You could have been forgiven for missing the official confirmation on Christmas Eve that Rory Hamilton-Brown had left Sussex to return to Surrey as captain.

Maybe it was a blessing – a fallen giant installing a 22-year-old with eight first-class games experience as their new captain is a big story –the pressure on Hamilton-Brown is immense without extra media-interest.

Yet Chris Adams has rarely ducked the issue, and Surrey yesterday held a media-day to introduce Hamilton-Brown and outline the vision of Adams and managing director Gus Mackay.

Aside from their desire for Surrey’s regeneration, Adams, Mackay and Hamilton-Brown are bound by their history on the south coast with Sussex.  Mackay moved to Surrey at the end of the 2008 season to overhaul the way the club was run from the ground up. He persuaded Adams to join him in December of that year, and following a difficult season and significant squad overhaul, they have brought Hamilton-Brown back to the club he had played for since the age of nine after a two-year hiatus as the next part of the plan.

Days like this are great. Positive words flow with the wine and with snow on the Oval square the season still feels a long way away. Adams has tremendous presence and it was difficult not to be swept away while he talked of his belief that the qualities needed from a captain were imbued at birth, “charisma, intelligence, tactical nous and being someone that people follow naturally. Rory has all of these.” The question is whether the single-mindedness that made Adams such a formidable captain himself will translate successfully to coaching and mentoring Hamilton-Brown.

Adams went on to compare his protégé to Graeme Smith and Cameron White, men who have thrived on the responsibility of captaincy at a similar age while Hamilton-Brown, for his part, sat watching with a quiet confidence. Smartly dressed and surprisingly softly-spoken considering his rugby-player’s physique, he appeared admirably unfazed by the triple challenge: his first major captaincy appointment, dealing with players of the stature of Mark Ramprakash, and ensuring his performances are good enough to warrant a place in the side. He has captaincy experience at age-group level and fleetingly with England Under 19s, but this is a big step up.

He spoke convincingly of his desire to create a relaxed dressing room where hard work and self-discipline rule, while dismissing any concerns that an increasingly young squad might struggle to retain focus amid the distractions of London. And his lack of experience? “I genuinely believe that I am coming to a good place with my cricket and that I am ready to play a role.”

Of course all this could go out of the window if Surrey are struggling in June and Hamilton-Brown isn’t scoring runs, although Adams and his captain claimed not to have discussed that scenario. They were happier to talk about their desire to rid Surrey of their “swagger” (it’ll take a lot to convince Sussex, who weren’t pleased about the manner of Surrey’s approach for Hamilton-Brown), rebuild over a three to five year period and create a “team of the decade”.

Ambitious words, we’ll have to wait a few months to see if they can back them up on the pitch.

Sam Collins is editor of thewisdencricketer.com