Bicknell signs up as Surrey coach

By Mark Church
BBC London 94.9 Surrey Commentator

Bicknell made four Test appearances for England

Ex-England bowler Martin Bicknell has signed for former county Surrey as a specialist bowling coach.

The 40-year-old spent 20 years at the Brit Oval from 1986 up until his retirement from playing in 2006.

He told BBC London 94.9: "To get involved with Surrey was too good an offer to turn down.

"I'm trying to focus on how they're preparing, how they go about the mental side of the game and how they look to structure a day's bowling."

He added: "A lot of the technique work is done in the winter so that's not really my remit.

"A few things can be tweaked here and there, but in the main it's how we go about taking 20 wickets, how we go about bowling over a day, how we go about bowling a spell even, a lot of it is done in the head."

Bicknell made four Test and seven one-day appearances for England but never nailed down a regular place and had to wait 10 years for his third Test cap having made two appearances against the Australians in 1993.

The Guildford-born bowler joins his old team-mates Graham Thorpe, Alec Stewart and Ian Salisbury on the backroom staff.

He added: "It was something I always hoped to do. I knew I was going to go away for a couple of years, leave the county scene completely, gain some experience and then hopefully the opportunity (to rejoin Surrey) came back.

"It's like old times, meeting up with Thorpe and Salisbury, and obviously Alec Stewart being involved as well, so it's nice that some of the older players can comeback and pass on some of their experience, it's nice to be part of that."