Surrey‘s head coach Gareth Batty has provided a positive injury update with Dan Worrall and Gus Atkinson set to return soon, whilst Sam Curran and Tom Lawes are progressing well in their road to full fitness.
Surrey claimed their first win of the Rothesay County Championship season after beating Sussex by eight wickets at The Kia Oval, following three straight draws against Warwickshire, Leicestershire and Essex.
Surrey’s seam attack of Jordan Clark, Matthew Fisher, Sean Abbott and Reece Topley put up a strong performance in the final day victory over Sussex, and could soon be strengthened further by the imminent return of Worrall, who missed the start of the campaign with a calf injury.
Daniel Worrall
Worrall’s last Surrey appearance came against Worcestershire at the end of last season. As Surrey’s senior new-ball seamer, he has been central to their recent Rothesay County Championship dominance which came to end when Nottinghamshire beat them to the title last year.
“Dan Worrall has got through a good amount of work this week. There’s a very high chance he will play next week. There’s a couple more bits for him to tick off, but he’s very confident and we’re very confident,” said Batty.
“We gave him some extra time to make sure he stays healthy for a long period. He’s a great asset for us and is good as gold but probably needs a haircut as that’s his only lingering issue,” said the former England spinner.
Gus Atkinson
There was also encouraging news on Atkinson, who was rested for the Sussex game under ECB workload management programmes rather than through injury. A high-pace right-arm seamer contracted to the ECB, he gives Surrey strike power with the new and old ball.
“Gus Atkinson’s availability is looking good for the next two rounds. That’s official from the ECB. It was always going to be that way. He’s had a nice week of rebooting his physicality and trying to get up to that accumulative load for the big Test match summer,” said Batty.
Sam Curran
Sam Curran is also edging closer to a return after recovering from a groin injury he picked up whilst playing the T20 World Cup for England in March. Surrey’s white-ball captain was then forced to miss the IPL as well.
“The little man’s chomping at the bit. We need to keep him going through the process, but today was his first day hitting some balls and probably the first time for a very long time he’s done extended running,” said Batty.
Tom Lawes
Batty was more cautious on Lawes, who suffered an injury against Essex in Round three as Surrey are determined not to rush him back. His England Lions involvement also makes his workload and fitness more important.
“Tom Lawes is contracted to us and with England, so we will not be risking Tom for any length of time out. He’s tracking well. He’s been in the hyperbaric chamber today and he’s had some oxygen in him. So we will make sure to give him the best chance to be healthy for a season,” said Batty.
The updates come at a key time for Surrey, who currently sit second in the Championship table, eight points behind current leaders and title holders Nottinghamshire, following an unbeaten start to the season.