First T20 Game Of The Season - Surrey vs. Gloucestershire

The gas tower at The Oval.

The English T20 season resumed last week and for my first match of the competition, I made the short journey to Kennington to see Surrey vs. Gloucestershire at The Oval. Surrey were unbeaten in the other one day tournament (CB40) this season and had completed a sensational victory over Derbyshire in the county championship the previous day. Gloucestershire had a world record holder in the shape of  Muralitharan in their side and also had Irish centurion against England, Kevin O'Brien and so it promised to be an exciting game.

The Oval under lights.

As during the Hampshire innings at Croydon, Surrey are able to take wickets on a regular basis and therefore restrict the visitors run rate. O'Brien looks in good touch early on and hits a massive six over the bowler's (and my head) in to the stand. He is eventually out for twenty four and there is one catch on the boundary where the fielder is able to catch the ball following a little bit of juggling. During the last few overs the batsmen are able to plunder quite a few runs and get the required rate to just over eight an over.

The pavilion end.

Right from the off, the Surrey openers go after the Gloucestershire bowlers and the first few overs go for well over ten an over and so only one result looks likely. Even Muralitharan can't stem the flow of runs. He ends with figures of 27 runs for no wicket from his three overs. The captain Hamilton-Brown is eventually dismissed for 45 but by this point the hosts are only 49 away from the victory target. Davies ends unbeaten on 92 from just 55 balls as Surrey win by eight wickets.

The sun sets behind the OCS stand.

The closest underground station to The Oval is Oval on the Northern Line and is a two minute walk away. If you are arriving by overground, Vauxhall Station is also a very short walk away from the ground. There are several pubs on the walk from Vauxhall station. If you get off the tube a stop early at Kennington there are also a couple of pubs on the walk down. The bars at the ground aren't normally too bad but there was a major problem on this particular night unfortunately.

Another view of the pavilion.

A report of the game can be found on the BBC Sport website. 

Dusk at The Oval.