This was one of the worst Surrey performances in the Blast in recent years - and when I say recent years I of course mean the past 25 years.
We won the inaugural competition in the T20 and that has been pretty much it. Don’t believe the mainstream media narrative that Surrey are a team configured around winning the Blast.
It didn’t get off to a good start when J-Roy forgot to pack his kit. No shit. We’re talking a professional sportsmen here in J-Roy, a seasoned globe-trotting franchise player. Maybe that’s the reason why he left his Surrey top at home?
It was rather odd seeing two players take to the field at Gloucestershire, both wearing the legend that is Lawrence 28 on the back.
The Sky Sports telly folk ummed and ahed over what would be a par score for the wicket as Gloucestershire opened their innings. There was optimistic talk of 200 being set fair.
This completely skewed the debate around Surrey having an international franchise bowling attack that couldn’t take any wickets.
The interval came, the BOOZE started. Very, very shortly afterwards the inevitable Surrey collapse also showed its face.
Put simply this was a shocking, shocking performance from Surrey. It should be a wake-up call to all around the club that something is not right in SE11.
We saw this towards the tail end of last season in the Championship when we almost showed a lack of ambition to match a very decent Notts team. This tailing off of a curve has continued at some pace with red ball cricket for this season.
At least the Blast might be our saviour, right? Absolutely not.
There’s probably at least half a dozen franchise players in this Surrey Blast team that are two to three years past their sell-by date. There’s no progression or conveyor belt of players being promoted from underneath.
A major factor in this is the disdain in which Surrey have treated the Metro Bank comp. We’ve bedded in incredibly young talent but haven’t given them the support they need to make the leap up.
It’s impossible to criticise the Gaffer when it comes to all things Surrey. The Sky telly folk made such a point when they panned in on Alex Stewart looking down from the balcony at Gloucestershire.
If he hangs around for another season and oversees what looks like inevitable relegation from the Championship, paired with another piss-poor Blast performance, then his stellar reputation at the Oval will be trashed.
If only there was an opening at the ECB where Stewie could team up once again with the Two Dicks and try and turn around England’s fortunes…