Surrey 169/8 Vs Essex 170/4 (19.2/20 ov), Essex won by 6 wickets (with 4 balls remaining)

To The Oval! …on Friday evening for some more t20 twaddle.

I’m quite enjoying the Surrey approach to t20 this summer. The compact three week mid-summer period of seasons gone by left you feeling slightly over-dosed come the close of June.

A much more sedate fixture schedule has stretched the competition out this year. It has time to breathe; it has time to build up to the excitement.

I personally had the time on Friday evening to be inside The Oval an hour before the first ball was bowled.

Blimey.

That’s a rarity.

The decision was taken with my cricketing companion Red Maz to bag some middle tier seats for a change.

So what if the view over North London was no longer in our sight from the vantage point of the top tier?

North London: over-rated.

Instead we had the perfect view from behind the stumps, albeit a bit of a squinty one with the early evening sun shining down on South London.

I’m not entirely sure why it was necessary to have the floodlights turned on before the start of play though.

As for the opponents on Friday night?

Bloody Essex.

It seems that the ‘rrey play the Essex slappers every other week. It’s come to the stage when I can call ball-for-ball exactly how Graham Napier will treat his overs. I should really pass my observations on to the Surrey dressing room.

A guard of honour greeted the Umps as they strolled out to the middle shortly before 6:30pm.

A GUARD OF HONOUR.

Cricket is changing…

And then we had the bloody air raid siren to signal the arrival of Surrey out in the middle. Some poor old fella sitting in the middle tier ducked and took cover.

Which was a bit like Steven Davies who was bowled first ball.

Thanks for coming, etc.

It was a slow start for Surrey. This became clear when the first bloody Mexican wave broke out with the ‘rrey looking stranded on 60-2.

Sangakkara gave the home team a kick up the arse with an impressive 50 off just 32 balls. He fell on 58, which could only mean one thing:

#AnsariWatch.

Oh Lordy.

Our hero hit Bopara around the park. What appeared to be a game changing over of 25 from Ansari then followed. Napier was bowling. I called each delivery correctly, as did Zafar.

An achievable run chase of 170 was set by the ‘rrey.

I was more concerned about the outbreak of organised singing, especially so when the words for Delilah appeared on the big screen. My sober state thankfully put a stop to the adult version being belted out.

And then came the Surrey Squirrel.

Let’s get this straight: this was a cracking game of cricket played out under a ‘lively’ Oval atmosphere.

But a bloody squirrel ended up stealing the show.

It just appeared from the back of the OCS midway through the Essex innings. The poor fella was literally caught in the headlights and darted around in the outfield with 20,000 tired and emotional types cheering the little fella on.

Safety cover was taken inside one of the outfield speakers.

And then Delilah was blasted out again.

The Surrey Squirrel was running rings around the ‘rrey in the field - a bit like the Essex batsman to be honest.

Cricket became a secondary thought as all eyes were on the bushy tailed nut carrier. A spoof Twitter account was even spawned, all in the space of a t20 innings.

The internet is awesome. The squirrel was awesome. The crowd were awesome.Just sorry we didn't win. https://t.co/W6WFv1SIwF

— Surrey Cricket (@surreycricket) June 5, 2015

Impressive.

Back with the bat and ball and Bopara carried Essex home with a powerful 57.

I left The Oval to chants of:

“ESSEX! ESSEX! ESSEX!”

That’s quite enough of that, thank you very much.

C’mon the ‘rrey!