Surrey cricketer Matt Spriegel reckons home club Banstead have the potential to build upon last season’s Surrey Championship Premier Division relegation scrap.

Skipper Jak Martin’s men won three of their last four games to escape the drop on the final day of the campaign with a three wicket triumph over Wimbledon.

That win in early September featured a half-century from Spriegel, which proved to be the capitalist for the 23-year-old to register a maiden first-class ton three weeks later against Glamorgan.

Surrey cricket manager Chris Adams has placed an emphasis on youth this summer putting his faith in young skipper Rory Hamilton-Brown and other graduates from the club’s academy.

And Spriegel believes the same blueprint can bring Banstead success this season when their league campaign kicks off next weekend.

“It is quite a similar set up to Surrey. In that they are a young side with a young captain, so there are a lot of parallels,” he said.

“We are a young team is regrouping. We did well to stay up last summer and it seems we have recruited well over the winter so it should be a good year.”

Spriegel is looking to make waves in the Surrey first team this season, but having featured in their opening two LV= County Championship Division Two matches he was dropped for last week’s clash with Worcestershire at his old school, Whitgift.

When he is not pulling on the whites at the Brit Oval he sees turning out for his home town club is a good way to work on his game and make an impression on the county selectors.

But the tall left-hander, who is working on his bowling to add another string to his bow, is hoping his visits to Chaucer Close will be less frequent this summer.

“It is my local club. I’ve played there for as long as I can remember,” he added.

“When I’m not playing for Surrey I’ll always go and play there on a Saturday and I really enjoy it.

“With so many spinners on the Surrey staff there isn’t a lot of opportunity during the week to bowl as much as I’d like.

“It is good to get down to Banstead because you have the chance to bowl plenty of overs and also to score runs.

“But in terms of my Surrey career, the less time I spend there the better.”