Rob Johnstone talks to Surrey captain Gareth Batty about the art of leadership and his hopes for the new season
How would you describe Surrey captain Gareth Batty? Feisty? Certainly. Ultra-competitive with a will to win? Definitely. A skilful all-rounder? Of course.
There are many ways to describe a cricketer such as Batty but there is much more to him than fiery bowling celebrations and a fierce desire to do well.
Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara describes him as one of the best captains he has played under. Chris Adams calls him one of the hardest working cricketers he has ever come across. Graham Ford believed his technical knowledge is so vast he used him in a coaching role from time to time.
Batty, who has played for Yorkshire, Worcestershire and is in the second of his two stints at Surrey, has moulded himself into an excellent leader and captain. Tactically sharp, tough and straightforward, he is perhaps the best captain in county cricket. Praise of captaincy credentials does not come much higher than from Sangakkara.
So what advice would Batty give a young captain? “More than anything else, I think you’ve got to understand the people around you. If you do that then you can go both ways: you can be the hard-nosed captain but you can also show empathy when that’s required.
“The decisions that people think make the difference, such as you have a fielder on the drive and all of a sudden the batter whacks it to him, that’s few and far between. Anyone who says that happens a lot is telling fibs.
“Being honest with people and trying to give everything you would ask of people yourself are good traits in a captain.”
Batty was entrusted with the Surrey captaincy after Rory Hamilton-Brown needed time away following the tragic death of his close friend Tom Maynard in 2012. Batty’s careful handling of a distraught young squad was highly praised. He took over the reins again from Graeme Smith in 2013 when Smith’s season was ended by injury and was awarded the job permanently before last season.
After a difficult period, the impact Batty has had in bringing a smile back to the Surrey faithful cannot be underestimated.
As Batty enters his 19th season of county cricket at 38 years of age, his enthusiasm for the game is undiminished.
“I’m no different to the 18 to 20 year olds,” he said. “I’m just as excited and raring to go purely because you never stop learning and, touch wood, I’m relatively fit so it’s about trying to get better every day.
“I did the T20 Masters Champions League in Dubai and picked up two or three pointers from the greats of the game which I am trying to incorporate in to my own game. Bizarrely enough, this morning (in a friendly against Middlesex) one of the things I’ve done with Murali Kartik (India’s slow left-arm bowler) has kicked in brilliantly.”
Batty’s form last season, with 40 first- class wickets at 28, was a major reason Surrey achieved promotion back to Division One and led to him being talked about as a potential for England’s tour of the UAE.
With younger players such as Zafar Ansari, Tom Curran and Rory Burns also to the fore, Surrey beat Lancashire to the Division Two title by ten points.
Batty believes the challenge this year will be tough but that his side are well placed to do well.
“There’s not one area that we will ever get to perfection. It’s an unattainable goal but we’ll keep trying for that. We’re not going to be stupid in saying we want ten per cent more and X, Y and Z. That’s just not how the game works and you’d be wrong to think that could happen. If we could be one per cent better in all areas then I think we’ll give a very good account of ourselves.”
Surrey achieved promotion, sealed by a Batty hat-trick against Derbyshire with two games to go, but they suffered heartbreak in the Lord’s final of the Royal London One-Day Cup against Gloucestershire.
Batty, characteristically, took the blame for a six-run defeat, insisting his decision to bowl first, against Surrey’s usual tactic, cost them. It was typical of his leadership, shielding a young side that had collapsed chasing a gettable target, from criticism.
“Nothing changes – it is still my fault that defeat. The boys know that and I will never hide from that. I think most players, and certainly the ones who are relatively successful, take the times when it’s not gone so well and make it a driving force.
“The way that we are moving forward is very much in a positive way now.”
That Lord’s final showed the squad to be inexperienced and much will be expected of the Currans, Ansari and Jason Roy. Left-arm seamer, and England prospect, Mark Footitt has joined from Derbyshire and Sangakkara will once again be the overseas player, with Australia’s Aaron Finch replacing him during the Caribbean Premier League in July and August.
It looks a strong bowling squad but the batting is weaker on paper with much depending on Burns, Roy and Sangakkara in the first-class game. In T20 cricket, the inclusion of West Indian Dwayne Bravo and South Africa’s Chris Morris should enable them to improve on last season where they did not make it out of the group.
What could Surrey achieve this year? Batty said: “We are very big in not looking too far ahead. I think it’s dangerous in any group but certainly with young talent.
“We want to win every game we play. Is that a realistic achievement? Probably not. But we will give it a damn good crack.
“Surrey have never been a team that think about second best. We’re always trying to be No.1. We won’t always be No.1, like we are not No.1 at the minute, but we’ll keep striving for that.
“If we have a bad day, we’ll be there the next day to make sure it’s not a bad one then. We’ll fight to the bitter end to make sure we get where we want to get.”
Fighting talk from Batty as you would expect from a fine leader of men.
This piece originally featured in The Cricket Paper, Friday April 8 2016
