Salisbury linked with return to Surrey in coaching role

Feb 22 2009 by Lee Gibson, Sunday Mercury

WARWICKSHIRE’S former England leg-spinner Ian Salisbury is wanted by Surrey for a return to The Oval as assistant coach.

Salisbury joined Warwickshire from Surrey last year and proved so successful in his first season at Edgbaston - 31 first-class wickets and five five wicket hauls in just 13 matches - that he was offered a one-year extension to his existing two-year contract.

But Salisbury, 40, is now the subject of an official approach from Surrey to replace Nadeem Shahid who announced his resignation on Thursday to take up a job away from cricket in South Africa.

Warwickshire have yet to decide whether to allow Salisbury to talk to his old county but they are unlikely to stand in his way. Salisbury made it clear when he joined Warwickshire that his long-term goal was to move into coaching and he applied unsuccessfully to become the England and Wales Cricket Board’s new national spin bowling coach last season.

Salisbury is wanted by Chris Adams, Surrey’s new director of cricket, to take charge of Surrey’s second team and join a new coaching team which already includes two former Surrey and England favourites in Graham Thorpe and Alec Stewart.

Though Salisbury began a career that included 15 Tests, with Sussex in 1989, it was with Surrey that he achieved most success and he helped them win the County Championship three times in four years between 1999 and 2002.

Surrey are understood to be prepared to match Salisbury’s current contract with Warwickshire to get him back to The Oval.

Salisbury is still based close to London and a move closer to home is likely to be another decisive factor in Surrey’s favour.

But the departure of Salisbury would leave the Bears with former Derbyshire slow left-armer Ant Botha as their only senior spinner with back-up from the untried Shaaiq Choudry, a former Leeds/Bradford University left-armer.