England call-up Batty keeps his eye on the ball

At the end of a week where the future shape of the English domestic game was again at the forefront, it was another reminder that the Lord’s one-day final does not have the lustre it once did. However, the cumulation of the Royal London Cup on Saturday should not lack for quality and a lot rests on 100 overs for Surrey and Warwickshire.

This is the last match of Surrey’s season, their Championship campaign having finished with a narrow defeat against Durham at Chester-le-Street but their Division One status is secure. The same cannot be said of Warwickshire. If Hampshire win against Durham, who are now safe, in the final round of matches then Warwickshire will be in a relegation dogfight against Lancashire.

Dougie Brown, the Warwickshire coach, has termed it two finals in a week. “We know what we are playing for,” Brown said. “We have two finals in effect. We are the ones who have got ourselves into this position in the Championship but we are taking some pretty good form into the final and we are hopeful we can take that into the game and then into the match next week.”

While the news of Gareth Batty’s England recall dominated the agenda, the player himself was determined not to lose focus on a game that will also define Surrey’s season.

Surrey failed to get out of the group stages of the NatWest T20 Blast – a particular disappointment for a club that puts such a huge stack on the format on and off the field …

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