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 one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officia ...

er who played for Surrey and

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

. Batty was educated at

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

St Chad's College , motto_English = Not what you have, but who you are , scarf = , established = 1904 , principal = Margaret Masson , senior_tutor = Eleanor Spencer-Regan , undergraduates = 409 , postgraduates = 150 , website = , coordinates = , location_map ...

, Durham University and

Keble College, Oxford Keble College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its main buildings are on Parks Road, opposite the University Museum and the University Parks. The college is bordered to the north by Keble Road, t ...

. On graduating from Durham University in 1995, Batty joined

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

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

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lor ...

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 fourth-most- capped E ...

. 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 may refer to: Currency * Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina * East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic * Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927 * Finn ...

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 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 days o ...

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 known 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 since ...

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'' 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 The 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 Mel ...

in the

Women's Big Bash League The Women's Big Bash League (known as the WBBL and, for sponsorship reasons, the Weber WBBL) is the Australian women's domestic Twenty20 cricket competition. The WBBL replaced the Australian Women's Twenty20 Cup, which ran from the 2007–08 ...

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