Surrey seem to be in a mess. Since the new Director of Cricket, Gus Mackay, has started he has begun to bring in players. So far Michael Brown and Alex Tudor have joined. Graham Thorpe has also arrived as batting coach. I think that the priority should have been to appoint a new coach to replace Alan Butcher. The new coach will now have to accept the existing personnel instead of having a strong voice in who comes and goes. It had been obvious since early August that Butcher was likely to be removed, nothing seems to have been done to recruit till Mackay arrived.

Priority two should have been to sort out the captaincy, there is no certainty that Mark Butcher will be fit for next season and if the recent operation does not cure his problem I suspect he will retire. As I understand it Jon Batty will be vice captain next year so would probably take over. With great respect to Batty, who has served Surrey brilliantly, he is not a great captain. There was an opportunity missed to bring in a good player with captaincy potential and say if Butch is not fit you captain the team, otherwise you are vice captain till Butcher retires in a couple of years or so. Players can be attracted by the challenge of captaincy.

Brown looks a decent signing to open with Newman and the batting does not look too bad. The major problems are with our bowlers. We have, to my amazement, signed Tudor and given Ormond another year. Both seem well liked players, but both have an injury history that makes me doubt how frequently they will be available, they are also ageing and have lost pace and zip. Dernbach and Jordan are fine, but need help. Collins was a vast disappointment last year. Surrey need a couple of lively young pace bowlers.

On the spin front we have Scofield, Murtaza and the promising King. Rumours are that Harbajan is next seasons overseas player, but I think that would only be positive if he is available for most of the season. If Harbajan does come I cannot see a role for Murtaza who would just block King's progress.