you know for large portions of it as well we're right in the you know
to lose by 20 odd runs was it at the back end is obviously gutting when it comes down to that
so obviously title aside in game but yeah we did a lot of good stuff over there over the course of
the year and some bits that we can tidy up on of course and get better at but yeah just looking
forward to this one and is the mindset change from being you know the team that's getting hunted
to now the team hunting down not even sure even if it is a subconscious mindset have you seen
that sort of change yeah a little bit I think so you know obviously being the guys of the targets
on our back for such a period of time obviously three and three you know it's a different mindset
to keep trying to I suppose defend it and keep trying to find a ways to try to attack a season so
yeah to be number two and to have to chase down number one again and get in front yeah it's
really nice thing and how's the sort of mindset change for you at all at this stage of career compared
to say what five years ago when you're in the England side how does preseason feel for you now
busy yeah just I don't think anything really changed to me like I love competing I love winning
um love playing cricket so yeah whenever a season comes around preseason obviously the nice
bit everyone comes back you know 25 blokes back in rather than like seven or so that you see in the
winter um a lot of energy in the room and yeah come on to get cracking and there's obviously a
busy start of season six games seven weeks and then you've got a ridiculously busy end to the
campaign is there any concerns about the welfare of the squad or is it just I speak to bats you
saying it's the grind isn't it's kind of cricket yeah I mean that is county cricket and that
show isn't it is a grind you know it'd be nice not to be turning around four day games in two
days come the back end of the year um being a scheduling issues I've been going on for as long as
I can remember now um there's a lot of cricket in our calendar four four mats to try and fit in
four competitions um yeah it's difficult so there's never going to be a perfect scenario um
yes it's a grind for a reason and it's it's probably the most rewarding one for a reason when
you get to the end of it and you've had a lot of lads come back from a from a difficult tour
with England the likes of Ollie and Dustin Jamie what have you seen in them over the last few
weeks how have you managed to pick them up ahead of the new season for them to go again um a lot
sure what happens to pick them up but you know they come back somewhere that you know it feels like
home um they know the value that we place in them here and how much to try and get around them
um and they're sorry boys right so they're hungry to get going for us um like I say it's
a different energy for them getting around 20 old blokes they haven't seen the while um
and yeah we've been supported in the whole time when they've been wafers it's nice to get them back
in our dress room and be able to get around them and I suppose in that respect there's a good
thing about sorry compared to other counties these players do want to come back and play for sorry
ahead of test series so what's that say about what you and bats have created in the dress room
that even when they are essentially contracted every opportunity to do the again they want to come
back um I suppose that thing isn't it when you you know when you hold a place in high regard when
it feels like home and you feel valued by the guys here that you're you're going to want to come back
and play um so yeah hopefully you know maybe that is me and bats maybe that's just everyone here
that in the whole environment that sort of makes it that way but um yeah I think if you if you come
back somewhere you feel valued you're going to want to play last season for you you didn't get
100 but are you sort of more motivated now to sort of tick that off the list and how do you feel
looking back at last season did you you did it like parking it and then looking ahead to the
new season yes I mean I still got a fair amount of runs I think I need like didn't get to start in
two games or something stupid sips kind of pulled me up on that at the end of the year and and told me so
now I'm still obviously reducing a weight of runs obviously you know it would be nice to get
some big big hundreds and and really contribute but um yeah anything that contributes to to a win
or a match any sort of match winning performance even if that's 70 60 whatever it might be um as long
as we get in the points and get up the right end of the table that's uh that's the real motivation
I think and just the word on sips the other good season last season but there seems to be
a perception right or wrong about getting into England sides a lot harder nowadays under this
regime so how does someone like Dom who's 13-hour prime risk career stay motivated to try and
break that door down to Ernest for someone like sips I think the key point of it is that he keeps
scoring his runs and keeps churning them out and then doing what he's doing but like you say he's
30 and he's got the ability and he has done this got obviously you see some of his 2020 performances
here as well that he can keep improving and there's a bloke that still wants to get better in there
um you know that's something that probably you know other guys can tap into
and you know for guys looking down on selections or or what they're thinking or
preconceived ideas on people I think it's just that reminder that people can still keep improving
people's that keep getting better regardless of age and just one wider one on the county
championships obviously as I said sorry to it very well we're playing England players but would
you want to play against like the test players before test series and sort of you want to play
against the best right hundred percent yeah yeah I'd love to play against Yorkshire and they
bring down Brooke Root and let the boys really go at it and have a game of cricket that you know
guys it was you know we've had some great attendances here in recent times I think the Yorkshire
game last year would probably have all sorts of records for our home attendants and that sort of
thing so yeah that would only swell with you know Brooke Root and some decent weather um I think
that'd be great fun yeah and we end the show by hearing from Burns's opening partner Dom Sibli 1200
runs in the county championship last year could he make a stake for an England recall last play
test cricket in 2021 five seasons ago but after a strong season last season and potential changes
to the England setup after a difficult winter could Sibli find himself back in the side I
posed that question to him and so much more when I spoke to the Surrey opener Dom thanks for joining
us let's start off by looking back at last season you've had six months to think about it where do
you think the title went away last season oh sorry is it put up here yes I definitely think that
obviously you know it sort of came down to one off-game against knots didn't it really and I think
it was great for the county game you know the fact that it was on you know on sky and it was a great
fixture but obviously we came off on the wrong side but um obviously disappointing for us but
certainly driving us forward with our beaches and training and our hunger to go on better this year
and I think we you know in hindsight you look at it and you know I think we've been pretty tough
to beat here at the Oval so the fact that knots came here and beat us you have to say well done
to them and yeah definitely providing some good hunger for the season coming out as the mindset
sort of changed from being the team that's being hunted to now the team hunting down
knots to try and win the title of that even if it is sub-consciously yeah it's an interesting
question I haven't actively sort of felt like that I still feel I still feel that we're a top team
and um you know I know they want it last year but you know they'll they'll probably feel the same
and that they'll feel like they're you know going to be there or there about some we feel the same
so it's just the case of you know trying to start well take each game as it comes and each day as it
comes and then you know see where we are come start September and then then it's then it's
crunch time yeah the good season with the bat last season what can you do to take that into
this season to maybe even do better than the last season yeah I think um yeah when when
well last year and um yeah I did a few things few things well I think it's like trying to take as
much you know take as much from last year as possible but also nothing's granted especially
isn't it me batter early in April you know you could have three or four balls or your name on it
at the start so um trying to not get too up or too down um and although I got a few big
hundreds last year I still felt like I left a few out there so um I think you know as you know
you know as well like when you're an opener you when you get in you want to make the most of it so
yeah definitely definitely getting very hungry but do anything technically you change from maybe
the start of last season that you you hit that retrain when a film yeah not a huge amount just
trying to sit you know over the last few years been trying to sort of simplify my game from when
I was you know five years ago and I was you know my technique was probably in a really bad shape as
I came out of the Indian environment so I feel like time off in the winter has actually done my
techniques and some good and it sort of simplified it and um yeah I feel like my game is in a really
good order. What do you feel about the pathway back to England because normally when an open
store is 1200 runs there'll be a few murmurs about or possibly recall but there is a perception
that England's quite close shop so how how do you motivate yourself year in year out if you don't
have that ambition probably all that reality to get back in the universe. Well I definitely do have
ambition from from my side and from from a personal point of view I think I think I've said it
publicly that like as I came out of the environment in the last couple of years I haven't craved it
but I certainly feel as a crypto you know technically and physically and mentally I feel in my prime
and at the best I've ever felt so you know I definitely feel like I you know want to play
Freeman again and and and feel ready to go in and do well also um how that looks for me I don't
I don't know I don't know all I can do is try and help sorry when games are cricket um school
big runs um so yeah that's all I'm trying to focus on really and um yeah I don't I don't know
exactly how it looks but do you feel your better player now than when you came out of the England
set up three or four years ago would it? Yeah 100 percent um you know across across the board
whether it's you know the mental side and um you know dealing with the ups and downs of being
in open air and and technically by a mile so yeah I definitely feel like um you know a far
better player than when I was when I was younger um and I feel way more ready equipped now to
to succeed at that level for a longer period of time but you know whether that opportunity comes
or not um it's nice to be in that place as a as a cricket you know personally so yeah I can
only take that into the season and see how we go it seems to be a perception that whether the
column stays as England head coach there seems to be a different approach the season there's
there's a realization that things need to change whether that's their approach or the mindset does
that give you an extra lift going into the season knowing that there could be a potential to get
back into the England squad now? I try not to think too much about it I mean I think the focus
purely for me is to try and score runs and help sorry when games are cricket um and you know
like I said I just keep improving like myself as a cricketer um mentally and technically and
physically and um you know like I just said I do feel like I'm in a great position personally to
to go in and do okay and I feel confident in that and whether or not that happens or not is
is just the case of wherever I score big runs so we'll see let's let's talk about your winter
because normally players go off and play franchise cricket you were doing a sort of work
experience at that pitch international you were saying your fair it's your third year there just
tell us a bit about that experience and what sort of stuff you get up to there um yeah so it's
my I've done three winters now with pitch and um yeah certainly feel part of the part of the
furniture there now which is great everyone makes me feel very welcome um just doing stuff with
like TV rights and being involved with like the like the accounts they run and the board they look
after for example um so yeah it's been great and everyone's really helpful there and it's um
it's been a great experience and I've actually loved like the you know stepping away from cricket
it's been really I think it's been really beneficial for my game and driven driven a bit of hunger
when I've come back to the oval in February to to get started again so um yeah I know it's
slightly different to what you know most people are doing but I've been lucky as well that you
know sorry I've been really accommodating with it and steering bats have said going get stuck in
as long as as long as I don't get uh out of shape with the fitness and it's all good so um yeah
it's been good fun has that changed your sort of perception when it comes to your cricket that
there is a life outside this game because a lot of people in there put so much effort into trying
to get to England and then when they retire they don't really have that life but you're sort of
looking towards what's next even at 30 yeah 100% I think um when I was dropped from the from
the England stuff you know my dad sort of was not not you know he's quite realistic with me he's
like look if that's not going to happen for you for the next couple of years or or or again then
going get stuck in something else in the winter and um I think it's given me a great perspective on
what cricket is and and you know maybe when I was younger you you live in it too much and you
you sort of consumes you and you you put yourself under too much pressure so I definitely feel a
different perspective and a different sort of love for the game now and I do when I was younger
and I definitely think it's more healthy now than ever has been so um yeah it's been uh it's
definitely been a great experience and I think it's you know helped my cricket and and away from cricket
just finally your good mates with Oli Pope how how is Oli not as a cricketer but as a person after
what he went through in Australia have you managed to sort of get out rounds a goal you know you
mentioned a little bit of paddle earlier just to fit his arm around him how how is Oli yeah he's
good he's um we just played paddle yesterday and uh him and Will Jack's got the better being down
Lawrence so that was uh that was a tough one to take Will Jack has been practicing a lot in India I
think but um now Oli seems in great form um you know seems really really hungry and ready to go
for the season um I know he's like honestly you know you know hasn't been any different to normal
I think that's the whole the nice thing about we live locally to each other and just being good
mates you know even without cricket so um you know I don't feel ever like if I see him that I need to
sort of talk to him about cricket we can talk about anything and um you know I know that he
he knows that I'm there for him and vice versa so um yeah he seems in great form I think he's
excited and very hungry to do well in the season and just one more about the culture that sorry
have because I think what sorry do really well is that a lot of the players come back from England
and they want to play for sorry still for sure yeah you see a lot of like other England players
may not play they play one game for you or should before a test series for example but how
is the culture that bats has created so that they do come back in and want to play for sorry yeah
I think well I think obviously a lot of the lads are from you know through through the sorry pathway
and obviously you know as a kid when you come up here and train the other way you know it still
is a special you know it's amazing grand and you know I think it helps being part of a real good team
as well and like obviously with the success that we've had lads want to come in and be involved with
with trophy winning teams but um I think the in terms of the culture and the and what bats has managed
to do is you know just create an incredibly like sort of driven but also relax at times you know
environment and I think it's a nice balance you know when we come to the overall we're training
like the intensity is really high um and you know we train really hard and then away from the ground
we have you know we have good good times together and um everyone gets on really well and there's
a lot of little type friendships which I think so it's really important so that's it for the
following on podcast as we followed sorry's preparation ahead of the new season don't forget the
weekly show with Neil Manfall and Steve Palmerston we'll be back next week the guys will be joined
by the new Sri Lanka head coach Gary Kirsten he'll discuss why he took on the role his experience
with Pakistan as their white ball head coach last year and so much more so keep an eye out on the
following on feed for that and also subscribe to the talk sport cricket YouTube channel
so make sure you don't miss a video there we're nearing 100,000 subscribers so we will welcome
your company over there as I say following on we'll be back next week but for now thanks for listening
okay seven stops to write this best man's speech hi I'm Liam and I've got nothing
stop funny when he's good I beat her he'd never forgive me what about friendship is a journey
oh great come on that's it in year five Dan had the bright idea cracking the best best man's speech
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