Supporting Surrey to Success

The first one-day match of the season for Surrey on Sunday saw Scotland welcomed as the opposition at The Oval.  Not the most competitive of matches, with, thankfully, little need for nail biting or gnashing of teeth. 

There was a pitch invasion from the Laker Stand by a topless young boy, who earned a stern talking to from a steward for his transgression.  Scotland's Calvin Burnett earned vociferous approval from the crowd when he eventually gave an autograph to a female "fan", who didn't seem to have entirely grasped that his job was to pay attention to what was happening on the field rather than to her. 

I enjoyed eating my first British strawberries of the season (surprisingly tasty for so early) while sitting on the outfield during the innings break (but failed to notice Chris Tremlett practising his bowling).  Happily, it was a most comprehensive seven wicket victory for the home side, which was very well received by the spectators and did a little to ease my pain from the debacle at Lord's in the three (sorry, four) day match earlier in the week.  My scorecard's not quite fully completed, as I didn't always notice precisely when each over ended, but the really important bit in the top left hand corner looks just fine to me!

Pleased, I assume, with their victory on Sunday, Surrey headed to Southampton on Monday to play the sterner seeming opposition of Hampshire.  I followed this one on Twitter, Facebook and through the great ;ECB mobile app and "watched" with an odd mixture of increasing excitement and terror as Surrey took wicket after wicket to have Hampshire all out for only 141 after just 30 overs.  Others were full of confidence for an easy win but once Surrey started batting, my fears began to be realised as early wickets tumbled.  At 47-5 after 13, I was pretty sure that I'd be drinking consolation, rather than celebratory, rosé with my supper.  The next 20 overs, while Jason Roy and Matthew Spriegel painstakingly rebuilt the innings, seemed endless and I hardly dared breathe.  (Why did I imagine that was going to make a difference one way or another?)  Eventually, the scoreboard on my mobile showed 142, I inhaled deeply, the tension drained out of my body and I reached for the corkscrew.

I thought recreational interests were supposed to be good for one's health?  Supporting Surrey this season is going to be anything but if they keep throwing away great positions.  Perhaps they've learned their lesson from this week's experiences?  I'm going to try to follow the advice given in response to one of my Facebook comments: "Enjoy it while it lasts, because tomorrow … well you know the rest!"  And, as a start, I'm taking pleasure at Surrey being top of their group (and having the best run rate across all three groups).  Tomorrow is another day and I'll handle it when it comes.