Surrey Start The 2009 Season

Surrey County Cricket Club’s full playing squad today reported back fit and ready to begin the 2009 domestic season.

With new playing additions Michael Brown, Alex Tudor and Seren Waters in attendance, the squad convened at the Brit Oval at the start of what will be a demanding pre-season programme under a cricket management team featuring new arrivals Chris Adams, Graham Thorpe, Alec Stewart and Surrey’s Managing Director of Cricket Gus Mackay.

Over the next month and a half, the players will carry out a rigorous fitness regime on top of team bonding exercises, sports psychology and motivation, traditional net coaching and a warm weather pre-season tour to the Emirates ProARCH Trophy in Abu Dhabi, for which they fly out on March 14th.

When the squad returns from the tour they have a number of domestic warm up games, with trips to Beckenham to play Kent on April 6th and 7th and Grace Road in Leicestershire on April 9th and 10th. Surrey will also welcome Bradford/Leeds UCCE for a three day match on April 10th, 11th and 12th before hosting Gloucestershire in the first LV County Championship match from April 15th-18th.

Today concludes a busy off season at the Brit Oval which first saw the appointment of former Sussex Chief Executive Gus Mackay as the first Managing Director of Cricket in the country. He then led the search for a new Cricket Manager which culminated in the appointment of Chris Adams shortly before Christmas.

In the meantime Surrey and England great Graham Thorpe had returned to the Brit Oval in a full-time role after accepting a job as the Club’s full-time batting coach and pace bowler Alex Tudor was signed to a one-year deal after impressing during his loan spell from Essex at the end of 2008.

During the current year the Club has extended the contract of all-time great Mark Ramprakash, tying him to Surrey until 2011 and welcomed another all-time legend back to the dressing room in the form of Alec Stewart, who last week signed on as a part-time coach and consultant to the cricket management team.