I woke up at 9:45 am and immediately started getting ready for my day at The Brit Oval. I was not too concerned with arriving on time at 10:30 am as a day of county cricket lasts for around seven hours.

After getting ready, I had an English muffin with Big Chris and started walking to the cricket ground at 10:30 am. I had walked this same path as I had walked on August 12, 2007. I was interviewing over that weekend in London and was staying near Waterloo Station just as I was this time. It was amazing to walk down Kennington Rd. just two years later.

Obtaining Tickets
I arrived at the Oval and bought my ticket for the day – £12. Obviously there is no secondary ticket market for second division cricket.

The Match
There was hardly anybody in attendance at the match. It appears county cricket is entertainment for retired men who have nothing better to do with their Wednesday afternoon – and, of course, myself. The biggest score of the day was Usman Afzaal who scored 170 runs for Surrey. 100 runs (a century) are considered a major accomplishment for any batter.

Obviously today’s match did not compare with The Ashes, but now I understood why the English asked me about the atmosphere at The Ashes – there was no atmosphere today. This was as dull as you could possibly get. There could not have been more than 500 people in the stands and it was quiet. However, every dull sporting event has its remedy and that is several pints of beer. After a couple of hours the match was no longer so boring.

After the match, I met Big Chris back at his place and we took the #344 bus to the Clapham Junction Train Station so we could visit British Mick, his wife and his new baby.