Surrey veteran Mark Butcher reckons it is about time the club’s next generation - including Banstead’s Matt Spriegel - stood up and were counted because their chances are running out.

The 36-year-old faces a winter battle to get fit for the start of the 2009 Liverpool Victoria County Championship Division Two having watched relegation from the sidelines with a persistent knee problem.

The Brown Caps blooded a host of youngsters last season as the club’s much vaunted old guard crumbled - with the exception of evergreen Mark Ramprakash.

Spriegel has been handed a two-year contract at the Brit Oval on the strength of a promising start to his first-class career, which included a maiden half-century against Nottinghamshire.

By contrast, Morden 24-year-old Neil Saker was released at the end of the summer having failed to consistently to live up to the potential that brought him 31 wickets in 18 first-class appearances for the club.

Surrey have pledged to give the next generation a fair crack of the whip this season in a bid to find a new dynasty to match the side Sutton’s Keith Medlycott led to three county championship titles.

But former Trinity School student Butcher insists they must prove they can reach the top level of the domestic and international game.

“We have had a pretty lean time here in terms of having exceptionally talented young guys coming through and that has to change,” he said.

“You can have all the talent and coaching in the world, but there comes a time when the players have to apply that and take it forward themselves.

“Batting coach Graham Thorpe and myself know only too well what it takes to reach the highest level and at times some of our youngsters have not appreciated that. </>

“The likes of Arun Harinath and Laurie Evans have the potential to blossom, while Matt Spriegel has shown he has the technique and temperament to progress.

“They will be given their chance, but it is not just a case of giving players 10 games to establish themselves.

"Players have to know that they will only get that chance if they score runs or take wickets.”

Butcher, whose dad Alan was sacked as cricket manager in September, endured a miserable season having made a promising start to the campaign with 521 runs from ten innings before limping out of action in June.

But he is excited about a return in March and reckons the Brown Caps are well placed to make a swift return to the County Championship top table.

“It is an exciting tome for the club and the chance to build a proper future. We might be able to look back in six years time and say relegation was the best thing to happen to us,” he added.

“We are good enough to get promoted. The worst case scenario for me would be if we fail to go up and don’t discover performers outside of the core we already have.”