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Burns lightens gloom but umpires darken the mood
- Updated: September 6, 2016
Surrey 260 for 6 (Burns 101) v Hampshire Scorecard
Right now, it takes a fair bit to get Surrey fans to grumble. They are a team on the up, with a cup final a week Saturday and their relegation fears all but eased. They have much of the brightest talent in the land, and a seam attack suddenly the envy of the shires. Here, they had a pretty good day on a pitch that was lively from ball one. One of those young thrusters scored a ton and, having been invited to bat without the tossing of a coin, they are on their way to carving out a match-shaping score.
But grumble they sure did. They grumbled because three times, on a gloomy but cricketable late season Tuesday, the umpires took the players from the field for bad light. Each time, the floodlights were on. On the first two, the conditions appeared fine and the umpires remained on the field with the conditions barely seeming to have improved. The third, at around 5.15 and with the new ball due, proved terminal.
As always, the Oval had a healthy crowd (that should not be taken for granted) and their grumbling – and the booing, and the heckling – was not without reason. These were people who pay their money to watch cricket. Vital points, for both sides, were at stake. At a brilliantly equipped Test ground, with the floodlights on, neither did batting feel dangerous (on the first two occasions, Liam Dawson was bowling his left-arm orthodox), nor did a fielder fail to pick up the ball.
Umpiring is a thankless and tricky task, and fans are generally understanding of this, but …
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