Surrey bowlers answer Jade Dernbach's plea but slow reply and weather gives Gloucestershire win

KISHAN VAGHELA AT THE OVAL: The six bowlers used represented what is indeterminably called a unit, but Surrey's batters were for the most part the very antithesis before the weather decided the match

Kia Oval: Surrey 94-2 v Gloucestershire 165-8 -  Gloucestershire won by nine runs (DLS)

Scorecard

What is it with cricket and pathetic fallacy, eh? 

As the storm clouds swirled around above The Oval for a few brief passing minutes before the game, another chance of a reduced contest was in the offing.

Not quite what Jade Dernbach had in mind when he claimed Surrey needed to "win ugly" to arrest their current slide after their hammering by Middlesex.

The England side have been forced into changes due to injury and loss of form for the second Ashes Test at Lord's on Thursday, but amongst the variable overhead conditions and the blustry weather that rippled more than its fair few of yellow and fluro blue kits on the night, there was a sense of status quo being maintained by Surrey despite a record of no win in four.

Imran Tahir began proceedings as he always has for Surrey in the Blast, and there was a similar amount of frustration as Miles Hammond and Michael Klinger managed to squirt balls through narrow gaps and heave shots short of fielders. Then the unpredictable began.

Sam Curran disappeared in the powerplay, brother Tom similar. Ugly indeed. But perhaps Hammond's dismissal was the good sort of ugly that Dernbach had described.

^{Jordan Clark was among the wickets for Surrey}

This wasn't a delivery that stuck in the pitch or jagged back so significantly Glenn McGrath would have looked on aghast, but the Gloucestershire's batsman's slash to Will Jacks at deep cover needed to be the start of that "complete performance" the Surrey captain had referenced the previous evening.

Soon enough, the Currans had joined in on the party. The duo were persistent in asking nagging questions of the Gloucestershire batsmen and all of a sudden Klinger's attempts to find fluency ended up in the grateful hands of Ollie Pope. Such was the fraternal bond that the brothers even combined to dismiss James Bracey.

As the crowd sat on edge with dark grey, gloomy clouds hovering around intermittently, there was a similar apprehension to some of Surrey's ground fielding, including wild throws, occasional misfields that were in part due to the earlier rainfall, and almost an exaggerated zeal seemingly innate within them, as Ryan Patel's clattering of the stumps early on demonstrated.

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Nevertheless, running alongside that overzealous fielding approach came that Surrey spirit, primarily from the bowling effort as everyone but Gareth Batty registered something in the wickets column.

None were particularly glamorous dismissals, but so far in this campaign Surrey have attempted to admire their trophy-laden ornaments on the mantelpiece and expect them to retain their shine without any attention. This connection, this mood and this performance was different though. There was a bit more rough and tumble, 'you fight we fight back' mentality.

And despite the glut of wickets, Gloucestershire posted 165. The same Gloucestershire who defended 131 against Kent, who until recently appeared to represent an unstoppable machine and delivered a brutal performance at The Oval just over a week ago.

^{Sam Curran unleashed but couldn't steer his side over the revised line}

For all the occasional haphazardness of the Surrey fielding display, an imperturbable bubble engulfed the visitors. Bowlers lengths spot on. Powerplay, aside from Sam Curran's boundaries and Aaron Finch's dismissal, uneventful. Imagine that?

Will Jacks perished softly soon after, but worse still, that slow start and the failure to replicate Hammond's cameo was what would ultimately cost them the game as the rain unsurprisingly returned.

By the time the game was restarted, Surrey needed to double their score of 52, which they had made in 7.5 overs, with just 25 balls to play with.

Sam Curran and Pope were left to do the hard graft, and they went about it admirably, but despite their best efforts - particularly from the former - a difficult pitch and more excellent bowling from Gloucestershire consigned the hosts to a fourth straight Blast defeat. 

How ironic that despite their slow start and an unbeaten fifty for Curran - including a six off the final ball of the innings- it was revised conditions and the miserable weather that heaped further misery on Surrey.

Pathetic fallacy, eh? 

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