Surrey approach the 2010 season with a renewed optimism after a busy winter bringing in players to the Oval.
Hamilton-Brown tempted back to lead new-look Surrey
Surrey head into the new season with renewed optimism after director of professional cricket Chris Adams made a major overhaul of his squad, headlined by the return of Rory Hamilton-Brown as captain.
Last season
Surrey struggled on the field in Adams' first season, finishing seventh in Division Two of the County Championship, rock bottom of the lower tier of the Pro40 and exiting the FP Trophy and Twenty20 Cup at the group stage.
The mid-season retirement of Mark Butcher due to a persistent knee injury saw the captaincy become a hot potato - Usman Afzaal, Michael Brown, Scott Newman and Stewart Walters all having a go at some stage.
Mark Ramprakash and Afzaal passed 1,000 runs in the Championship but the bowling attack struggled - Jade Dernbach, his 37 scalps costing in excess of 38 apiece, finishing as the top wicket taker.
Ins and outs
The controversial recruitment of Hamilton-Brown from Sussex is the headline move of a busy winter.
Adams raided his former county to bring the 22-year-old back to south London just two seasons after he left for Hove in search of first-team action.
Hamilton-Brown, a veteran of just eight first-class appearances, was tempted by the offer of the Surrey captaincy, a move that is going to make Adams look either a visionary or rather foolish.
The new skipper will take charge of a squad that has undergone a serious makeover during the cold months.
Jonathan Batty, James Benning, Newman and James Ormond, all stalwarts of the club over the last decade or so, have moved on to new counties.
Pedro Collins, Murtaza Hussain, Chris Murtagh and Alex Tudor - fringe performers at best - have also been released.
Steven Davies, England's back-up Test wicketkeeper this winter, has joined from Worcestershire to take Batty's place behind the stumps and is likely to open the batting in one-day cricket.
Surrey have nevertheless kept up their Batty quota by signing off-spinner Gareth - a Worcestershire team-mate of Davies last season - for a second spell at the county.
He will form a two-pronged slow-bowling threat alongside Indian leg-spinner Piyush Chawla with the intention of exploiting the prevalent dry conditions at the Oval.
Fast bowler Chris Tremlett, who played three Tests for England in 2007, has joined from Hampshire to provide a cutting edge with the new ball.
Tremlett's ability to generate pace and bounce from an intimidating 6ft 7in frame is not in doubt but regular injury problems have hampered his career.
Chawla does not arrive until mid-May after the ICC World Twenty20, in the meantime Pakistan seamer Rao Iftikhar Anjum will fill the overseas spot.
On the eve of the season, Surrey confirmed their ambitions by recruiting explosive Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds for the Friends Provident t20.
Summer forecast
How the often disparate elements of the Surrey dressing room react to Hamilton-Brown being parachuted in as skipper will make or break the season.
There is no lack of talent in the squad - Ramprakash, 40, will doubtless continue to defy the march of time with another run-filled summer, while the spin duo of Chawla and Batty should be able to exploit favourable conditions.
If Tremlett stays fit, the bowling attack starts to have a potent look and promotion becomes a possibility.
The additions of Hamilton-Brown and Davies ensure an improved showing in the limited-overs arena, while Symonds is sure to add some fire to Surrey's Friends Provident t20 challenge.
David Fulton's one to watch...Rory Hamilton-Brown
Surrey's new captain is without doubt going to be the most watched cricketer in 2010. After only eight first-class matches he has been handed one of the biggest jobs in the domestic game. Whether he sinks or swims might well depend on how he and his team start. He scored 171 not out in his penultimate Championship game of last year for Sussex and looked to be progressing well on the south coast.
