Hail to the King

A rather apt comment was made over the microphone during the post match interview as the Hampshire fans and that bloke in a Surrey shirt made their way to the exits.

There were a few things we had to put right

You can bloody well say that again. After a performance that left me devoid of the ability to manipulate my vocal chords for two days, I was expecting rather than hoping for, a decent showing yesterday. Sunny sunny skies, a nice warm atmosphere and plenty in the crowd, if Hampshire didn't pull their fingers out then I may have gone through with my threat to Wes (though obviously not directly aimed at my favourite Ossi) and punched somebody nearby in the kidneys. Thankfully everybody who attended the match are still able to filter their urine without trouble, as the mighty Jimmy Adams smote a wonderful, slogless century as he carried his bat through the innings. The total of 201-2 proved too much for the Surrey Lions (hahaha) who finished on 191-9. Actually the match was more comfortable than the scoreline suggests. Lumby and Adams finally did what they did so well last season and played their shots rather than friggin leaving balls - if it's wide of off-stump just cut at it rather than leave it. Anyway Lumb got past the first and the second over, AND got into double figures as he recorded his first boundary of this season's 20/20. He fell for 18 but it got us into a decent position first up. He was replaced at the crease by the self-styled golden one, KP. I half-heartedly joked to a kind Aussie next to me that he would get out hitting to mid-off. I was halfway there as a Schofield legbreak got snaffled up on the long-off boundary as Pietersen returned to the dugout for 15. Slug joined Jimmy at the crease and it wasn't long before the pair hit their straps, and people in the East stands.

Ex Hampshire physio bench regular, Tremlett, started off with hostile bowling, before getting into his grove and sending down juicy back-of-a-length balls that were greeted with plenty of hooking (mainly for six). The number of boundaries was only matched by the number of extras as no-balls became the delivery of choice for Tremlett, Nel and Dernbach. The (once?) great Symonds served up plenty of crap for Slug and Jimmy to hammer away especially on the short side. Jimmy moved to 50 then onwards at a rate of knots, finding the gaps all over the place. He moved from 91 to 97 in one delivery, then some fantastic running between the wickets got Adams to 99*, one over left. A four off the first ball of the last over, then a single got Slug his 50 and Adams on strike. Next ball Dernbach bowls a full toss that Adams swings to long-on and is caught, but it's a no-ball! Adams gets in before the catch is made so moves onto 100, his first 20/20 century and only his second limited overs century in his career. The full toss was infact Dernbach's second above waste height so is removed from the attack and the last 3 balls are bowled by Symonds. Yum, says Slug and Symo finishes with the unenviable figures of 2.3-0-37-0. A standing ovation rightfully accompanies Jimmy off the field.

Having bought a few cold ones and navigated to decent seats on the shorter boundary, Surrey are ready to start, opening with RH-B sauce and that chap on £150,000 a year, Davies. They started ok (read as keeping with the rate) before a brilliant slower ball from Wood makes the sauce man send a simple return catch. As a bit of comedy is always needed now and again, Surrey were the providers by sending Gareth Batty to the crease at number 3. Lumb cut short the japes with a direct hit that sent Nora back having faced only one ball for a massive 0. Sadly this brought Ramprakash to the crease who actually is pretty good and can bat. Davies isn't too bad either but he was no match for my favourite Aborigine Dan Christian, who got Davies to spoon the ball to Pietersen. Slug got tapped by the new pair at the crease, as Ramps and Symo again took advantage of the short boundary to pepper the poor crowd further. Cork though was up to the challenge in terms of his captaincy by bringing on young Wood to break the partnership, and it worked. Christian again took a wonder catch at square leg to dismiss Symo but Ramps was still striking those boundaries. My nerves were not relieved by the fact that joining Ramps at the crease was Younis Khan, though an unconventional technique was used to break the partnership before it could get going. Carbs had the nouse to field the ball with his privates and spent the next 5 minutes crumpled in a heap on the floor. Those nasty umpires didn't stop the innings clock so we eventually got penalised 6 runs, but it was worth it - once Carbs was no longer bent over double, play resumed and the first ball bowled (by wonder kid Christian) resulted in Adams taking the decisive diving catch off of a Ramps pull. Game over effectively.

The short boundary meant that fours still turned up, but Cork put stamped out the game by cleaning up Younis then having Spriegel caught same over, again a fantastic catch by Danny boy. Jimmy couldn't stay out of the match and ran out Nel, with Schofield being caught off Wood again by Christian. The penalty runs and a couple of boundaries meant that Surrey got some respectability but the game truely belonged to Jimmy Adams. A perfect response to Friday, and yet another fine performance by the king of the Rose Bowl. Just hope England don't get a hold of Adams...