Key events
Good morning Gary Naylor.
“An idea. The Oval’s marketing team hardly need advice from the likes of me, but they should think about getting an announcement out here at Lord’s that tells the (very decent) crowd that their tickets will be accepted for free admission for Surrey vs Hampshire just a few Tube stops away. There’s only so many ducks to feed in Regent’s Park after all.”
I like it! Will pass it on if I can find anyone.
The wicket is very green, spearmint surrounded by peppermint on all sides, and behind the slips the pavilion is filling up nicely. Music from the church service on the next floor up reverberates through the press box.
2nd over: Surrey 3-0 (Burns 2, Sibley 1) Love Baker’s enthusiasm, strides back after every ball like a boy in a desperate hurry but who has been shouted at not to run down the corridor. Gets a couple to spray up aggressively.
1st over: Surrey 3-0 (Burns 2, Sibley0) Four slips for Kyle Abbott under cloudy Oval skies. Just two from the first over, and Sonny Baker now marches to his mark, released by England to play in this game.
The teams are walking out here at The Oval, and at Lord’s where Tim de Lisle is at the tiller of the OBO.
Did a round of the ground and spotted groundsman Lee Fortis talking to Alec Stewart out in the middle. Fortis, standing in his size 20 boots and on his tree-trunk legs, made Stewart look like a little boy doing up his tuck box as his neatly packed away the Surrey equipment, checking the straps for tightness and tucking in every corner.
Hampshire have won the toss and will bowl
Surrey: Burns, Sibley, Lawrnece, Pope, Jacks, Curran S, Curran T, Clark, Fisher, Taylor, Topley
Hampshire: Albert, Gubbins, Orr, Lehmann, Prest, Brown, Potgieter, Organ, Fuller, Abbott, Baker.
Preamble
Good morning and welcome to The Oval. Hampshire have arrived for a rogue one-off match, out of step with the rest of the Championship, which restarts properly on Friday, and tickled into place because of fixture congestion.
The two teams play keepy-uppy at opposite ends of the ground, the groundstaff hammer a pitch and brush dust into a wheelbarrow and someone bats in the nets to a coach with a dog thrower.
There aren’t many people here yet, lots on the train were obviously on their way to Lord’s, where the weather, as here, looks better today. I don’t think we’ve done a one-off game since the Bob Willis Trophy Finals of 2020 and 2021, so I’ll try and dig around for interesting stories on top of the cricket – do point some my way.
Play starts at 11am, there are plenty of chairs on the patio.
