Jamie Smith backed for England after Surrey go clear at top of Division One

Jamie Smith has the necessary "grounding" to become a "high-quality international" according to his Surrey coach Gareth Batty, who encouraged Smith to be "a dreamer" as he enters the conversation to become England's Test wicketkeeper this summer.

Jonny Bairstow and Ben Foakes struggled with the bat during England's 4-1 loss in India earlier this year - neither scored a half-century in the series, both averaged in the low-20s - with Rob Key and Brendon McCullum making clear since that the position is up for grabs ahead of July's Test series against West Indies.

Smith, 23, has been involved in England's pathway since Under-19 level and made his international debut in last September's ODI series against Ireland. He started the County Championship season with half-centuries against Somerset and Kent but was Surrey's match-winner against Warwickshire, hitting 155 off 179 balls to set the game up for their bowlers.

"He's coming on very nicely," Batty said. "I thought last year was his big coming-of-age season, turning potential into output. There were some wonderful knocks for us, and I suppose now with international stuff coming along soon, how well he's played in this game will be on everybody's lips. The good thing with Jamie is that it's not just this innings, it's been over a period of time now. He has that foundation or platform behind him.

"He's the modern-day player. To be a high-quality international, you have to have the old-school grounding. He has that, and he's prepared to do the hard work. He has a solid defence but we also see his expansive nature. We also see what he can do in white-ball cricket, and what he did here against a tiring attack. It's all down to the individual now."

Surrey have backed Smith to bat at No. 4 this season, despite the arrival of Dan Lawrence - England's spare batter on their India tour - from Essex, who has found himself down at No. 6. Foakes has been their first-choice wicketkeeper, but Smith deputised in last week's victory over Hampshire and kept tidily, despite only being involved in one dismissal.

Batty declined to comment on Smith's Test aspirations, unsurprisingly given Foakes' own hopes to remain involved in the England set-up. But he encouraged him to be ambitious, saying: "Everybody's a bit of a dreamer, aren't they? I don't think you should play sport if you're not going to dream.

"There's a stable base behind the wonderful stuff that we see out there, which hopefully prepares you for the unexpected. People are saying very nice things… we're trying to produce a level group, and Jamie is just one of that group. It's nice that people are saying nice things - we want that, of course - but he has earned the right."

Surrey took 39 minutes to wrap up their nine-wicket win on the final day, chasing down their target of 89 without breaking sweat. Rory Burns fell chipping Jacob Bethell to mid-on, but Dom Sibley guided them home with a calm, unbeaten 46. Ollie Pope struck the winning runs, working Rob Yates' offspin into the leg side and coming back for three.

"We fought hard throughout the game to get the win and it was a very good team performance," Batty said. "Our bowling was actually a bit clunky at the start of the match, after a bye week last week, but we got better and better and really turned the screw later in the game and showed just what a wonderful bowling unit we have."

Warwickshire were without several first-choice bowlers in this match - Chris Rushworth (calf) and Liam Norwell (back) are injured, Hasan Ali was unexpectedly called up to Pakistan's T20I squad and Chris Woakes has been at the IPL - and lost Craig Miles to an ankle injury while he was celebrating his fifth wicket on the second day.

"We've done a lot right, but we haven't been good enough," their coach Mark Robinson said. "It's aspirational for us as a big club like Warwickshire to get up level with them [Surrey] - at the moment, they're Man City and we're not. You need a few things to go your way to give yourselves the best chance… we've got four frontline bowlers who are unavailable, so that doesn't help."