Gareth Batty Column: Early-season form of Jamie Smith and Ollie Pope says much about their character

I am thrilled to be writing a monthly column this summer for The Rey, and very pleased to see the site quickly establish itself after launching in early February. It is great to see county cricket being covered in this way, and very widely too across the CounterPress platform; it is an exciting initiative and one I support wholeheartedly.

Writing this column will also give me the regular opportunity to speak directly to all supporters of Surrey Cricket, and in this first column I’d like to mention a couple of our England players, Ollie Pope and Jamie Smith.

Lots has been written and said about England’s winter Ashes tour, and the disappointing 4-1 series defeat to Australia. Obviously, from a personal level as an England fan, and from speaking to people who have travelled out to the games, the frustrations are understandable.

For the first time since 2022, we had the bulk of players around for pre-season. It was fantastic to have the entire team and staff together to prepare for the season ahead. To have Jamie, Popey and Gus Atkinson around has been enormously positive for the group but also for themselves.

Jamie’s magnificent early form, with 132 up at Warwickshire and then 166 and 89 against Leicestershire, has shown very clearly just how good a player he is and – given the opportunity to bat at No 3 – how he can shape an innings from there.

I had a conversation with Jamie before the season began, in which we discussed his skillsets and how they could marry up with the sort of credentials you need to bat at No 3 –  remembering conversations with Ricky Ponting and Kumar Sangakkara and other examples.

We talked about how the best players in that position have the ability to take the game to the opposition but also have an excellent defence. I think we have already seen how Jamie can fulfil those criteria and it is important to remember that he is at an age where he is still developing as a batsman and continually trying to improve.

Since returning to us earlier in the year, Ollie came back to work incredibly hard on his game, which is credit to a man still only 28 years of age and with 64 Test caps to his name. Popey has achieved a great deal in his career so far. With the modern world evolving and our understanding of physicality improving, is he at the half way point of his career?

As we've already mentioned, after a difficult winter with England, Popey had some time to reflect and has come back to the Kia Oval to get his game to where he would like it to be. The intricacies of the work he has done are not my place to talk about, but I can assure you that the intention with the work he has done will take him back to his peak and beyond.

I understand that when he spoke to a small number of media people after his first innings of 103 against Leicestershire, at the end of day one, he was very thoughtful, honest and insightful about how he wants to use this period of his career to reset.

Popey has left no stone unturned in his process and went back to school to check in with Stuart Welch, the director of cricket at Cranleigh School and a trusted long-time coach of his.

But it is his willingness to step back and refocus on his game – as an established, multi-capped Test player – which is such a credit to Ollie as a person. He is also using all the experience he has now gained at international level to help him in this reset process and that’s because his aim is to become an even better player than he already is.

I am confident that when he plays again for England (and it is most definitely a when, not an if), Ollie Pope will be an even stronger cricketer and character. Another huge benefit that often goes unspoken is the positive effect this kind of work ethic and attitude has on our young players and the wider group.

As a squad, meanwhile, it has been good to have a weekend and a Championship round off so that we can refresh after those opening two draws. Some of our skills looked in need of brushing up, on the evidence of the first two games, be they physical or mental. Having more days' build-up to the first of two home games, against Essex and Sussex, will only be stronger for the squad and we're very excited for the games to come.

Also on a positive note, we are getting closer by the day to having Gus Atkinson and Dan Worrall fit and back in their Surrey shirts. Hopefully see some of you in the next fortnight.