On the back of a phenomenal year for club and country, Ben Foakes becomes the latest Surrey player to be named a Wisden Cricketer of the Year.
The 30-year-old wicket-keeper-batter has continued what has become a recent trend at Surrey. Whilst donning the Three Feathers, Rory Burns, Sam Curran, and Nat Sciver-Brunt have also been honoured as one of the Cricketers of the Year by Wisden in the last five years.
A vital cog in England’s 2017 World Cup-winning squad, Sciver-Brunt earned her place in the famous five in 2018. She hit 369 runs in the World Cup at an average of 46, including top scoring for England in the final (51). The then 25-year-old all-rounder also took seven wickets in the tournament, involving match-turning figures of 3/3 against West Indies.
In 2017, Sciver-Brunt was also on top of the wickets column (12) in the Kia Super League and scored 154 runs at 38.5 for Surrey Stars as her team reached the semi-final of the competition.
Soon after, as Surrey picked up their 20th County Championship title, it was captain Burns and all-rounder Curran who featured in Wisden’s distinguished list in 2019.
In 2018, Burns spearheaded Surrey’s charge to the top by leading the competition’s run charts (1359) and crossed the 1000-run mark for the fifth year in succession. The opener went on to earn his first England Test cap later in the year.
The same year, Sam Curran, 20-year-old at the time, became the youngest Englishman in a century to be recognised as one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Year.
In the summer, as well as collecting 25 wickets from seven games in Surrey’s title march, Curran earned his first Three Lions cap and stepped up in a crucial series against India as the Three Lions defeated the visitors 4-1. The all-rounder scored 272 runs at an average of nearly 39 and picked up 11 wickets, winning England’s Player of the Series award in the process.
Foakes, Burns, Curran, and Nat-Sciver have furthered an illustrious list of Surrey greats. Some of the names on this list are Jack Hobbs, Peter May, Jim Laker, Waqar Younis, Alec Stewart, Graham Thorpe, Mark Ramprakash, among others.
