After battling through the rush hour on the underground arrived at Victoria station,after finally finding the platform for the train myself and mate Ken get on train.

Woman sitting next to me playing pac man on mobile phone with volume full on,and two guys on opposite side of train both Kent fans disscussing Star Trek.Nearing Canterbury Ken and myself are talking about best way to get to the ground,the two 'trekkies' tell us its best to get a taxi,there are no buses and its a good 20 minute walk,we take their advice and take a taxi to the ground,its a 3 minute drive and cost £6.

After paying the £15 to get in,we dodge the cars and the dust to meet up with Paul and his dad who have delight in telling us they just walked in the ground and didnt pay.We then look for good seats,the upper tier of the stands was to cold and winding,in fact the whole ground was cold and windy and we finally get some great sets,all the Middx fans sitting together(just us 4).

Was looking around and at one point I thought there were more cars than fans in the ground.

Middx win the toss,decide to bat,Compton and Hughes come out to open the batting,to the Pink Panther theme tune,as did the other batsmen.Looking comfortable as the innings starts,cracking the first ball for 4.

Had Kent fans behind us talking about the Middx captain saying they thought it strange Phil Hughes was captain but not in the side for long. Continuing to bat really well,then PJH drops a short shot, any better fielding from Kent and would of been out Paul "calling PJH a prat" under his breath before saying good shot "teeing off".

Hughes out,bowled for a dozen,next in is Ace again to Pink Panther tune,out for a duck so the IPL experience really helped his game(my comment) thoughts of Bath revisited are in my head.

Then the Compton and Morgan show started,after getting past the Bath score we were a bit more settled,Kent fielding all game was terrible but then again,superb batting from both,all variations of shots being played.Compton 50 off 61 balls,that was time for the first beer,and club house full of people watching game inside on tele, too cold for them outside.

Pauls first prediction..........Morgan for a ton today,he was 49 no at the time. Dropped catch,Morgan by Tredwell and a dolly as well. Then partnership reaches 150 off 151 balls,after the last 2 FPT games it was great to see such a turn around by the batting, Morgan then reaches the ton,all the Middx fans stand to appreciate the feat,then noticed the Sky camera focused on us.

More cars than fans - how does that work?

Pauls next prediction.........."easily get 300 today", Compton 100 off 106 balls, comments were made by Ken saying we should play all our games on Sky if we continue batting like this.

Paul ......"morgan could get a double ton today", was on 152 at the time, we reached 301-2 with 4 overs left, Morgan then out for 161 and standing ovation from Middx and Kent fans, Compton run out for 131, the other batsmen contributing a few runs between them.

At the end of innings a great run feast with Middx on 322-5.

Typical Cricket ground lunch,overpriced but needed to eat and hopefully warm up.People were getting blankets out to wrap around themselves.

Kent Innings started,their fans saying its the biggest score they have had to chase.Key out early on at 19-1,Evans was bowling a bit short but without Merts we need all the bowling we can get,shame Merts cant bowl on one leg.

Paul next prediction............"bet we dont win this", got confidence in the team at that point!

Silverwood is on fire bowling really well taking 3 wkts Pauls dad comments "it's like November today", no I said, its probably warmer in November.

 

Suddenly with Kent on 40-3 Ace shouts out "come on boys, 50-5, 50-5 "

Was getting so cold hypothermia was setting in. G Jones(England ex keeper) reaches 50, the youngster Shaggy takes his wicket on 57. Even Dexter getting in the act with a wicket on his old ground.

Paul........."shouldn't lose it from here".

A fine run out by Silverwood all but wins the game,and with 4.2 overs to spare,we at last get back to winning ways.

It was a superb batting ,bowling and fielding display with only 9 extras given away so lets hope we can work on this win and continue with the confidence we have found again.

Kent fielding was, well, bad to be polite and the batting was not much better.

Lets hope for more of the same on the field when we play on Thursday in Edinburgh,should be an enjoyable visit.

3 hour journey home was without incident apart from the guard on the train nearly getting locked out of the train on 3 separate times.