Next on Surrey’s list is a new director of cricket but a number of county’s are also on the hunt
Winning the Championship in interim charge provided Gareth Batty with the perfect job application, and the former captain has duly been appointed Surrey’s head coach on a permanent basis – but many counties still have key roles to fill.
Batty was appointed Surrey’s interim head coach at the start of the year, when Vikram Solanki left to become director of cricket at Gujarat Titans, the new IPL team. That he would be handed the job permanently was clear weeks before Batty’s team sealed their first title since 2018, but the club still had to run a formal process that has now concluded. This was his first season as a full-time coach.
Batty will expand his backroom staff, with Jade Dernbach set to return to the club as an assistant coach alongside Jim Troughton and Azhar Mahmood.
Troughton will join England Lions on tour in the UAE this month, where he will be joined by his former Warwickshire and England team-mate Ian Bell, who has coached at Derbyshire, Birmingham Phoenix and Hobart Hurricanes.