Lee Fortis, curator involved in spat with Gambhir, leaves Surrey

India head coach Gautam Gambhir looks on as groundkeeper Lee Fortis walks away during a practice session. | Photo Credit: Reuters

Lee Fortis, who was the head curator at Surrey since 2012, has left the club following disciplinary proceedings after his heated row with an ECB employee during the Hundred competition in July.

Fortis also made headlines in 2025 when he was seen exchanging heated words with India head coach Gautam Gambhir ahead of the fifth Test against England at the Oval.

According to India’s batting coach Sitanshu Kotak, who was with Gambhir during the incident, the curator sternly asked the Indian staff to stay two-and-a-half metres away from the surface, which came as a surprise to them.

Things got ugly a few moments later when the support staff were bringing an ice box to the ground. “He yelled at the support staff that we should not go near the square. He said something that irked the head coach,” Kotak said.

As India’s players and the support staff gathered around Gambhir, he could be heard telling Fortis, “You can’t tell us what to do; you are just a groundsman and nothing beyond.”

Fortis later told the media that Gambhir was ‘a bit tetchy’ and refused to reveal further, saying, “You saw what happened.”