Lee Fortis leaves Surrey after disciplinary proceedings following clash with India coach Gautam Gambhir

Lee Fortis, Surrey’s head groundsman who clashed with India head coach Gautam Gambhir during India’s 2025 Test tour of England, has left the county club following disciplinary proceedings after an incident at The Oval in July 2025; his LinkedIn profile indicates he left Surrey in October.

Fortis was placed on indefinite leave in July after an altercation with an England and Wales Cricket Board employee at The Oval, an incident that occurred a day before MI London faced London Spirit in The Hundred at the venue. He also had a heated exchange with Surrey chief executive Steve Elworthy and did not return to work for the remainder of the summer. A Surrey spokesperson confirmed his departure to Telegraph Sport, saying: "Lee Fortis has left the club and we wish him well for the future." The findings of the disciplinary proceedings have not been released publicly.

The Cricket Regulator was reported to have opened an investigation into the July incident but did not comment when approached by Telegraph Sport. There has been no official confirmation that Fortis was dismissed by Surrey. Fortis had previously attracted attention in July 2025 when he clashed with Gambhir ahead of the fifth and final Test between India and England at The Oval.

The disagreement during an Indian training session concerned the team’s use of the main square and the handling of equipment near the pitch, and the exchange was captured on camera. During the confrontation Gambhir was heard saying: "You can go and report to whoever you want, but you can't tell us what to do. You don't tell us what to do, you're just a groundsman,".

India batting coach Sitanshu Kotak criticised the manner in which the groundstaff had communicated with the visiting team, describing Fortis as arrogant, and said the coaching staff had been asked to maintain a distance of 2.5 metres from the wicket while inspecting the surface. Fortis downplayed the incident when approached by Indian media, saying there was "nothing to speak about and nothing to hide." The 40-year-old joined Surrey in 2012 and became one of the most recognisable figures in English county cricket.

Fortis’s work at The Oval earned him the ECB Grounds Manager of the Year award for three successive years, from 2022 to 2024, and Surrey won the County Championship in each of those seasons. His departure removes a groundsman who had overseen the club’s playing surfaces for more than a decade.

The timing of Fortis’s exit comes with The Oval scheduled to host the World Test Championship final in June 2027 and the fifth Ashes Test later that summer, and Surrey will need to find a replacement ahead of those events.