Judging by the cries of derision that accompanied the Surrey team’s jog around the boundary, between the second Twenty20 Cup semi-final and Saturday’s decider, the Oval outfit are far from being the most popular cricket team in the land. But just like the Capital’s other pride of Lions, Millwall, even if nobody likes them, well, they don’t care. Often criticised for their swagger, the way in which Adam Hollioake’s men coasted to their first trophy win of 2003 showed an utter disdain for their opponents, the Warwickshire Bears.

Less than a week earlier the two had pitted their skills in the National League. On that occasion the Bears enjoyed something of a picnic. But not so on Saturday as Surrey, needing to score at less than a run a ball, achieved their objective with more than nine overs in hand. Nine overs to spare in what, perhaps it should be emphasised, was meant to be a twenty-over contest.

A devastating opening spell of four for 11 from paceman Jimmy Ormond paved the way, but thanks to a contemptuous batting display from Alistair Brown (55 not out off 34 balls) and Ian Ward (50 in 28 deliveries), who shared in a 100-run opening stand, the Lions fairly gobbled up the target of 116 set by Warwickshire.

As expected the second semi-final earlier in the day between Surrey and Gloucestershire turned out to be the real clash of the titans. Between them, the two sides have won nine out of a possible 16 domestic titles in the last four seasons. At the halfway stage, the Gladiators were probably the happier, but while the Lions’ total of 147 may have looked inadequate it was the most any side had managed against Gloucestershire in the competition.

When the Gladiators lost their three star names, Harvey, Spearman and Rhodes, all for single-figure scores, the Lions smelt blood and did not allow their grip on the game to weaken. Notwithstanding this Alex Gidman, a 22-year-old who is on the shortlist for the National Academy next winter, hit an attractive 61 off 49 balls, but Surrey edged home by five runs to set up a final meeting with the Warwickshire Bears, who had earlier beaten the Leicestershire Foxes by seven wickets.

Exploiting a touch of inconsistent bounce, Jimmy Ormond soon had the Bears nursing sore heads. He had Carter and Knight attempting ambitious cross-batted strokes and playing on, Troughton caught at slip and Dougie Brown taken behind. Apart from the maximum Neil Carter despatched over mid-wicket off the sixth ball of the innings, Ormond conceded just five runs in four overs. With Azhar Mahmood accounting for Bell, Warwickshire were 33 for five at the end of the seventh and the game was as good as over.

Trevor Penney, who had earlier cut a six over third man, slog-swept Saqlain Mushtaq for another maximum, only to be defeated by Hollioake. The Surrey captain also picked up the wicket of Wagg, who played all around a yorker. Apart from Collins Obuya’s massive six two overs later the end was not dissimilar to watching a Max Sennet film silent movie, except the capacity crowd combined with the very vocal announcer ensured that the Twenty20 final was anything but silent.

What was probably not the best pitch in the world was then made to look like the M1 as Brown and Ward went to work. Surprisingly, Alistair Brown had not made a fifty in the competition prior to the final. At the seventh attempt he did not let the chance pass him by again after Ian Ward had helped Surrey collect twenty runs from the first over.

The success of the event could be measured by the numbers who stayed on to witness the last rites. When Mark Ramprakash cracked the winning runs through cover point at 9.35pm Trent Bridge was still close to being full.

At £30 for the most expensive ticket, the day’s 12 hours worth of entertainment was value for money indeed. Over eight hundred runs were scored and 36 batsmen met their end. For some, alcohol consumption records were also broken, but the party atmosphere prevailed. There were no streakers or jaywalkers for stewards to wrestle to the ground (a la the weekend’s other sporting attractions the British Open and the British Grand Prix); although after two overs of Surrey’s reply a Dennis The Menace look-a-like decided to run from one corner of the pitch to the other. Roll on next year’s event.

GO TO:

BACK TO: