Jonathan Neil Batty (born 18 April 1974) is an English former

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

er who played for

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

and

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

. Batty was educated at

Repton School Repton School is a 13–18 co-educational, private, boarding and day school in the public school tradition, in Repton, Derbyshire, England. Sir John Port of Etwall, on his death in 1557, left funds to create a grammar school which was th ...

St Chad's College St Chad's College is one of the Colleges of Durham University#Types of College, recognised colleges of Durham University. Founded in 1904 as St Chad's Hall for the training of Church of England clergy, the college ceased theological training in ...

Durham University Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament (UK), Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by r ...

and

Keble College, Oxford Keble College () is one of the Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its main buildings are on Parks Road, opposite the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, University Museum a ...

. On graduating from

in 1995, Batty joined

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

. However, he was not retained. He continued his career on in minor county cricket before being offered contracts with

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

and Surrey. He chose to become Surrey's third-choice wicket-keeper after Graham Kersey and

Alec Stewart Alec James Stewart (born 8 April 1963) is an English former cricketer, and former captain of the England cricket team, who played Test cricket and One Day Internationals as a right-handed wicket-keeper-batsman. He is the fifth-most- capped En ...

. Kersey, however, died from injuries in a car crash in Australia. With Stewart often unavailable to Surrey due to England duties, Batty was able to enjoy regular first team action, often opening the batting when

Mark Butcher Mark Alan Butcher (born 23 August 1972) is an English cricket commentator and former English Test cricketer, who played county cricket for Surrey from 1992 until his retirement in 2009. He was a left-handed batsman, and occasional right-arm medi ...

was also playing for England. Batty was a regular player in Surrey's sustained success, winning three county championships around the turn of the century. Following Stewart's retirement from international cricket at the end of the 2003 season, Batty was surprisingly not mentioned in media discussions over Stewart's replacement – despite a county average of 57 that season. England's chairman of selectors,

David Graveney David Anthony Graveney (born 2 January 1953) is a leading figure in English cricket and the Graveney dynasty, former chairman of the England Test selectors, a post he held from 1997 until 2008. Graveney attended Millfield School in Somerset. ...

said Batty's performances do not go unnoticed, but he remained in the international wilderness. Batty captained Surrey in 2004. However, after a poor season, which saw champions Surrey relegated in the One Day

Pro40 The NatWest Pro40 League was a one-day cricket league for first-class cricket counties in England and Wales. It was inaugurated in 1999, but was essentially the old Sunday League retitled to reflect large numbers of matches being played on da ...

tournament, Batty was replaced as captain by

. However, Batty retained his place in the side and was awarded a benefit year by the county in 2009. Batty equalled the world record for most catches in an innings with 8, against Kent at

The Oval The Oval, currently named for sponsorship reasons as the Kia Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, located in the borough of Lambeth, in south London. The Oval has been the home ground of Surrey County Cricket Club sinc ...

in 2004. Shortly afterwards he broke the record for most catches in a match with 11, against Lancashire, breaking the record of then Surrey coach

Steve Rixon Stephen John Rixon (born 25 February 1954) is an Australian cricket coach and former international cricketer. He played in 13 Test matches and six One Day Internationals between 1977 and 1985. He has coached the New Zealand cricket team, New S ...

. It was announced in October 2009 that Batty was leaving Surrey, having signed a three-year contract with

. He retired following the end of the 2012 season. In an article in the ''

Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was foun ...

'' reviewing his career, Simon Briggs claimed that he was "the finest uncapped player of the last 20 years". Batty was named as coach of Surrey's and Oval Invincibles' women's sides in March 2021. Under his coaching, Oval Invincibles won the inaugural season of The Women's Hundred in August 2021. Batty was also named as coach of

Melbourne Stars Melbourne Stars are an Australian Twenty20 franchise cricket team, based in Melbourne, Victoria that competes in Australia's Twenty20 competition, the Big Bash League. The Stars wear a green uniform and play their home matches at the Melbou ...

in the

Women's Big Bash League The Women's Big Bash League (WBBL) also known as Weber WBBL for sponsorship reasons, is the Australian professional Women's Twenty20 Cricket league. The WBBL replaced the Australian Women's Twenty20 Cup, which ran from the 2007–08 season ...

in May 2022.

Career best performances

References

External links

*
Surrey County Cricket Club player profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Batty, Jonathan Neil 1974 births Living people Cricketers from Chesterfield, Derbyshire English cricketers Oxford University cricketers Surrey cricketers Surrey cricket captains Oxfordshire cricketers Minor Counties cricketers Northamptonshire cricketers People educated at Repton School Alumni of St Chad's College, Durham Alumni of Keble College, Oxford British Universities cricketers Wicket-keepers Women's Premier League (cricket) coaches