Surrey 208 for 1 (Roy 122*) beat Somerset 170 for 7 (Hildreth 51) by 38 runs

To The Oval! …for the fourth time in five days on Friday evening for the weekend opener of the t20 twaddle.

I almost didn’t make it past the Alec Stewart Gate. The Great Man is many things to Surrey Members, but I certainly don’t want his memory to be associated with an over-zealous steward.

My camera was searched.

wtf?

It was most odd.

Hey hoe.

My cricketing companion had decided on a different approach to watching the game. Rather than the top tier of the Pavilion, Red Maz of Bal’ham and I tried our luck in the Member’s section of the OCS.

Some slight bar confusion followed.

£5.80 a pint. WHAT?

The club had introduced a £1 deposit scheme for the glasses to try and chase away the beer snakes from the ground.

But even £4.80 seems incredibly steep.

We turned to the free market instead. That nice John Major Room in the Member’s section at the OCS thankfully had a more economical £3.70 pint available.

Back to Basics, etc.

Which is exactly what J-Roy was doing out in the middle. The ‘rrey won the toss and Captain Batty reckoned that it was a BATTING wicket in the early evening South London sun.

He wasn’t wrong - it’s just that only three Surrey players got to have a swing out in the middle.

J-Roy ended up with an amazing 122 not out. I nearly ended up with singed eyebrows after sitting a little too close to the silly flame throwers.

You had to feel for Somerset’s Jamie Overton. Two dropped catches close to the OCS boundary meant that he soon found himself a new fan club amongst the Surrey fans.

With Surrey finishing the 20 overs on 208-1, the consensus was that the ‘rrey couldn’t lose from him.

Consensual opinion is usually correct.

The John Major Room drew out my One Nation / five pints political perspective. The Somerset innings was about as SEXY as Edwina Currie.

Oh - and below are the images that a suspect looking camera can take.

Um, c’mon the ‘rrey!