Batty ready to knuckle down

Gareth Batty, here batting for Surrey in 2001, is hoping for a successful second spell after arriving back at the Brit Oval

Gareth Batty admits he has his toughest winter yet ahead of him after rejoining Surrey from Worcestershire.

The off-spinner, who signed a three year deal earlier this summer to move back to the Brit Oval from New Road, has already linked up with his team mates after arriving back at the county he left in 2002.

The 32-year-old is positively relishing the chance he has been offered and intends to knuckle down during what promises to be a tough winter schedule.

“I start back in November and it will be the hardest winter of my career”, Batty said.

“I’ve got some real burning ambition and have almost got my excitement back for the hard work and the game.

“When I left it was with the blessing of the club and was to further my future in cricket,” he added.

“That went reasonably well for the time but reached a point where I suppose I could progress no further at Worcestershire. As soon as Surrey were interested it was a no brainer as I’d always dreamt about coming back some day.”

Batty also wants to use his arrival back at Surrey as a launching pad for his career, which has not progressed as he would have wanted given Worcestershire’s struggles this season.

“I like to think for the last eight years or so that I’ve been a pretty consistent first-class performer and it’s an opportunity for me to see if I can go to another level and really drive my game,” he added on the club’s official website.

“I’ve been working on the doosra for two or three years and I can pretty much bowl it.

“I also want to get my batting more consistent and take my fielding to another level. For me the goal is to get every little bit of knowledge out of my head and put in into physical outcomes on the field.”

Given he already knows many of the faces at Surrey, Batty is also hopeful of using the help of the likes of Chris Adams, Graham Thorpe and others to help his game progress further.

“The opportunity to work with Ian Salisbury on a daily basis was a massive factor.

“Thorpey’s [Graham Thorpe] brilliant and I’m really looking forward to working with him and I’ve kept in touch with Stewie [Alec Stewart] forever," he said.

“The vision that Chris has is very exciting. To get a seasoned pro like myself really excited in one conversation is pretty impressive. From a personal and a club point of view last year was a bit of an average season and that is something we both want to turn around.”