365 Sporting Days

Writing this very much after the fact means this will be more Phlog than Blog.

My second Royal London Cup Final differed totally to the match in 2015 between Surrey and Gloucestershire, that was a close competition on a gloriously sunny day.  This final however lacked both of those factors.

I arrived to see Jason Roy caught out by a great catch from Laurie Evans, the openers had been going well and Surrey were 45 for 1, however Surrey then lost their remaining 9 wickets for 91 runs!  Warwickshire had bowled Surrey out with 10 overs less a ball of the 50 remaining and had 136 runs to chase.

The wickets were split between the Warwickshire bowlers but special mention has to go to Oliver Hannon-Dalby who took 2 for 27  and Ateeq Javid with 2 for 15, they both shone on the day.

Warwickshire have amongst their number one Jonathan Trott, he opened and basically with no pressure on him gave a batting masterclass in making 82 of the runs required to ensure his team lifted the trophy.  The total of 137 was reached before Trott could make what would have been a richly deserved century.  30.2 overs in and the game was won.

The net effect of a poor first innings was a match which should have provided 100 overs of cricketing entertainment lasted a mere 70, short changing those who’d paid a lot of money to be there.  This is a highlight of the season, which produced a poor competition.

There were a lot of Warwickshire fans sitting in the Edrich Upper where I was, it was a shame that the presentation was made in front of a virtually empty Lords Pavilion where those who’d travelled to support their team couldn’t see proceedings.  The team did however make their way round to take their deserved plaudits.