Jeff Green It may be only pyjama cricket - 19 Jun 1999 CricInfo report

It may be only pyjama cricket but an invitation to spend the day at the only truly important international cricket match in London this weekend was too good to miss.

I refer of course to the National League second division clash between the annoyingly named Surrey Lions and Glamorgan Dragons. Things started surprisingly well, the train was on time.

Then improved markedly, really excellent roast beef and Yorkshire pudding with all the trimmings in the pavilion restaurant. For a while things continued to look good from the point of view of a Surrey supporter Stewart appeared to be in commanding form and while Butcher looked distinctly uncomfortable with the seam and swing generated by Watkin and Parkin at east they were generous with their wides.

Things soon reverted to a more normal Surrey in pyjamas look when Stewart made his first and last error, Thorpe produced a crashing boundary then departed to a distinctly foolish shot given the degree of movement Watkin was producing.

Adam Hollioake then arrived, hardly calculated to inspire confidence this season, and immediately a more professional air descended. He ran every first run hard, called loudly and clearly and managed to make the Welsh fielders look very foolish, were overthrows accorded their own row on the scorecard they would have appeared to be an impressive new signing for the home side.

Butcher's innings was flowering nicely so it was time for him to go and Hollioake decided that two new batsmen at the crease together was just what Surrey needed. It was a pity he didn't leave some of his running, calling or maybe even common sense behind.

By now the spinners had appeared and singles looked the most likely scoring opportunities. However Brown appears not to know that in order to run a single it is necessary to hit the ball where the fielders aren't. Especially if you hit every ball like a Yugoslav irregular hits a Kosovan.

Ben Hollioake was batting in his newly found almost conservative style but was stranded hopelessly when Brown called him for a non-existent second run then stopped dead partway down the pitch. Ian Ward's arrival did not improve the running and Brown was soon on his way, as stupidly run out as his previous partner and having only given a hint of his true style with a simply glorious straight driven six off Cosker which cannoned into the pavilion rails just above the sightscreen and just too far away for my son to take a spectacular catch.

Batty never looked likely to be the batting hero against Glamorgan that he had been against Muralitharan and Keedy for Lancashire. Salisbury though was in excellent form. A smashed on-drive towards the loudest, and Welshest, section of the crowd appeared to clear the rope by a couple of feet but was signalled to the umpires as a four.

To avoid such doubts he clubbed the next hittable ball well back into the seats in a more friendly section of the crowd. Parkin did however have the last laugh as the next attempted slog was well away from a very straight good length ball. This brought Bicknell to the wicket and in the final over another runout, this time an understandable one as Ward attempted to get the strike for the last few balls.

It was not to be and the debutant Bishop (previous experience a single game for Somerset v Pakistan A 3 years ago) came out to join the senior Surrey seamer. Two singles was all they could manage and Bicknell touched the final ball to the keeper to improve Thomas's figures.

We went off to the shop and bar feeling that once more Surrey were about 50 runs short of a challenging total. Just as we settled back into our seats with a pint (sadly of orange squash in case I had to drive later).

Matthew Maynard decided to lift our spirits by hanging his bat out to Bicknell's widish swinging loosener. A wide was the only scoring contribution that over and perhaps Surrey had a ghost of a chance.

We had expected to see Ben Hollioake as the other opening bowler but Bishop was given the ball and showed great promise getting movement off both pitch and in the air but Evans looked comfortable. Dale did not and departed to a very good catch by Ben Hollioake at point diving in to collect an edge from Bishop that never looked likely to reach him.

He has obviously been following the world cup as he had stood back up and was being congratulated before he threw the ball away. Bicknell's very hostile spell continued, alarming movement off the seam followed by often very late swing made every ball look a potential wicket taker.

The seemingly inevitable one day wides apart, both opening bowlers were naggingly accurate and both noticeably faster than their opponents had been. There really is little more to tell. Every time a Glamorgan player showed any aggressive intent the next ball would move like a legbreak off the pitch or seam in and swing away.

The legbreaks were far too sharp for most of the batting so most of the wickets were lbw or bowled to the more subtle balls. Maybe the only hope Glamorgan had was when the appallingly distorted sounds accompanying the regular arrival of fresh victims could be deciphered as ``I should be so lucky''.

Well under an hour after it had started the innings was over and I had seen a number of firsts for me in over 30 years of cricket watching at The Oval. 3/13 was easily the best performance I have seen from any Surrey debutant. The total of 44 was the only time I have seen a side out for less than 50 other than on television.

I have never before seen the opening bowlers unchanged throughout a one day match and Martin Bicknell's 7/30 was surely the best sustained spell of fast medium bowling I have ever watched, just occasionally one-day cricket can prove as entertaining as its proponents would have us believe. Unless you are Welsh perhaps.

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