Gareth Batty to replace Solanki?

Surrey promoting an even less experienced coach than Solanki from assistant to head coach? I’m looking forward to hearing views on this given those that some aired when Solanki was promoted.

I think I would have preferred an outsider to come in without any preconceptions. Having said that I have great respect for Batty as he has done so much for the club over many years and he may prove an inspired appointment. I think Batty has a good relationship with the players and that should help as I see the job as mainly, not solely, man-management.

Let us welcome our new coach and give him time to have an effect.

Not 100% sure on a direct in house appointment like this, but willing to give him and the coaching staff he sets up the benefit of the doubt.

However, I do think getting Azhar Mahmood in as an assistant coach will help with our often average seam bowling unit.

No problem with Gareth Batty as head coach or the return of Azhar Mahmood. The only issue that might prove problematic is how he may relate to people he played with as Coach and they to him (i.e one of the lads to the boss).

Incidentally Chris Jordan is not just replacing "Bats" as acpatain of the T20 side, but also beginning his own transition into a coaching role as mentor to the youngsters in the side.

I did note the reference to Richard Johnson moving to Middlesex. Mind you, there is a lot of "set to" and "expected to" in Dobell's article and I wouldn't get too excited about Batty or Johnson until there's something official. I wonder if anyone has told Johnson and Middlesex what he is "expected to" do? If it does happen, it would mean that Thorpe and Ramprakash had been overlooked.

To be fair, there is a lot less rumour spreading in cricket than in football, where clickbait is the order of the day.

Much rather see Graham Ford, plenty of experience as a coach. Think we need an outside coach,not another internal inexperienced and unknown quantity in Batty. Being a good cricketer doesn’t make you a good coach!! Don’t want to go through this is another couple of years time. Do it once and do it right!!!

Batty was promoted to assistant coach in October 2021. He’s essentially not even done that job yet, now he’s going to be head coach.

After everything he’s done for the club I can’t begrudge him this chance.

Also, being “interim” means he may well step back to “assistant” in 2023 anyway.

Johnson to Middlesex confirmed.

Don’t believe that because of what he’s done for the club?? He deserves the chance to be coach,a job which he has no experience of. By that token perhaps Riki Clarke or Dernbach should have been given the chance as well!

So it's confirmed.

My preference would have been for a new broom, on the evidence of the decline we have witnessed since 2018. But it is possible (though not certain) that Gareth will turn out to be an inspired choice.

There is an argument that our sharp decline in the past three years does not reflect on Gareth Batty as it did Solanki, who was throughout that time Assistant then Head Coach. Over that period, Gareth was predominantly a one-day player, with (as I understand it) very limited responsibility for working with our spinners. On that limited evidence, he has done well with Moriarty, and even if Virdi's performances have somewhat flatlined he has at least appeared fitter.

From what we know of his personal qualities, he is an outstanding leader-by-example with a work ethic that I did not ever detect in the previous appointee. He is not a great tactician, but arguably that is the domain of the captain rather than the coach.

Ideally, I would have preferred to see him initially appointed as Assistant Head Coach, with someone like Graham Ford appointed for a couple of years, before stepping up once he had some wider experience. But it's possible this fast-track route could work. Good luck, Gareth.

I didn’t see the interim tag until the official announcement - I’m pleased they are going to revisit this at the end of the season and I appreciate that time is short in terms of getting a new coaching team in before the season starts.

Good news.All the best Gareth.

Another scapegoat to get rid of at the end of the season. When is Stewart going to take responsibility for the continuing failure of his choices to produce to succeed? Lancs and Middx got rid of the whole management team,not just the coach.

dougieginn wrote:Another scapegoat to get rid of at the end of the season. When is Stewart going to take responsibility for the continuing failure of his choices to produce to succeed? Lancs and Middx got rid of the whole management team,not just the coach.

In Middlesex's case, Gus Fraser went mid-season. Law went after the end of the season. It may have all been part of a masterplan but - come on, this is Middlesex, we don't do masterplans!

I'm really surprised at an interim coach being appointed for the whole season. Usually it's a mid-season thing. I think it leaves Batty in an exposed position unless things really go well, as an incoming coach may be even less inclined to keep an assistant coach who has been interim head coach than someone who has only ever been assistant.

I suppose it indicates that Solanki gave very little notice of going and also, presumably, that Surrey had no intention of making a change otherwise. If they had wanted sufficient time to recruit properly, the deed would have been done last October.

George Dobell's sources are evidently immaculate.

The worry is that this allows Stewart to keep wearing the tracksuit and tinker from above. I agree there is a lack of on-field tactical acumen within the ‘leadership group’ and he is another pedestrian thinker and master of hindsight. However, I would attribute most of our problems to the way we have handled and selected our bowlers. We have let too many teams off the hook over the past few years, mainly because our seamers have bowled dross and because Virdi bowls the same ball over and again. None of this is a recommendation for choosing Richard Johnson as head coach; I think we can expect Batty to emphasise effort and mental toughness, and hopefully challenge the players who are complacent, but it is going to be really hard for him to step away from the players and instantly keep the distance from them that is needed now he is in charge. Hence Stewart’s fondness for being addressed as the Gaffer will mean he will try to pull all the strings and then blame it on Batts if it goes wrong. If I were a big-name coach, I wouldn’t join Surrey unless they guaranteed to keep Stewart away from the dressing room.

Given that the club have stated that Batty's appointment is specifically just for the coming season and that they will commence a proper search for a long term head coach in the autumn, then Batty is self-evidently a better emergency stopgap than most. He is well liked and respected by his colleagues and by most supporters, an ebullient battler who leads by example, and no one can question his spirited commitment to the club. He will expect a similar attitude from the players, which is no bad thing given our regular sub-par, lacklustre performances last year.

Solanki's sudden departure caught the club on the hop, and Johnson leaving as well exacerbated the situation. As Stewart has said, it is far from an ideal situation so close to the start of the new season. But Gareth Batty is a fine character for an interim period and I hope he is successful. If he is, I would not object to him getting the job permanently. I'm pleased to have Azhar back on the scene also, he seems to be a similar character to Batty in many respects, whilst the hiring of Troughton (presumably to work with the batters) is encouraging when one considers the consistency of Somerset's batting last year, for which he was responsible.