Competition hots up at Surrey

Jade Dernbach claimed 10 wickets in the NatWest Pro40 last season © Getty Images

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Surrey duo Jade Dernbach and Stewart Walters are viewing the 2008 season as the one in which they will kick on to earn a regular place in the first team.

Both have had plenty of success with the second XI, Walters in particular scoring big hundreds and leading the team well, but neither have commanded a spot in Surrey’s first-choice side.

Dernbach ended 2007 on a high in the one-day team, his three wickets against Kent at Canterbury in a televised fixture and a huge six off the last ball to beat Leicestershire his personal highlights.

However, with a settled batting line-up in which there is only one place up for grabs and the emergence of Chris Jordan as the county’s next big hope, both Walters and Dernbach have had to wait for their opportunities.

Walters is currently out for a month with a fractured cheekbone sustained at the start of the season, scuppering his hopes of forcing his way into the side, with Dernbach next in the championship pecking order after Pedro Collins, Matt Nicholson, James Ormond and Jordan.

“There is competition for places, but it is only going to make us stronger,” Dernbach told ecb.co.uk.

“It can only make you a better cricketer to come in every day and fight for your place.

“It is the same for me every year; I want to cement a place, especially in the four-day stuff.”

Dernbach has played in the Friends Provident Trophy this year, and featured in three NatWest Pro40 games last year in which he topped the Surrey bowling averages with 10 wickets at 13.1.

He believes he has done enough to stake his claim for the one-day side this summer.

“I’ve got my opportunities in the one-day cricket and I think I have cemented my place down in that side,” he said. “It is just a matter of pushing on now.”

Stewart Walters does not want to look too far ahead as he aims to get back into action

Dernbach has not given up hope of appearing in the LV County Championship, though, even after Surrey signed Collins on their first Kolpak deal to strengthen their attack.

“I’m happy with the signings and I hope they can take the club forward,” Dernbach added.

“But at the end of last year there were a lot of young players in the four-day side and all things are possible.

“I think a lot of the guys, including myself, have taken a lot from that and we can only go forward from here.”

Walters played in eight championship games last season but often finds himself competing with Ali Brown and James Benning for a spot in the middle order.

New signing Usman Afzaal is also in the shake-up now, pushing Walters back into the second XI, at least for the time being.

“Usman obviously makes it a little bit harder for me to play,” Walters admitted. “But competition is great in the squad and I am looking forward to being a part of that and hopefully having a role to play at some stage.”

Walters spent his entire winter in Australia as player-coach of Perth, and he believes that has helped him assess his own game better.

“To bring the guys on was a great feeling for me,” he said. “Just to know a little about my game and bring that to the next level as well, it really helped.

“I played in a club that finished 11th on the ladder in the year before and we took the club from 11th to second.

“We played off in the grand final and we lost to Scarborough, where Justin Langer scored a hundred and won them the game.”

The experience will obviously stand Walters in good stead for this season, both on the field and with captaining the second XI, but he refuses to get carried away.

“I don’t like to look too far ahead, as if I do that I tend to get out quite a lot,” he confessed. “I just need to hope that the hard work I have put in pays off.”