Watching sport, as a neutral, you tend to sway towards the underdog. The rookie. The ones with an air of I’m-not-supposed-to-be-here.
Sometimes, cricket is different. If you were offered the chance to see Sir Jimmy Anderson, all of 43 years old, square up some poor 19-year-old debutant and send his stumps cartwheeling – you’d take it any day. There’s something special about turning up on a sunny Saturday morning, amongst a swathe of empty seats, to watch England’s best try their luck against some guy named Tom.
Even better, then, is Goliath v Goliath. Notts hosting Surrey – the reigning county champions, versus the winners of the three years before – at the world’s third-oldest cricket ground, certainly fits that bill. Bowling stocks filled with domestic stalwarts, supplemented by an Aussie and an England certainty each. International incumbents and hopefuls up and down the batting line-ups. Sorry Rob Key – it beats Kent v Gloucestershire.
I arrived on day two; Notts had batted through the first day, reaching 317-7. England opener Ben Duckett had been and gone for 42, while all-around icon Dan Worrall claimed five wickets on his return. Within ten minutes, Australian Sean Abbott saw off centurion Joe Clarke with a beauty. Everyone here is really good at their job.
But that underdog narrative has a way of coming back. Notts number 10 Olly Stone got the biggest cheer of the morning when he scored a run, at long last, from his 35th ball.
The tailender had seemingly opened the floodgates with that shot, and an expensive over forced Jordan Clark out of the attack. Surrey’s seam quartet – with 1121 wickets between them – seemed a little bit spooked, judging by the four fielders out on the boundary.
Josh Tongue held his own, too, and the partnership quickly reached fifty. 350 was looking unlikely when the pair came together; an hour later, the 400 was up. Tongue celebrated with an imperious cover drive for four – the sound off the bat alone was worthy of a promotion up the order.
I watched that first session from the top of the Radcliffe Road end, suffering from the heat. “I’ll move when the last wicket falls.” If I get sunburnt, it’s all Olly Stone’s fault.
Eventually, normal service resumed. Stone edged behind, giving Worrall his sixth wicket, and me some respite from the sun.
The day continued to follow its natural path after that. Dom Sibley gobbled up 196 deliveries. Fergus O’Neill ticked away like a metronome, keeping Surrey contained. Rory Burns was a little bit more expansive than usual, and was caught and bowled by Stone playing an aggressive shot. Jamie Smith, back at number 3, moved off the mark with a typically languid cover drive to the boundary.
But Smith seemed a little troubled in his innings, struggling for rhythm on his way to 37, and seemed particularly upset trudging off. His international teammate, Tongue, was responsible for that wicket. Haseeb Hameed trusted his man to bowl with a field which was completely open on the off-side, and packed behind the wicket; it paid off as Duckett, at leg-slip, took a simple catch.
As the wind rose, the crowd started to dwindle, and the day threatened to meander towards an underwhelming finish. Dan Lawrence provided a bit of entertainment – thrashing a big six to my right over cow corner – on his way to a breezy 50, but from a Nottinghamshire perspective things had stopped being exciting long before that. Ollie Pope – well-known for making things interesting – never emerged to bat, with last week’s centurion Adam Thomas seemingly forcing England’s ex-number three down to 7.
That is what you get, though, with arguably the two best teams in the country: more batting depth than sense. At 211-4, there is every chance Surrey’s lower order can add enough first-innings runs to spice things up. We could still have a contest worthy of champions on our hands.
