A Day at the Rose Bowl - Well Done Hampshire

Up early again this morning as it was Finals Day in the Friends Provident t/20 cricket tournament at the Rose Bowl, Southampton. There were to be two semi-finals and then the final this evening. When I woke the weather was miserable, grey, overcast and drizzling - not good weather for playing first class cricket. Tom decided that he didn't want to join me as he felt 11 hours of cricket would be too much so decided to stay at home. Fortunately, his ticket had cost me nothing otherwise he would have come along. I set off at around 9.30 a.m. and got to the Park & Ride at about 10.45 a.m. The traffic around Burseldon was horrific - it seemed most of southern England were going to the Rose Bowl. I arrived at the Rose Bowl just in time to see the first ball of the day - Hampshire bowling to Essex. At the end of the first semi-final (which Hampshire won) the rain pelted down but cleared up quickly enough for the second semi-final to start (Nottinghamshire v. Somerset). Somerset batted first and got a huge 182 before the rain pelted down again. It was decided that Nottingham's batting innings should be restricted to 16 overs with a target of 153. Unfortunately the rain brought the game to a sudden end after about 12 overs and Somerset were deemed to have won the match by 3 runs under the dubious Duckworth-Lewis Rule. Not knowing whether the Final would actually be played and realising that we could be leaving the Rose Bowl very late indeed, and having to jostle through crowds to get out of the Stadium, jostle for a Park & Ride Bus and finally get out of a massive car park, which would have meant getting home at around 3 a.m. I decided to call it a day and get away quickly whilst I could and watch the final, if it did take place, on Sky from the comfort of my armchair. The Final did start and I listened to the first innings - Somerset batting, on the car radio. Arriving home at around 9 p.m. I was able to watch Hampshire's exciting innings which resulted in a tie (173 for 5 for Hampshire; 173 for 6 for Somerset). Accordingly, Hampshire won on the Fewer Wickets Rule). Well done Dominic Cork and his young team. Man of the Match Award went to Neil McKenzie for his composed 52 runs. It would have been nice to have been there at the Final but the after effects would not have delighted me. In fact, I think I had the best of both worlds - the excitement of being there for the semis and being able to watch the Final with a fine professional commentary on TV. Another wonderful day out today.