Surrey groundsmen are a disgrace...

How many more times will they get games called off because they want to get home early. There is simply no way the game should have been called off today. I can bet you anything that the lay groundsmen are in a pub huddled round a telly waiting for the football.

Once again Surrey and the groundsmen dont care a stuff about the people who pay their wages. A very poor effort indeed.

Well I'm 10 miles from the Oval and it's been light rain continuously since 4pm and heavy showers before that. I daresay the pitch was soaked, because they rarely call off T20s early if there is a chance of even 5 overs a side by 9pm. 5 other games were also called off.

Don't know where you live but it has been pissing it down all day, Fortis and his staff would have been there since early morning. To say 'they don't care' is nonsense.

Also, only two fixtures in the Blast have gone ahead today, rest called off without a ball bowled.

Those of us who live and work some way away from the Oval appreciate it when the club actually makes a decision early that there will be no play, or as at the Sussex game calls it off early at 20:10 rather than keeping everybody around in the hope of a 5 over slog.

Along with the late Christopher Martin-Jenkions, I regard 20 overs as the bare minimum for a Cricket match so I am not intersted in a 10, 5 or 16.4 over slogfest where the game is decided by who wins the toss and inserts the opposition.

Its going to be unlucky for Surrey that because so many games are packed together rain is going to cost them the income from Sussex, Hampshire and probably Essex home matches but then that is the consequence of the 100 for as Alec Stewart said at the members forum if the scedule was creaking under the old structure now its totally blown

The Red Rooster wrote:Those of us who live and work some way away from the Oval appreciate it when the club actually makes a decision early that there will be no play, or as at the Sussex game calls it off early at 20:10 rather than keeping everybody around in the hope of a 5 over slog.

Along with the late Christopher Martin-Jenkions, I regard 20 overs as the bare minimum for a Cricket match so I am not intersted in a 10, 5 or 16.4 over slogfest where the game is decided by who wins the toss and inserts the opposition.

Its going to be unlucky for Surrey that because so many games are packed together rain is going to cost them the income from Sussex, Hampshire and probably Essex home matches but then that is the consequence of the 100 for as Alec Stewart said at the members forum if the scedule was creaking under the old structure now its totally blown

Spot on. Were it not for the Hundred there would be no need to play the T20 Blast over such a short period, rendering it at the mercy of a spell of bad weather. Leaving aside the COVID extension, which was unforeseen and entirely outside of the game's control, we would have lost income from two games last week (I assume we'd have to refund at least some gate-receipts from Friday), and if the forecast is to be believed we would have lost another one this coming Monday. We don't just lose gate income, but the huge amount of money 24,000 people spend on food and drink in the ground.

Do I have sympathy for Surrey? Yes and no. As I've said, the extended COVID restrictions were entirely out of their hands, and it is wretched luck that they will prevent capacity crowds at almost all of the remaining T20 home games. The loss of revenue will hit them hard, and they will incur significant additional admin costs in sorting out refunds to those who have bought tickets as well as issuing them to members. On the other hand, were it not for the 100 then the T20 competition would still be continuing throughout July and probably into August, when there should be no restrictions. Surrey huffed, and they puffed, but ultimately they did not have the moral fibre to bring the house down on hosting the Hundred and (as Richard Gould said would be the consequence of our so doing) strangle it at birth.

It might still be strangled at birth of the restrictions are rolled over again for another "few weeks". Probably the only advantage of doing so.