Scott Borthwick

Any chance of a return?

Might be a pipe dream, but there are plenty reasons to believe coming home would make sense for all parties.

Elevated to open in Surrey’s current game and done nothing of note, averaging just 25 this season in the Championship and has become very much a squad player down at The Oval. Barely plays white ball, nearly never gets a bowl in red ball. Wouldn’t surprise me to see them dispense of his services shortly and perhaps it’s only the success of Burns and Roy with England that has kept him in the side. Hard to imagine he’d make their team if they had a full squad to choose from.

I’m sure our resident South Londoner will be along to shed further light for us, but with his contract due for renewal any moment (his current deal ends 2020) I can imagine he won’t be high on the list of priorities for a county who will look to strengthen their side for an assault at the title once again.

For us, it’s clear the area we must strengthen more than any other is our top order. I’d like to think an overseas opener/3/4 is on the cards for 2020, but it would do no harm IMO to have Borthwick back, batting 3 and scoring runs for us once again.

If that were to happen, a top three containing Lees, an overseas and Borthwick would in my view be the envy of the entire Division AND more importantly, would be more than capable of an assault on promotion.
 


I'd certainly take him.

I know he's had injuries lately but I doubt the move has worked out for him.

I always though he came into his best when chasing a total for a win, we could do with a bit of that.
 
I think his short term future at Surrey may depend on how the likes of Pope Foakes and Sam Curran get on this winter. They pro all now bat in the top 5 for Surrey when available. Then you have the other young batsmen like Jack's.
He already looks surplus to requirements as far as one day cricket goes so his first team opportunity maybe restricted to championship in April,May and September if plenty of Surrey other batsmen are available.
Personally I stick to what I have said when all our players have left, "good luck but no coming back if it doesn't work out"
It will be interesting people's views on here about any of them returning.. Rocky and Scotty got some real abuse when they left.
 
I'd certainly take him.

I know he's had injuries lately but I doubt the move has worked out for him.

I always though he came into his best when chasing a total for a win, we could do with a bit of that.

That’s how I feel on the subject too - now obviously I’m biased and I concede that where both Borthwick and Stoneman are concerned I am likely to view their runs and contributions for Durham with greater favour than I do their performances for Surrey. For a start I felt that Stoneman was picked for England largely because of what Durham contributed to him, his move simply stood to confirm what many believed about Southern bias in any case.

I am trying to be objective though, and this is where (and why) I will value The Rey’s opinion on the subject, but largely, I do feel like Borthwick would’ve performed better had he stayed with us and I too feel he will have some regret about leaving Durham. Perhaps not from a financial standpoint and perhaps even not from a life experience standpoint, but I cannot for one second believe that he would’ve performed as poorly with the bat over the period he has had he stayed at Durham.

Granted, we’ll never know either way, but in the long term I can’t see him having much of a future at Surrey. In the short term too, I see a return to Durham making perfect sense for him, he’ll be welcomed back as something of a returning hero and in a year or two I could easily see him being made club captain.
 
I like Badger. I like him a lot.
Excellent squad man, immensely popular with both players and members, fantastic fielder..

Unfortunately, aside from a ton on his debut, just never done anything.
His bowling is basically deceleration bowling - he seems a bit lacking in cricket intelligence at times - and his batting has been lackluster, at best.

I think it's telling that we won the title last year, and he still didn't perform.

I think a move back to the northeast would be best for Badger, unfortunately, and just recognise it hasn't worked down here. Even his spark in the field - the chirpy, happy go lucky personality - has gone, and it's honestly sad to see.
Let him go back up north, back to his home, get Durham back where they should be, and rekindle that love and spark that seems lost.


There's clearly a talented lad in there somewhere, unfortunately it just doesn't seem that it's going to work for him in South London - and sadly, I don't think it's ever looked likely.
 
I'd have Borthwick back, no problem.
I'd like Badger to go back - not in a nasty way, but because I think it'd be best for him.

No-one at Surrey gives him any stick, we all like him, and want to see him succeed. But I can't see it happening with us.

I think the boat has sailed with us, but I'd love to see him do well elsewhere.
 
I like Badger. I like him a lot.
Excellent squad man, immensely popular with both players and members, fantastic fielder..

Unfortunately, aside from a ton on his debut, just never done anything.
His bowling is basically deceleration bowling - he seems a bit lacking in cricket intelligence at times - and his batting has been lackluster, at best.

I think it's telling that we won the title last year, and he still didn't perform.

I think a move back to the northeast would be best for Badger, unfortunately, and just recognise it hasn't worked down here. Even his spark in the field - the chirpy, happy go lucky personality - has gone, and it's honestly sad to see.
Let him go back up north, back to his home, get Durham back where they should be, and rekindle that love and spark that seems lost.


There's clearly a talented lad in there somewhere, unfortunately it just doesn't seem that it's going to work for him in South London - and sadly, I don't think it's ever looked likely.

Now if you can tell all that to Alec Stewart :lol:
 
he'd strengthen our team to hopefully push on next season

Him and Onions (his current contract is up at the end of the season I think)
I haven't seen much Division 2 cricket since we were down there a couple of years ago, but one thing Borthwick is not is a shit cricketer - I reckon he'd pull up trees in Div 2 (assuming you don't go up)
 
Not sure what our finances are like these days but I don't think Borthwick would be cheap to resign and would probably want the commitment of a long contract.
Would people prefer signing him or another seasoned county pro to a bunch of overseas who come and go every few months over the next few seasons.
 
Not sure what our finances are like these days but I don't think Borthwick would be cheap to resign and would probably want the commitment of a long contract.
Would people prefer signing him or another seasoned county pro to a bunch of overseas who come and go every few months over the next few seasons.

I’d prefer signing a homegrown county pro like Borthwick than one who isn’t. Plus in our team he could play all formats.
 
I’d prefer signing a homegrown county pro like Borthwick than one who isn’t. Plus in our team he could play all formats.

He was v good in t20 with leg spin, one of highest wicket takers for a period
I'd have Borthwick back, no problem. I was concerned at the time he'd been given poor advice and suspected he would be like a fish out of water in the big city.

Absolutely agree, poor advice

I think he enjoys living in London though
I think his short term future at Surrey may depend on how the likes of Pope Foakes and Sam Curran get on this winter. They pro all now bat in the top 5 for Surrey when available. Then you have the other young batsmen like Jack's.
He already looks surplus to requirements as far as one day cricket goes so his first team opportunity maybe restricted to championship in April,May and September if plenty of Surrey other batsmen are available.
Personally I stick to what I have said when all our players have left, "good luck but no coming back if it doesn't work out"
It will be interesting people's views on here about any of them returning.. Rocky and Scotty got some real abuse when they left.

It was raw. So soon after the penalties

How nervous I was when Rocky made his England debut showed me all was forgiven
 
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He’s gone backwards he was so close to England call up here, like 1 good innings
Not sure he was that close as a batsmen. He was constantly being told his best way into the England side was as an all rounder but was not bowling enough at Durham in the championship.
You could say going to Surrey he was going to struggle to bowl much ahead of Batty and Ansari and could have chosen a better county for his bowling but he wanted to work with Diva as did Rocky.
I agree the move has not really worked out and he should have at least scored a lot more runs at the Oval.
 
Not sure he was that close as a batsmen. He was constantly being told his best way into the England side was as an all rounder but was not bowling enough at Durham in the championship.
You could say going to Surrey he was going to struggle to bowl much ahead of Batty and Ansari and could have chosen a better county for his bowling but he wanted to work with Diva as did Rocky.
I agree the move has not really worked out and he should have at least scored a lot more runs at the Oval.

He was very much in the conversation to bat at 3 for England in 2016 - his last season with us - he’d started the season well and IIRC scored 3 hundreds in no time (two in one game). We had two Championship games before the next Test and the eyes of the nation were on him.

Unfortunately he suffered a few failures, two low scores against Yorkshire, one where he ran himself out and that was the end of that.
 
Absolutely. He was a massive player for us. I don’t blame him for leaving, cricketers don’t get footballer salaries so he made a decision that he thought was right for him

Ultimately it was the wrong decision, but certainly not bitter.

Jennings and Coughlin I have less time for
 

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