HOOK’S SHOT: The 50-over one-day cup competition has exposed massive inequalities in counties’ squad depth, as Surrey give up twice as many players to the franchises of the wretched Hundred as any other county. And some players, too ‘injured’ to play for Surrey, have been fulfilling their contracts in the bastardised short-form competition.
MARCUS HOOK reports
Surrey, despite being much-depleted by losing 17 senior players to the franchise event called The Hundred, made an encouraging start to this season’s 50-over One-day Cup, winning two out of four – over Lancashire and Northants.
Snap shot: Adam Thomas, aged 20, helped see Surrey home against Northants in the one-day cup
True, Northants, the new T20 champions, were without six players due to The Hundred but, get this, Surrey have lost almost three times as many players to that tournament, which is being bankrolled principally from the franchises behind the Indian Premier League.
The England and Wales Cricket Board is confident the £520million equity sold in The Hundred will sustain county cricket for the next five years.
But it’s only in the Metro Bank-sponsored 50-over competition that county members get to see the stars of the future – players like 20-year-old Surrey batter Adam Thomas, who has shown exceptional skill, confidence and maturity since marking his County Championship debut at the beginning of May with a century.
Thomas opened his 2026 Metro Bank account with knocks of 82 not out and 57 followed by an unbeaten 83 to help seal victory over Northants with six wickets and more than six overs to spare.
“We normally start this competition badly, so for us to get off the mark the way we have is excellent,” Thomas said.
“We still have plenty of experience at the top of the order, with Dom Sibley, Ryan Patel and Rory Burns, and that has just allowed us younger guys to go out and express ourselves.”
Thomas first came to prominence in last summer’s 50-over competition when as a teenager he hit 162 at Derby. Surrey teens were coming to the fore: a couple of days later, 18-year-old all-rounder Ralphie Albert, whose grandfather is snooker star Jimmy White, perished within sight of a century in Surrey’s 10-run victory at Nottingham.
In 2024, it had been Ollie Sykes who announced himself, smacking an unbeaten 87 off a mere 56 balls in the defeat of Essex . Sykes, now 21, is playing in this year’s Hundred; just don’t ask me who for or how he’s doing.
What I do know (curiosity got the better of me), is that Surrey seamers Jamie Overton and Dan Worrall have turned out for their Hundred franchises, despite missing the entirety of Surrey’s T20 Blast campaign due to injury.
What Surrey lacks in terms of giving the Metro Bank competition a serious go is any up-and-coming fast bowlers, something they have needed since The Hundred started in 2021.
Yorker: Surrey seam bowler James Taylor is off to Headingley
James Taylor has been the pick of the attack in the opening contests this season, but the 25-year-old will soon be the property of Yorkshire, where the increased cloud cover they tend to get at Headingley will suit his game far more than The Oval.
Surrey have drafted in Australian Benji Flores to share the new-ball duties with Taylor in the short-term.
Flores, who has played a handful of games for Queensland, has hit the ground running for Surrey, taking 7 wickets at 25.71 runs apiece.
“It’s been unbelievable so far. I’ve been given a warm welcome,” he said Flores, after taking 4-60 against Northants at Guildford.
“As a bowling group, we need to keep bowling well in partnerships, squeeze their batters, and force them into mistakes.”
With Ryan Patel averaging 73.00 with the bat, Josh Blake 47.50 and Dom Sibley 36.33 – not forgetting Thomas – there’s every reason to be optimistic about Surrey 50-over chances, especially with ‘keeper Ben Foakes set to return from injury.
County cricket has searched for a wider audience for as long as I can remember, but making the matches free for people to watch and staging games where punters can actually get to them seems an obvious place to start.
Whereas the men’s Hundred is played at only eight venues (with a little more than one-quarter of the 34 matches being televised by the BBC), the Metro Bank’s 77 fixtures will take place across more than 30 grounds, while the majority of cricket fans unable to attend in person will also be available to watch the games for nowt on YouTube.
While there are bigger stages in cricket than Guildford (which can only hold up to 1,500 spectators), Surrey issuing “do not turn up unless you’ve got a ticket” emails to their members 24 hours before each game tells its own story.
Surrey’s two remaining group fixtures at home will be at The Oval against Kent (Wed Aug 5) and Notts (Tue Aug 11) both starting at 11am: adults £15, under-16s just a quid.
In the T20s, Surrey’s women went one better than the men, reaching the semi-final.
Gutted: Surrey’s T20 skipper Ollie Pope
The men were seemingly cruising to victory in their quarter-final at Nottingham, where, in reply to the hosts’ 163-6, Jason Roy and Laurie Evans put on 101 in 12 overs for the first wicket.
But after Evans (40) perished to a catch at cover and Roy (76) was run out by a direct hit from the long-on boundary, Surrey came up seven runs short.
“It’s a tough one to take. Ultimately, we weren’t good enough in the final stages with the bat,” said Ollie Pope, Surrey’s skipper on the day. “After a tournament where we played a lot of good cricket, to not make it to finals day again is really disappointing. The changing room is pretty gutted.
“We bowled pretty well, but credit to Jack Haynes (75 not out) on how he played and the way he went about things on that pitch.
“From the position we were in we should have got over the line. Jason was phenomenal. Had he stayed in, he would have almost certainly seen us home. It was a great throw from Freddie McCann to run him out.”
Recent cricket columns from Marcus Hook:
- Boomer Harris setting records on way to Surrey’s T20 finals
- Blind man enjoys wonders of cricket comradeship at The Oval
- What the Foakes! Surrey keeper ruled out after bowling injury
A D V E R T I S E M E N T
PAID ADS: To advertise your services or products to our 10,000 weekday visitors to the site, as featured on Google News Showcase, email us inside.croydon@btinternet.com for our unbeatable ad rates
- If you have a news story about life in or around Croydon, or want to publicise your residents’ association or business, or if you have a local event to promote, please email us with full details at inside.croydon@btinternet.com
As featured on Google News Showcase
- Our comments section on every report provides all readers with an immediate “right of reply” on all our content. Our comments policy can be read by clicking here
ROTTEN BOROUGH AWARDS: In January 2026, Croydon was named among the country’s rottenest boroughs for an EIGHTH time in nine years, in Private Eye magazine’s annual round-up of civic cock-ups
- Inside Croydon is a member of the Independent Community News Network
I’m counting down the days to 20 August and the game against Nots at the Oval. I’ve been missing my second home.
For me the 100 is an abomination that isn’t even cricket.
I would enjoy the 1 day cup, if I knew that there was commentary. Quite often there isn’t and without radio I, as a blind supporter can’t follow the matches at all.
Here endeth negative from Norbury.