"Who would you rather have coming in at 20-3?"

That was the hypothetical scenario put to the England selectors when they left the vastly experienced Graham Thorpe out of the first Ashes Test in 2005 to accommodate the prodigal Kevin Peitersen.

The popular consensus was that, while KP was the bigger natural talent who could maybe win more matches, the man for a crisis was still the man they called Stumpy.

Three years later and Surrey are facing their own 20-3 moment, having just gone through the worst summer in living memory.

Relegated from the County Championship division one, humiliated in the Twenty20 Cup and outclassed by rivals Kent and Essex in the Friends Provident Trophy. Things don't get much worse for a county which rightfully expects to sit at English cricket's top table.

And in their crisis, their hour of need, they have tuned to Graham Thorpe.

Back with the Brown Caps as specialist batting coach after three seasons learning his trade with Australian state side New South Wales, Thorpe is in confident mood about his county of 17 seasons.

"It's great to be back in familiar surroundings," laughs Thorpe. "Some things have changed in the three years that I've been away and I'm getting to know the new set up but other things are the same as they ever were.

"The time I've spent away has helped me develop from a player to a coach and I think I'm a mixture of all the coaches I've worked under. I think the players will get to see different sides of me at different times."

Despite the appalling results over the last season the batting has generally been the side's strength.

This year Surrey scored more bonus points with the bat than any other side, but Thorpe insists no-one should feel safe in their positions.

"It's a strong place to start but we have to make the talent pool as big as possible," said Thorpe.

"I know from my own experience the more players you have the more competitive it gets.

"If the younger players are pushing for places and are competing then we should be able to move forward together."

Getting the best out of the county's academy players will be one of the biggest challenges for Thorpe, with many members concerned about how few of the young batsmen are going on and forcing the way into the first team.

"They have to be quite ruthless and work hard if you want to get into the team," says Thorpe.

"We need to see more young players challenging for places and cast our net as wide as possible when looking for talent.

"I've had one session with the academy which was just about getting to know the young players, as some of them weren't about when I was here before.

"It's good to see them with a fresh pair of eyes, and I'll try and keep their games simple and help get the message across.

"A big part of the job is getting players in the right frame of mind to perform. Players can have the right technique but still not get the big scores so the mental side to the game is just as important.

"As batting coach I have to find the players who can apply themselves and get the mental side of their game together."

While Thorpe says he wouldn't dream of telling Mark Butcher or Mark Ramprakash how to bat he believes it is still possible to help them with their games.

"Their games have been in order for a number of years so it is a different approach from the youngsters.

"I obviously know Ramprakash and Butcher really well while the likes of Newman, Benning and Afzaal know their games well as well.

"We'll see how we can help move their games forward while I'll try and help the likes of Stuart Walters, [Matthew] Spreigal and [Chris] Murtagh establish themselves."

The explosion of Twenty20 cricket has seen new challenges for batting coaches as they seek ways to help players new ways to score runs unconventionally.

But Thorpe insists reverse sweeps and other batting dark arts will be way down his list of priorities.

"I think everyone is still re-adjusting and as a coach we're working out how to cope with the demands of that area of the game.

"You have to make sure the young players have a good grounding in the basics as they are developing.

"If you don't have the basic skills you'll struggle in all forms of cricket, but I also believe that if you are a decent player there is no reason why you can't adapt to the shorter game.

"But as a county we'll need to be strong in both forms of the game and make sure our training is geared up to that. It is about being smarter and thinking about what you're doing."

Back to basics then for Thorpe, no flashiness just hard work and discipline to grind out results.

Just the man you'd want in a crisis.