Surrey hand Gareth Batty permanent head coach role after leading county to title in interim capacity

Batty stepped in to fill the void left by Vikram Solanki's departure at the start of 2022

Gareth Batty has been named as Surrey's head coach on a permanent basis after leading the club to the County Championship title while in interim charge last season.

He had been thrust into the top job following his retirement from playing at the end of the 2021 campaign after Vikram Solanki left Surrey in January to take up a role with Gujarat Titans, one of two Indian Premier League franchises added ahead of the most recent edition of the tournament.

That left a hole in Surrey's structure, which Batty – who had begun life as an assistant coach to Solanki that winter – stepped in to fill. Around the same time, Richard Johnson – another of Solanki's assistants – left the county to return to Middlesex as their first-team coach.

Batty admitted to feeling "honoured" by the opportunity to take on the permanent position, but it would have been difficult for Surrey to justify looking elsewhere, although director of cricket Alec Stewart insisted that "a full and proper process" had taken place.

^{Batty led Surrey to the County Championship title (Ben Hoskins/Getty Images)}

Under the former off-spinner, with Azhar Mahmood and Jim Troughton as assistants, they only lost once in the County Championship, and that was once they had already sewn up the title.

They reached the T20 Blast quarter-finals and ought to have beaten Yorkshire in a thriller at the Kia Oval, while they were decimated by The Hundred and so used the Royal London Cup to blood promising youngsters in the shape of Sheridon Gumbs and Yousef Majid.

"The hard work put in by the coaching staff and the players was crucial in the success this year and we're looking to get straight back to it as pre-season begins," he added. "There's a huge amount of potential in this group of players and I’m excited to get going again with our eyes firmly set on more success in 2023."

Stewart added: "Batts is one of the most hard-working and forward-thinking people in the game and his deep knowledge, commitment and dedication to the job that he brings every single day is a massive positive."

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