Surrey vs Kent - The Oval, London - Friday 6th July 2007

The Twenty20 Cup (to give it its correct name) is rightly a controversial cricket competition. It brings lots of people in to grounds to watch cricket, but they are watching a plastic, invented form of cricket that is sacrilege to those that like the proper game. This game started at 5:30 on a Friday night (perfect timing for those that work in Central London), and was a complete sell-out at The Oval. But, the awful music every time there is a 4, a 6, or a wicket, is surely there only to appeal either to kids, or to the lowest common denominator of cricket watcher - those that don't actually like or know very much about the game at all. And there were lots and lots of the latter in the ground this evening.

This was a must-win game for both teams, with one place in the quarter-finals still up for grabs, basically going to the winner of the game today. Strangely, despite there being 6 teams in the Southern group, and games generally being played home and away, this was the last of only 8 games in the group - not the 10 that might be expected. Never mind. Surrey's innings was something of a let-down (well, for their fans at least, ha ha!). Ramprakash seemed to be the only player in any kind of form, and as the batting got more desperate, and the shots more erratic, Kent could even afford to get away with some dodgy fielding - bowling Surrey out for 145 with a couple of overs to spare.

After the ridiculous "half time", Kent's innings initially got off to an absolute flyer, and it looked like we were going to be out of the ground very quickly. But then Surrey brought the spinners on, and Geraint Jones contrived to start scoring as slowly and laboriously as possible. Kent seemed to be losing their way, and scoring so slowly that they risked dropping out of the game altogether. But luckily, in the last few overs, the boundaries that Kent needed, duly arrived, and they squeezed home with a few balls to spare. Into the quarter finals for the second year in a row (and only the second time ever), and a tough away draw against Nottinghamshire, last year's finalists.

So, Kent did OK, but many of the final overs of the game were not being watched by the majority of the audience. As the pints flowed, many people concentrated on building towers of empty pint glasses, and only looked at the middle of the field when the clip of music played to indicate a boundary or wicket. This really is cricket for people that don't have much of an appetite for paying attention and watching the game - they need to be told when to cheer, when to clap, and when to wave their "6" banner in the air. It is entertaining to an extent, and I hope Kent go all the way and win. But the horrible music reminds me of the Reebok Stadium when Bolton score a goal, a horrendous plastic triumph of marketing over substance.