20/20 Cricket

Okay, so this is a little late but since I have been back in London it has been a bit of a whirlwind of competitions and training. Forgive me?

What about if I hold my hands up and say I'm sorry?

Back when I was younger, I used to head down to the local cricket club and watch the match with my dad.

The thing was, cricket wasn't the most interesting thing to a 8 year old boy. Instead I would disappear with the other bored kids and make up our own games, which usually involved running round climbing trees and 40/40 in.

Fast forward a few more years, and I am finding myself back at The Kia Oval for 20/20 cricket.

(Though I can't climb trees this time!).

Shirt from here, and my jacket is from here.

Every Friday there is a 20/20 cricket match.
It's really simple to understand. An 'Over' is when the bowler (from the opposite team) bowls the ball 6 times from one end. Once they have bowled an over, they switch ends and bowlers.
20/20 means that each team has 20 overs, and need to get as many runs as possible in during that time. 

It was Middlesex Panthers vs. Surrey last Friday, and instead of drinking in a bar we ended up here for the night.

First up was Surrey to bowl. Middlesex had to get as many runs as possible.

Some of the crowd were getting into the cricket...

Whilst we stuck to the drinks and cheered when everyone else did.

Something we definitely didn't have back when we were running round playing 40/40 in, but with an ecstatic atmosphere suddenly cricket was becoming really entertaining!

As half time approached, Middlesex had got an impressive 117 innings and the fireworks erupted to celebrate.

A quick turn around and squash for the teams, and it was Surrey's turn to rack up the runs.

This is where it got really exciting. The home team, trying to chase down as many runs as they can to win with the crowd going crazy every time they hit the ball out of the pitch.

At 100 runs, the teams take a breather before the final push.

110...

114... and the crowd erupted as Surrey pass the Panthers total runs.

The final score was Surrey 121 to Middlesex 111, making the hosts the champions and a mini firework display to celebrate.

And even more so, I have suddenly become a fan of 20/20 cricket and am already looking at their fixtures list to go again.

Something I did not expect to happen!