Location -Kennington, London Established in 1845 Seating capacity-23,500 One-day Name: Surrey Brown Caps Captain: Stewart Walters Overseas Player (s): Grant Elliott Founded: 1845 Home Ground: The Oval Cricket Manager: Chris Adams Championship wins: 19 (including 1 shared) Pro40 wins: 2 FP Trophy wins: 1 Twenty20 Cup wins: 1 = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
So England won The Ashes, as expected only a fag paper between them in the series, the said N-Power Rizla given to Strauss to roll a nice cigar, a very impressive young man and leader. Shame he's South African like half the bloody England team now! The series wasn't as good as 2005, hence the muted post match celebrations, two average teams now 4th and 5th in the world respectively. But what is was, of course, was entertaining and the stepping stone for both sides to improve, a tricky tour awaiting England in South Africa this winter. It wont be as easy as The Oval down there.
-The History of the Ground-
The first ever test match was played at The Oval in 1880, England V Australia too, so appropriate that it was here in this mighty cricket arena that we stuffed them once again. All 23,500 seats sold out for all of the five days of the Test back in November 2008 when they came on sale early for nearly two million in gate receipts and now that Old Trafford is being edged off the international calendar The Oval is the venue of the people to see all forms of cricket. They also get huge domestic Twenty20 crowds and the recent T20 World Cup was a fabulous cosmopolitan sell out.
There's good tube access and you can also jump off early and walk in over the Thames and see the sites. The area is safe and the ground a good one for when it rains, access all areas and a decent museum and catering facilities, definitely not the case across London at Lords. Tickets for international matches aren't cheap and Ashes tickets went from £60 to a top end £120. Views in cricket grounds are fairly similar so you tend to be in with the horns and the Barmy Army if you buy cheaper ones. With the 'self preservation society....' being blasted in your ear for ten hours it can be a rather strained day. If you're fed up of your spot you can ask to be moved as they keep 300 or so seats free for swaps. Domestic T20 games there are around twenty quid and county and Pro40 games to see the Surrey (Brown Caps) about £12.
The first ever tour to England that involved a test here was by an Australian Aboriginal team back in 1868, even then the South London ground expressing its cosmopolitan attitude and credentials. In fact documents show that a game called 'creckett' was played there 500 years ago. For me it's our number one ground now, the increasingly stuffy and expensive Lords cricketing experience well down the list. When The Oval is packed it's up there for atmosphere with the world's great grounds. Only Eden Park in India and a couple of the West Indian grounds have a noisier crowd.
In 1870 the first ever football match was played at The Kennington Oval. In 1872 the first of twenty FA Cup Finals followed, including the ever first flood lit game, gas lamps all around the ground. Its famous gas holder tank to the south of the ground was once its most famous distinguishing feature, another energy company to the current sponsors cheekily sponsoring it last year to great effect on Sky TV.
SCCC have a £22 million turn over, the richest of the 18 counties, champions 19 times and the laziest of sides with the player talent they currently have on staff. Surreys only win in the championship this year has been against my team Northamptonshire. Surrey are known for their swagger and hardly bother to win anything these days. Surrey once saw 80,000 people attended a county match with Yorkshire at the Oval in July 1906, some guy called Walter Lees benefit match, according to wiki, the chap pocketing £2,120 pounds, a huge sum in those days!
Surrey as a team are arrogant to the point of a waste of time these days, buying up the best players but not bothering to motivate them. Mark Ramprakash made the news recently for a surprise call up to the test team but it was all hype to plug one of his showbiz projects. Surrey's strength is the batting, the wickets flat so the best bats always getting runs and so in form, my favorite Uzman Azfaal, a test number three if there ever was Mr Flower. Ramps still averaging over 90 is amazing stuff though. Not surprisingly Surrey doesn't produce England bowlers on these pitches. They basically buy in the best talent around to fill their gaps and the culture is swagger not results. They have won just one championship game this season but have by far the biggest wage bill. They are one of the few teams to have won every trophy the domestic game has had.
-Players-
Key
RHB-Right Hand Bat LHB-Left Hand Bat
-Bowler-
SLA-Slow Left Arm OS-Off Spin RF Right Fast RFM Right Fast Medium LFM Left Fast Medium LF Left Fast RM Right Medium LM Left Medium LS Leg Spin OB Off Break
Stewart Walters RHB RM Appointed captain following Mark Butcher's retirement Mark Butcher LHB RM Mark Ramprakash RHB James Benning RHB RM On loan to Leicestershire CCC Usman Afzaal LHB SLA Michael Brown RHB OS Laurie Evans 1 RHB RM Scott Newman LHB On loan to Nottinghamshire CCC Arun Harinath RHB OS Chris Murtagh RHB Jason Roy RHB RM
All-rounders
Chris Jordan RHB RMF Matthew Spriege LHB OS Alex Tudor RHB RF Grant Elliot RHB RFM Played first half of season Ryan Harris RHB RM Australia ODI player signed for 3 matches
Wicket-keepers
Jonathan Batty RHB Gary Wilson RHB
Bowlers
Pedro Collins RHB LMF Kolpak player Jade Dernbach RHB RFM Simon King RHB OS Stuart Meaker RHB RMF Murtaza Hussain RHB OS Contract will not be renewed for 2010 André Nel RHB RF Kolpak player Chris Schofield RHB LS James Ormond RHB RFM, OS Contract will not be renewed for 2010 Tim Linley RHB RFM Tom Smith RHB SLA On loan from Sussex CCC James Anyon LHB RFM On loan from Warwickshire ccc
The square is the biggest in the country and because there are so many cut pitches the ground is very quick, the ball racing away to the boundary or just dumped in the sticks, five runs regularly run here off just one ball. Surrey made a one-day world record score of 496-4 from their 50 overs here against Gloucestershire in 2007.
-Highest team totals for and against at The Oval-
Highest Total For - 811 v Somerset in 1899 Highest Total Against - 863 by Lancashire in 1990
-Individual batting records at The Oval-
Highest individual scores for Surrey at The Oval...
357* R Abel v Somerset in 1899 338 WW Read v Oxford University in 1888 315* TW Hayward v Lancashire in 1898 306* A Ducat v Oxford University in 1919 301* MR Ramprakash v Northamptonshire in 2006
Bowlers taking all ten wickets in an innings at The Oval...
10-45 T Richardson v Essex at The Oval 1894 10-88 JC Laker v Australians at The Oval 1956
Oct 19th, 2009
(Nov 5th, 2009)
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