365 Sporting Days

I’m writing this after Event 93 – Day 4 of the Ashes Test at Lords – I’m quite relieved that I haven’t had time to write about the game at The Oval, it means I may have calmed down before I start that one!

I’d bought tickets for my brothers to watch Somerset at the Oval in the belief that Chris Gayle would be playing, it turns out that his stay was a short one in the West Country – but I’ve been enjoying The Oval and knew they would too.

I arrived with time for cake before making my way to grab 4 seats – I was to be joined by my big brother and his sons who were flying in from Scotland.  I hoped there’d be a good game for them.

Surrey and The Oval do a very good job at attracting a good crowd to their Friday evening T20 games.  Things can get a little too rowdy for my liking, yet cloistered away in the amazing pavilion has meant I’ve only looked from afar this year.

One of my biggest bug bears has been the whole beer snake thing, it drives me crazy that people would rather watch a line of cups than the cricket.  However Surrey have at last gone the route of other sports and grounds and introduced eco cups!  Woohoo it meant no snake!

Onto the cricket – Surrey elected to bat first – it often seems to be the favoured option when winning the toss in T20 games.

The very popular Jason Roy walked to the crease with the legend that is Kumar Sangakarra, they emerged to great fanfare.

Both teams had faced a tough time in the competition with 11 games played each and only 4 won, only Middlesex had fared worse.  So there was a lot at stake for both teams.

Jason Roy clearly had winning in his mind – he played a very fine innings.  Sangakarra played as his foil and scored 31 in 24 balls before Luke Ronchi of New Zealand fame stumped him from the bowling of Max Waller.

Rory Burns joined Jason Roy – he’d been involved in the nasty fielding collision with Moises Henriques, it was good to see him in one piece.

On the evening that England were across London and collapsing Jason Roy showed what he can do with the bat.  He scored a superb 122 from 65 balls, hitting eight 4’s and six 6’s – it really was a joy to watch.

Rory Burns added 46 runs of his own to help take Surrey to a very useful total of 208 for 1.

The Somerset innings started in nightmare fashion – Johann Myburgh faed 2 balls before he was run out by Sam Curran – 1 for 0 was it has to be said to the best of starts when chasing 208 runs!

Zafar Ansari took the 1st of 2 great catches for him, to despatch Jim Allenby in the 3rd over things were going from bad to worse for the visitors at 2 for 18!

Peter Trego had come in at 3 and James Hildreth joined him when Allenby departed.  Trego’s wicket fell when Somerset were on 37 – Azhar Mahmood caught him from the bowling of Sam Curran, he’d scored a spirited 26.

Tom Cooper was the next up – he similarly scored well, getting to 29 before a truly remarkable catch by Ansari – he ran in from a long way out to take the ball one handed.  I had a great view of the catch from where I was sitting and I still have no idea how he took it!

Both Luke Ronchi with 21  and Lewis Gregory with 27 kept the scoreboard ticking over.  Hildreth was the top scorer for Somerset with 51 runs – inevitably the man of the match Roy took the catch to despatch him.

Somerset saw their 20 overs out but finished well short on 170 for 5 – Surrey had their 5th win under their belt.

The atmosphere was still lively and fun, but what a difference eco cups made!  I whole heartedly approve!

More of a Phlog than a blog – I’m not sure I’m looking forward to writing the next one!