MARK BUTCHER is to take over from Jonathan Batty as club captain of Surrey after a season that saw the county fail to win a trophy for the first time in six years. Mark Ramprakash, his deputy and the former Middlesex captain, will lead the county should Butcher regain the England place he lost to Robert Key this summer after a bizarre sequence of injuries.

The decision represents a U-turn in club policy because one of the reasons Batty was chosen to succeed Adam Hollioake is that he was not an international, but he found it difficult to combine the roles of opening batsman, wicketkeeper and captain.

Surrey were knocked out of the Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy by Ireland and relegated in the totesport League and while they made a spirited defence of the Twenty20 Cup,reaching the final, and were third in the Frizzell County Championship, it was not enough to satisfy a club that have become accustomed to success.

Now they have turned to Butcher, 32, who has played for Surrey since 1991 and captained the team 22 times when Hollioake was absent. He also led England against New Zealand at Old Trafford in 1999 after Nasser Hussain had a broken finger.

“Surrey has been part of my life ever since I can remember and being awarded the captaincy is a huge honour,” Butcher, the son of Alan, the former Surrey batsman, said. “It’s always been an ambition.”

Batty was not so happy. “I am naturally disappointed not to be Surrey captain next year,” he said. “I have learnt a great deal this season and hope that there might be another opportunity to captain the club in the future.”