RHB and Jordan released by Surrey

In the last couple of days, Surrey have announced that former Captain Rory Hamilton-Brown and all rounder Chris Jordan will be leaving at the end of the season.

Let’s talk about Rory first. He still has a year left on his contract, but Chris Adams and Surrey have given him permission to talk to other counties, with Somerset the team in pole position for his signature. RHB has gone through an awful lot this season, and both parties feel that it is the right decision to part ways, and I fully understand that, but it is still sad to see him go.

3 or 4 years ago, our club was in disarray, and when Adams appointed RHB as captain, everyone laughed at him.But it turned out to be an inspired appointment, as his batting improved vastly over the 2 and a half years he led our team, taking us to promotion from the Second Division and to our first Trophy in 8 years. He started this season off wonderfully with the bat, and if he carried on in that fashion, an England call up may have been around the corner.

However, on June 18^th 2012, Rory’s life was torn apart when his closest friend and housemate, Tom Maynard, passed away. Rory took time off on what was an incredibly tough time for him, and when he returned, he looked a shadow of the player he was. He was dropped towards the end of the season, presumably after having chats with Adams about leaving, but fittingly his last game for us was the Tom Maynard Memorial game against Glamorgan in August.

Chris Jordan is a player who promised a lot, after bursting onto the scene in 2007 as a sprightly teenager, having the ability to bowl at 90mph+ and hold his own with the bat. However, he never really kicked on from there. He struggled with terribly injury problems to his back and side, and missed what seemed like years out of the side. When he finally made a return in late 2011, he started to look like the old Chris Jordan, scoring back to back 50’s at Chelmsford, as well as taking a handful of wickets, as he was rewarded with a contract for this year.

However, he started the season off poorly as Adams promoted him to the top of the order for the first game or two. I believe that he is a player who thrives on confidence, and if his batting is going well, his bowling will as well. That’s why I feel that it was the worst thing for Adams to do to Chris Jordan when he told him he wanted him to open, as we saw how difficult it was for Jacques Rudolph, a Test Batsman, so it would be undoubtedly difficult for a player with Jordan’s ability with the bat.

So, we have lost two players who had potential to become stars at our club in the future, especially Rory, but we must move on, and after Spriegel and Lancefield went last week, there is some serious recruiting for Adams to do over the Winter months. Good luck for the future Rory and CJ.