Oval World on the Net - Oval World (New Year 2009)

NEW YEAR 2009

SUPPORTERS' CLUB NEWS

ABSENT FRIENDS
It is with the utmost sadness that we have to report the passing of Brian Freed and Ron Pearce. Ron, who died on January 6, was a regular in the Alcock Room - the Supporters' Club's base at the Brit Oval - where he took up residence after many years representing Orpington Cricket Club. Brian, who passed away on March 18, was one of the three founding members of the Supporters' Club, or as it was first known the Surrey CCC Supporters' Association, back in 1978. One feels sure that he was immensely proud to have started something, against the odds in a lot of ways, which has endured for over thirty years. Our thoughts go out to the families and close friends of Ron and Brian.

CHRISTMAS DRAW 2008
Last year's Supporters' Club Christmas Draw made a profit of Ł721. Of this, a Ł200 donation will be made to the CHASE Ben Hollioake Fund, while the remainder will go towards the SCCC Schools Outreach Programme through the Century Club. Just to confirm, the result of last year's Supporters' Club Christmas Draw, which was made at our Christmas Party on December 22 was as follows:

1st - Ticket No. 03451 - J Scarlett - Ł903
2nd - 11485 - David Sherwin - Ł364
3rd - 03452 - N Scarlett - Free membership of Surrey CCC
4th - 82653 - Paul Smith - Ł100 Theatre Tokens
5th - 38825 - Bernard Style - M&S vouchers
6th - 16354 - Mike Wheaton - vouchers
7th - 14205 - Chris Babbs - M&S vouchers
8th - 11631 - Steve Tyler - vouchers
9th - 05196 - Nick Yapp - vouchers

We would like to thank all of the members of the Supporters' Club who bought and sold tickets.

CENTURY CLUB

The results of the final three Century Club draws of 2008 were as follows:

10th Draw 2008
1st - Ł50 - Michael Power (No.9)
2nd - Ł15 - Rob Lewis (No.25)
3rd - Ł10 - Brian Sanders (No.59)

11th Draw 2008
1st - Ł50 - R C J East (No.103)
2nd - Ł15 - Bob Parsons (No.16)
3rd - Ł10 - John Banfield (No.94)

12th Draw 2008
1st - Ł250 - Leslie Young (No.84)
2nd - Ł30 - Rod Burridge (No.11)
3rd - Ł20 - Mike Hurley (No.71)

Anyone wishing to become a Century Club member can do so by sending a cheque for Ł36 (made payable to the SCCCSC Century Club) along with their details to Sarah Atkins at The Cheviots, 236 Ashbourne Road, Mitcham, Surrey CR4 2DR.

TEAM, CLUB AND OTHER NEWS

SURREY SIGN KIWI ELLIOTT
New Zealand all-rounder Grant Elliott has been signed by Surrey as their overseas player for the first half of the 2009 season. Elliott has played three Tests and 20 ODIs since making his international debut in March 2008. Last summer the 30-year-old turned out for Surrey club side, Weybridge, alongside Kenyan teenager Seren Waters, who has also agreed terms with the Oval outfit. Surrey's cricket manager Chris Adams said: "Grant has proven that he is a top class all-rounder at the highest level and having someone of his ability around will definitely strengthen us, especially in one day cricket where we have not been as successful in recent times. Every competition is important to us and Grant's inclusion will help balance out our squad which will give us additional options when it comes to selection." Elliott added: "I'm really excited about playing for Surrey. It'll be a great opportunity for me and I hope I can make a difference and help to win some games during my time there. The club has a great history and after hearing of some of the changes there over the winter, it looks as though it will be an exciting time to be involved. I'm really looking forward to meeting the guys and getting stuck in." In first-class cricket Elliott is averaging 30.82 with the bat and 36.46 with the ball in 46 appearances.

GUILDFORD FESTIVAL IS REPRIEVED
Surrey have confirmed that the Guildford festival will take place in 2009 after fears that it would be scrapped as a result of the local council's withdrawal from a tripartite staging agreement. The festival, which attracts large crowds, celebrated its 70th anniversary in 2008, but the economic downturn left its future in some doubt. This year's event was spared at a meeting between Paul Sheldon, Surrey's chief executive, and David Hill, Guildford council's CEO, at the end of February. Guildford CC chairman, Neil Snowball told the Surrey Advertiser: "We know it is a challenging environment and that we may have to cut our cloth accordingly. It has been a worrying time, particularly as that week is very important to us as a club. But overall it's had a galvanising effect and I think all three parties are probably aware of what we all need to do to make sure the festival continues for a long time to come yet."

SALISBURY RETURNS TO THE OVAL AS SECOND TEAM COACH
Ian Salisbury has announced his retirement from first-class cricket to take up a coaching role with Surrey, whom he left at the end of 2007. The Warwickshire leg-spinner had initially accepted a two-year extension to his Bears playing contract, but will now replace South Africa-bound Nadeem Shahid as the Brown Caps' second team coach. Surrey's managing director of cricket Gus Mackay said: "Ian wanted to come back and get involved with the new era and can't wait to get stuck in. It's great he's on board at a club where he spent 10 years as a player before moving away to Edgbaston for a season." As well as taking charge of the club's second team, Salisbury will also work closely alongside Surrey academy director Gareth Townsend. Mackay also paid tribute to the departing Nadeem Shahid, who is going to run a multi-sports academy in South Africa. Mackay said: "I'd like to place on record my thanks to Nadeem for all he's done over the years for the club. He's been very open with us and when we heard he had an opportunity elsewhere we didn't want to stand in his way."

IPL SET FOR MARCH WINDOW
The BCCI is working with various national boards to create an unofficial window for the IPL in March 2010 that would enable almost all Test-playing countries to release their top players for the Twenty20 tournament. The tweak in the IPL calendar - instead of the current April-May schedule - will also ensure that the tournament does not clash with the World Twenty20 in the West Indies from April 23-May 9. Lalit Modi, the IPL commissioner, told Cricinfo (March 2) that all the national boards are working together for a clear window next March. Modi said: "The dates are still not firm, but we are working on this." The forthcoming IPL season, which is currently due to kick-off on April 10, has been hit by a scheduling clash that leaves most Australian players available only for the last two weeks of the tournament. England stars like Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff, who are expected to make their IPL debut next month, are also free only for the first three weeks. Among the national boards that are keen to see the IPL take the March slot is the ECB, which can then let its players take part in the tournament for a longer period as the English county season usually starts in mid-April.

ECB PLANNING NEW TWENTY20 COMPETITION - TO BE PLAYED IN THE CARIBBEAN
According to the Sunday Times (March 1), the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is in advanced talks to hold a new Twenty20 county competition in the Caribbean after the collapse of events sponsored by disgraced financier Allen Stanford. The favoured venues are Antigua, Barbados and St Lucia, which are thought likely to be attractive to English spectators. Qualification for the tournament, which would be held before the start of the English season, would come through finishing places in existing domestic competitions. The plan is likely to raise accusations that the ECB is killing the 20-overs market, as this would be the third Twenty20 county event. The existing Twenty20 Cup is to be joined next year by an "all-star" tournament, the P20, in which counties can include up to four overseas players rather than the one "import" allowed in the Twenty20 Cup. The ECB chairman, Giles Clarke was quoted as saying: "The TV timings for the Caribbean are ideal. People can watch a game at home [in the UK] after a day's work. It's perfect."

DERNBACH HOPING TO BE FIT IN TIME FOR THE START OF THE SEASON
Surrey fast bowler Jade Dernbach is confident he will be ready in time for the new season, despite having surgery on his right thumb, which he broke while attending the ECB elite fast bowler development programme in Florida. Initially, it was thought that surgery was unnecessary, so he went to India in late January, as planned, with Chris Jordan for a session at Dennis Lillee's MRF Academy. However, Dernbach's thumb had still not healed on his return, so he had it operated on at the Wellington Hospital. The 23-year-old told the Surrey Advertiser (February 27): "It wasn't improving and the only course seemed to be surgery, which is not ideal so close to the season. It wasn't affecting my bowling but the worry was whether it might go batting or fielding. It's in plaster at the moment, pending my next trip to see the specialist."

SURREY IN TALKS WITH NEL AND SINGH
Surrey are believed to be close to securing Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh as their overseas player for the second half of the summer. In addition, the Brown Caps are also seeking to secure another fast bowler to augment an attack that failed to take 20 wickets in any championship match last season. Andre Nel, who recently lost out on a new central contract with South Africa, is believed to be top of Surrey's wish list as he would be in a position to be signed as a Kolpak player.

CLARKE RE-APPOINTED ECB CHAIRMAN
On February 23, Giles Clarke's re-election as chairman of the ECB was officially ratified. Clarke was elected for his first term in 2007 after serving as chairman of Somerset, but in the weeks after Sir Allen Stanford was charged with fraud by the US authorities the former chairman of Majestic Wine faced a barrage of calls to resign. Clarke's loudest critics were Neil Davidson and Rod Bransgrove, the chairmen of Leicestershire and Hampshire respectively, who accused him of debasing the game by brokering the US$100 million deal with Stanford, which has now been terminated. Speaking on BBC Radio 4, the former Surrey chairman and ECB vice-chairman Mike Soper - whom Clarke defeated to win his first election in 2007 - said he would consider another challenge at some point in the future, after expressing his lack of confidence in the management structure. Soper said: "The thing I'm very sad about is the fact that cricket has been mauled all the way through this and the individuals seem to put more on finance than the actual game itself. We've lost Vodafone, we've now lost Stanford, and it's the implications for cricket that worry me more than anything else. When Giles was elected, it was because he was 70% an entrepreneur and 30% a cricket lover. I was always the reverse. I think if he's that great an entrepreneur, he ought to get these sponsors, replace them and then resign. It's too easy to walk away but I would consider challenging only if the game wanted a cricket lover first and an entrepreneur second."

STEWART: SURREY HAVE GOT TO BE SEEN AS THE BEST
The former Surrey and England captain Alec Stewart says he wants to help Surrey return to the top of the county game. Stewart, 45, who has joined the Brown Caps' coaching staff, alongside manager Chris Adams and batting coach Graham Thorpe, said: "It's a great club but it's had some tough times recently. We've got to make sure that we're looked upon as the very best. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Surrey cleaned up. Winning is a habit and we've got to get that winning habit back. I can specialise on the batting front and the keeping front. I also believe that wicketkeepers have a great view to look at bowlers too. I know Jon Batty helps the current bowlers during the game time because he's there seeing wrist and head positions. So I'm there to offer any advice that is sought. I wouldn't have said yes to the job if I didn't want to do it and didn't believe I could make a difference. When you watch you can't make a difference, but if you're there getting your hands dirty then you take on that responsibility of making sure that Surrey do return to where they should be." Stewart added: "I had sympathies with Alan Butcher. He had it tough because he was coming into a set-up that may not have been as it should have been. He was trying to patch things up. A lot of the good work that he put in has helped build the foundations for Chris [Adams] and the team to take it forward."

LEWIS DENIES DRUG SMUGGLING CHARGES
On February 19 the former Surrey and England cricketer Chris Lewis denied a charge of trying to smuggle cocaine with an estimated street value of Ł200,000 during a brief court appearance. Lewis, 41, who also played for Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire and who represented his country 87 times, appeared alongside co-defendant Chad Kirnon at Croydon Crown Court. The two men were arrested when UK Border Agency staff found 3.37kg of pure cocaine hidden in baggage, which arrived on a flight from St Lucia at 6.00am on December 8 last year. Lewis and basketball player Kirnon, 27, were arrested after arriving at Gatwick Airport in West Sussex and questioned by Customs officials before being charged. Lewis and Kirnon both entered not guilty pleas during a short plea and case management hearing. Judge Warwick McKinnon ordered the trial date to be included on the court's fortnightly list for May 11. Both men were remanded in custody.

RAMPRAKASH SIGNS TWO-YEAR CONTRACT EXTENSION
Mark Ramprakash has signed a two-year extension to his contract at Surrey, which will keep him at the club until 2011. The former England batsman, who joined the club in 2001 from Middlesex, had one year left on his contract and had previously said he was unsure whether he wanted to continue at the club after their relegation and the sacking of former coach Alan Butcher. But the arrival of coach Chris Adams and managing director of cricket Gus Mackay from Sussex appears to have made the difference. Ramprakash said: "I have had a fantastic career up until now but still feel like I have much more to give. There are a huge amount of runs left in me and I look forward to helping shape a new era of Surrey cricket, both at the crease and in the dressing room. Surrey have a number of exciting young batsmen and it's now down to me and other experienced players at the club to work with the management team to help them use their talent and succeed in the professional game." Chris Adams was quoted as saying: "Mark's record in recent years has been simply staggering and I am over the moon that he has decided to extend his career with us. Statistics like those he has accumulated throughout his career simply do not lie and I look forward to watching him score thousands more runs and working with him to secure Surrey's future as a successful club for many years to come." But Ramprakash will miss Surrey's first two county games after he was suspended by the ECB for using crude language against Sussex batsman Murray Goodwin in August of last year.

BUTCHER: THE YOUNG GUYS NEED TO CREATE THE NEXT SUCCESSFUL SURREY TEAM
Mark Butcher is treating Surrey's relegation from LV County Championship Division One as the beginning of a new era at the Brit Oval. Surrey suffered the indignity of finishing bottom of the table last summer without a win to their name in the longer form of the game, while they also failed to match expectations in one-day cricket. Captain Butcher, however, is keen to use life in the Second Division as the breeding ground for the club's youngsters, who have found opportunities hard to come by in the recent past. On January 26, he told ECBtv "It's very important that the young players come through. It is for all county sides, but particularly ours because, on the back of many years of success, our young players coming through haven't perhaps had a route in when the team has been successful. I think now is the perfect time to do it - there's no desperate rush and it's not the be-all and end-all to be in Division One. The First Division was very tough last year - there were some very good teams in it - so perhaps the Second Division is an ideal time for some guys to come in and get a bit of foothold before they kick on. We've got a nice crop of young guys coming through and hopefully they'll be the ones that will come in and create that next successful Surrey team. It's fair to say we haven't had a massive influx of real talent in the last three or four years. We find ourselves now on the back of a very poor year last year, with enough time to take stock, look at the things we need to improve, look at the type of players that we need to bring in - the young ones in particular that are bubbling under the surface - and give them a chance. But the most important thing is that we do that with young players making proper contributions, becoming a main part of the team, and being able to take on from where old blokes like me have left off. It's very important that we keep our eye on what happens and bring them in as often as we can to the professional set-up, so they get a good taste of it and we keep a close eye on them at close quarters." Butcher also revealed that he hopes to be available for the start of the season, having undergone surgery last year on the knee injury that wrecked his 2008 campaign. He said: "I'm looking to get up to the four-month post-surgery period next month with no alarms. Everything is going pretty well at the moment, so I'm still on for being ready around about the start of the season."

COUNTY ATTENDANCES ON THE UP
The ECB have announced record attendances for the domestic game in 2008, with county cricket attracting an all-time high of 1.5million spectators. That figure - inclusive of all domestic competitions - is up 23% on 2007, while the combined total for county and international matches is up 10% at 2,243,496. Both the LV County Championship and the popular Twenty20 Cup were watched by over 500,000 spectators, while the Natwest Pro40 saw a rise of 4% year on year. Only the Friends Provident Trophy, with a 7% fall in numbers, fared worse than in 2007. ECB chief executive David Collier said: "We are delighted to see the county game continue to grow across England and Wales. Many counties have invested heavily in their facilities offering a vastly improved spectator experience which coupled with some thrilling cricket in 2008, ensures the fabric of our sport remains strong."

ALISTAIR BROWN JOINS NOTTINGHAMSHIRE
On January 7, Nottinghamshire announced the signing of Ali Brown, the former Surrey batsman, on a two-year deal. Brown, 38, spent twenty-one years at The Oval, scoring first-class centuries against all the other counties, but was released by Surrey at the end of the 2008 season. Notts director of cricket, Mick Newell, said: "Ali has a lot to offer as a cricketer but he's also an experienced head who will act as a role model to younger players. He's an exiting one-day player at the top of the order and he can play an important role for us over the next two years." Brown, who also played 16 ODIs for England, said: "Nottinghamshire are primed to challenge for the Championship and I want to hit the ground running and help the team to push for honours. For me, the buzz of playing cricket comes from winning competitions and I feel that I've got two more years to win things at this level. I've always been confident in my ability, I'm feeling fit and I want to play for Nottinghamshire in all forms of the game."

SURREY INSTALLING FLOODLIGHTS
Surrey have begun installing permanent floodlighting ahead of the new season and hope to complete the work by May. The Oval will host four floodlit matches during the ICC World Twenty20 in June and England play Australia in a day/night one-day international on September 4. The first match under the new lights is set to be the Twenty20 game against Sussex on May 26. The lights will consist of four towers rising to 130 feet and they are retractable to half their length to minimise disruption to the local area.

ADAMS TAKES CHARGE
On December 11 it was announced that the former Sussex captain Chris Adams had retired to take up a post as Surrey's new cricket manager. Adams, who led Sussex for eleven years before stepping down at the end of last season, will take responsibility for all aspects of professional cricket at The Oval, with the county having revamped their management structure following last year's disappointing campaign. Adams, 38, told Sky Sports: "I am delighted to take this challenge. I have been looking for this kind of role for a while. It brings 21 years as a player to an end, which is sad, but this is too big a challenge to turn down. I am very excited about it. I had 11 fantastic years at Sussex. Sussex is in my blood - it always will be - but everything has to come to an end. I'm incredibly privileged to have walked off the field into such a high-profile job." But he added: "I am not promising a quick-fix. What I am offering is long-term stability and putting in place a culture change, not only on the field but off it as well. It is not about getting promotion next year and having a couple of years of success - this is about a 10-year programme, at least, to bring back stability, long-term development and a stream of players through the Academy system to represent Surrey and, I hope, England. It is to put together a plan and put a plan in process that will bring success back to this very respected and traditionally huge club; to set up an environment, a culture that will outlast my time here."

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