County cricket talking points: Surrey have squad and swagger to retain title

Reigning champions Surrey opened a seven-point gap at the top of Division One, swatting aside their predecessors, Warwickshire, inside three days at Edgbaston.

Dan Worrall and Kemar Roach shared 15 wickets in dismissing the home side for 150 and 141, but the match turned on finding a batter who could counterattack the pacers and get ahead of the game. Jamie Smith’s 88 was one of only two half-centuries on either side, the 22-year-old having handed back the gloves to Ben Foakes, but adding class as a specialist in the middle order.

That Surrey have so seamlessly navigated the absence of players who were key in last season’s success, including internationals Hashim Amla, Will Jacks, Jamie Overton, both Currans, Colin de Grandhomme and Reece Topley, suggest that it’s more than just talent that underpins the Surrey swagger.

Despite having one of the flakiest top orders in the country, Middlesex made it two wins from two to go third in Division One. There was no skipper for the home side at Lord’s, but Toby Roland-Jones must have looked on with an indulgent smile as Tim Murtagh and Ethan Bamber found a bit in the air and a bit off the pitch to trouble all the visiting batters, Kent dismissed twice in 123 overs.

Ben Compton was at the crease for all but 17 of those overs, offering a glimpse of old-school opening. Risk was minimised, ambition reined in and a play-and-miss brought merely a shrug and a refocus for the next delivery. There was no urge to put pressure back on the bowler, no desire to knock a man off his length, no Bazball in thought nor deed.

Red-ball cricket is a broad church and it was a perverse delight to witness a dedicated follower of the near-heretical cult of Boycott commit so thoroughly to his faith.

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