ONE of the joys of watching sport is that it is so splendidly unpredictable. There can be disasters and disappointments but just occasionally there are triumphs, with our team or an individual player producing the perfect performance.

This is what Gloucestershire cricketers did at the Oval (T20, June 8). After the first six overs Surrey were 15-5 and what a five! Davis (ex Worcs and England A) Lord Mark Ramps (ex Middlesex and England), Andrew Symonds (Australia), Younis Khan (Pakistan) and Usman Afzal (Notts and England), all experienced internationals.

Destructive bowling, and tigerish fielding (there were three run-outs) saw Surrey dismissed for 97. And it got better!

With nonchalant ease Porterfield and Franklin knocked off the runs in nine overs! Something then happened I had never heard before at cricket. Surrey were booed off the field by their own fans - not all of them - some made the point of vigorously applauding Gloucestershire, rather than their own team.

The battle song of the Gloucestershire regiment rang out across the Oval for the second time this season and after the team's private moment of triumph I joined them in the dressing room. Joy was unconfined. They sat smiling, glowing, almost in awe and wonder at what they had done.

The following dialogue ensued. Light to Gidman: "Alex, you have all given me a problem. I have to return to the Surrey committee room and not gloat - it would be rude."

Gidman to Light (moderately forcefully): "John - go and ruddy well gloat."

It was not necessary. The Surrey hierarchy were embarrassed and stunned. After receiving their congratulations, I drove happily home, proud that I had achieved something our cricketers had not. In driving to the match I had avoided the congestion charge.

To return to watch cricket at King’s School Gloucester was a joy. I know we lost to Sussex and Kent but cricket is more than that. It is companionship, history, anticipation and atmosphere - all present at Archdeacon’s Meadow.

I had gone on Wednesday just to look at the ground. I felt the same schoolboy excitement as I had when I walked out of Cirencester Grammar School on the only occasion I every played truant - to watch cricket at Gloucester. It seemed no distance at all from Victoria Road to Stratton where I hitched a lift. In no way did I feel guilty - watching cricket at Gloucester was surely part of my birthright.

Seeing so many old friends there confirmed that view. We moaned about the music, the garish clothing and the fact that candy floss was on sale but inwardly we rejoiced. Our county was back - playing cricket in the county town.

We lost both matches. Captain Alex made one critical mistake - he opened the bowling with Hamish Marshall, and immediately we lost the initiative. T20 tactics are simple when fielding. You need a bowling burst at the beginning, to be sound at the end, and if you are a bowler short (Franklin could only bat) you fiddle in the middle.

Despite the defeats there was some good cricket. Sussex were most impressive, especially Yardy - a key player in England's recent success. His variations of speed and length allied to superb control were of the highest class. And, of course, when we lose there are always the old days to think about.

For a few of us the cricketing challenges of our youth came flooding back. Facing Frank Mansell at Sheepscombe, Mick Bray at Tetbury Grammar School, Maurice Luck at Duntisbourne, John Messenger at Birdlip and Dick Gearing at Ampney Crucis were my personal ones. I have one regret - no one told me how lucky I was, and I was too insensitive to realise it. I know now.

It had been a week of triumph at a famous urban ground and defeat on a charming, semi-rural one, and to slightly misquote Kipling, whatever happens, ‘the men who were boys, when I was a boy can sit and drink with me’.