Surrey 2026 County Championship Full Season Preview
- Mar 29
- 4 min read
Updated: Mar 30
by Ronan Alexander & The Cricket Draft
With the cricket season fast approaching, now is the time to ensure you and your club are covered! Don’t risk the season with under insurance & outdated valuations; contact ASI, the specialist sports broker and PCA partner, to get your club or your own policy sorted before the first ball is bowled.
County Championship Values for 2026
Banker, Wildcard, Young Gun & England Watch
Banker: Jordan Clark (ALR) £7.7m
A key player for Surrey with high match involvement. He is a lead seamer and chips in with the bat as well. He added 413 runs last season and averages 29 over his career, which includes four centuries. He took 31 wickets in 2025 across 12 games. He will again be a regular starter for his county and has plenty of opportunities to bring in big scoring hauls.
Wildcard: Ryan Patel (BAT) £6.0m
Didn’t have a standout season in Cricket Draft terms, but he featured in 13 games for Surrey last year and has declined in value to £6.1m. He provides a real differential option if he can maintain his spot in the starting team on a similarly regular basis. He bats in the middle order and can chip in with some part-time bowling.
Young Gun: Ollie Sykes (BAT) £4.5m
The 20-year-old played two Championship matches last summer, batting in the middle order. He has been allocated a BAT position, however he did impress in the Royal London One-Day Cup with his bowling, where he was Surrey’s standout, grabbing seven wickets at an average of 20. He will be hoping those performances earn him a spot back in the red-ball side, which he can then take advantage of and kick on.
England Watch: Ollie Pope (BAT) £8.4m
Another England batter under scrutiny after the Ashes; he will be looking to make his mark in county cricket and fight to earn his spot back in the team. He has an incredible record at The Oval, and his volume of runs will be his way back into the side. He has Jacob Bethell to compete with for that number-three spot, but if Surrey have him available more frequently, he will be an excellent asset in The Cricket Draft.
Potential Starting XI for GW 1
2025 Review
Surrey fell just short of another County Championship title last year but are favourites to bring the trophy home this time around. They possess immense depth within their squad; even without overseas signings announced yet and with several players on IPL duty, they still boast a stacked lineup that may only get stronger.
Their only defeat of 2025 came in the penultimate match of the season against eventual winners Nottinghamshire, with Surrey finishing the campaign just 16 points adrift. While they were undefeated on the road in 2025, they often had to toil for all 20 wickets on high-scoring pitches, which made it difficult to cross the finish line. It will likely be a similar tale this season: the challenge may well lie in finding the firepower to secure those vital wins when they are needed most.
2025 Stat Attack
Dan Lawrence emerged as Surrey’s primary spinner in 2025, taking 20 wickets, the most for any batter in the league.
Dan Lawrence was one of only 14 players to surpass the 2,000-point barrier, finishing the season with the 13th-highest points total overall.
Rahul Chahar in his lone appearance, accumulated 418 points. This represents the highest points-per-game average in the league, making him a high-priority target if the club looks to re-sign him this year.
Ben Foakes maintained his status as a top-tier fantasy asset, recording the 8th-highest points per game among all wicketkeepers.
Dom Sibley anchored the batting order as the league’s third-highest run-scorer with 1,274 runs.
Dan Lawrence followed as the next highest for the team, ranking 24th overall.
Sam Curran made his limited appearances count, averaging 189.25 points per game across four matches. This was the 15th-highest average overall and the 7th-highest among players with at least four appearances.
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Player Ins & Outs
Surrey have had a quiet winter so far, with no players arriving or departing and no overseas signings yet announced. Last summer, the club utilised six different overseas players in the Championship, though none featured in more than four matches.
The intake was diverse: Nathan Smith and Kemar Roach bolstered the seam department, while Sai Kishore, Rahul Chahar, and Mitchell Santner provided spin options. Additionally, Kurtis Patterson featured twice as a specialist batter. It remains to be seen whether Surrey will again opt for this slightly scattered approach of short-term stints or look to secure a marquee signing for a more extended period. We will soon find out!
2026 Fixtures
Surrey begin their title charge with a trip to Edgbaston, followed by three consecutive matches at The Oval where they will host Leicestershire, Essex, and Sussex. In Gameweek 6, they travel to Trent Bridge seeking revenge against Nottinghamshire, aiming to reclaim the trophy from the defending champions before heading to Yorkshire.
The mid-season schedule in June features Hampshire at home and Glamorgan away, followed by key fixtures against Nottinghamshire and Essex in August. The final stretch of the season sees Surrey host Yorkshire and Glamorgan at home and travel to Sussex, before facing a potentially decisive final-day test away at Somerset. What a day that could be….
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