Pope and Foakes allow daydreams of normality as cricket's hollow reality continues in Oval sunshine

SAM MORSHEAD AT THE KIA OVAL: Pope was considered, calm, elegant and in control throughout, and in those minutes before stumps, as the sun shone and Surrey made runs at this glorious old venue, normality felt as close as it has for months.

The Kia Oval (second day of four): Leicestershire 375, Surrey 253-3 - Surrey trail by 122 runs with 7 first-innings wickets remaining

Scorecard

In the shadow of the main entrance at The Kia Oval, a man in a navy blue gilet is flicking through the cricket pages of The Times.

Every now and then he stops and looks up somewhat forlornly at the grand pavilion, a red-brick reminder of the summers that have been and, we all hope, the summer yet to come.

His stay is not long - certainly not long enough to see out an over - and he slopes off down Harleyford Road towards Vauxhall. 

At the north west perimeter of the ground, a local - his surgical mask cupping mouth and chin - peers through the bars and between the Lock and 1845 stands for a glimpse of the action.

He gets an obstructed view of Chris Wright lunging into a forward defence to Amar Virdi, and leans slightly closer. The view doesn’t improve.

This remains county cricket’s reality: a sport that belongs in the arms of its members hidden behind padlocked gates. And observing those stuck on the outside and evidently longing for a return rammed home how fortunate those of us allowed inside really are.

For a correspondent with just five matches to his name since Finals Day 2019 - three in the Pakistani city of Multan pre-lockdown and two within the Ageas Bowl bubble, a truly disparate pair of cricketing experiences - watching the teams warm up from the Oval’s crow’s nest terrace provided an unexpectedly emotional moment. 

^{An empty Oval, with the construction work on the Laker Stand in view}

Helped in no small way by a flood of sunshine, wonderful nostalgia and a day pass from a teething seven-month-old, I caught myself in an open-mouthed smile at the sight of the two sides netting. Without context, it must have looked delirious. 

Life without context has become the norm these past 15 months, though, and so our cricketers muddle and muscle on, however hollow that might feel, for the benefit of all those eyes trained on YouTube streams.

For Leicestershire, that meant resuming on 215 for 3, a healthy foundation given to them by Sam Evans’ first century for the county. 

Evans and Lewis Hill, unbothered either by Surrey’s unconvincing bowling efforts in the first hour or the metallic din generated by the Laker Stand construction site, moved the score effortlessly onto 298 by the middle of the opening session.

Hill’s half-century was met with a smattering of applause from the balconies of a handful of corporate boxes, where the International Wine Challenge judges were meeting to cast verdicts on clarets and chardonnays.

The Leicestershire batsman’s knock was certainly not vintage, but it provided enough depth to the innings, helping his side towards what should have been an imposing total.

Then they bottled it.

Evans’ long vigil came to end at 138 when he was bowled by a slow, looping offbreak from Virdi to which he picked the wrong line, and Hill followed him - having made 70 - just 14 runs later.

A high-octane Kemar Roach bulldozed his way through the lower middle order, his combination of pace and aggression proving too much for Harry Swindells, Callum Parkinson and Wright, and Leicestershire tripped and fell to 375 all out, a collapse of 77 for 7 in 24 overs and a ball.

Where in any normal year this series of events would have cued a booming rendition of “come on the 'Rey” from atop the Laker Stand, now in its place came the grumble and roar of angle grinders and heavy machinery - their every echo off empty seats another reminder of the barrenness of these occasions. 

With the bat, Surrey’s top three all made starts but none could go on. Mark Stoneman was strangled down the leg side, and there were two dubious lbw decisions - an irritated Hashim Amla may well have got an inside edge to his, while Rory Burns appeared to be outside the line of off stump when he was struck on the front pad trying to sweep Callum Parkinson.

As the day’s play continued to gently oscillate, however, Leicestershire soon surrendered the advantage once more.

Surrey fans might not see an awful lot of Ollie Pope in the flesh this year - by the time they are allowed back inside stadiums from May 17, the diminutive batsman will only have a week or so before he reports for England duty - and those members who invest their time and money in the leisurely spectacle of a well-crafted first-class innings will certainly feel they have been shortchanged as a result.

Pope drove magisterially and cut with gleeful abandon as he and Ben Foakes - who was dropped twice in the 30s - moved Surrey from 93 for 3 into a position from which victory is certainly achievable.

^{Leicestershire toiled with the ball against Ollie Pope and Ben Foakes}

Leicestershire’s attack is a level or two below what Pope can expect from New Zealand and India in the coming weeks, but after a run of 12 first-class innings without a half-century, stretching way back to the second Test against Pakistan at Emirates Old Trafford last August, that will not have mattered a jot.

He was considered, calm, elegant and in control throughout as he made his way to 92 not out at the close, and in those minutes before stumps, as the sun cast great shadows across the outfield and Surrey made runs at this glorious old venue, normality felt as close as it has for months.

Yet at the very same time at two dozen sites across Lambeth and its neighbouring borough Wandsworth, authorities are surge testing residents as the threat of the virulent South African variant lurks in the middle distance.

A nagging sense of fragility remains. Cricket still lives in hope that it really won’t be long before its fans can stop craning their necks to catch a glimpse of the game they love. But, as has also been the case with this match, it is so very difficult to predict life’s undulations.

Subscribe today and receive The Cricketer’s centenary issue – six issues for £19.21. Click here