It was a dead-rubber, of course, with both Surrey and Bears already knowing exactly what their situation was in terms of qualification for next weekend’s Finals Day. Surrey, as group winners, will be going straight through to the final, whilst third-placed Bears will contest the semi-final against the Blaze; and nothing that either team did today was going to change that.

But as dead-rubbers go, it was also quite un-dead. A “Zombie Rubber”, if you will. Not only was it a warm up for Finals Day, at the very ground – the Oval – where they’ll be walking out next Sunday; but with England players likely to be available for the showpiece, there was a big incentive for anyone on the field today to impress their coaches with a “Pick Me” performance.

Not that the South London public saw it that way, unfortunately – the “crowd” was more reminiscent of a midweek Men’s County Championship game in April, than a lovely summer’s evening in July.

Their loss. They missed a typically electric start from Bryony Smith, pulling her way to an aggressive 20 off 12 balls before being bowled by a neat slower ball from Amu Surenkumar. Grace Harris and Kira Chathli pushed on to plunder 59 off the powerplay at a run rate of almost 10 an over – Chathli taking a few risks, but calculated ones with the fielding restrictions in place.

Chathli in particular took the end of the powerplay as an invitation to go after the bowling with a bludgeon – bringing up her 50 off 24 balls with consecutive 6s off Phoebe Brett. Bears captain and former police officer Georgia Davis must have been wondering if she could still issue an arrest warrant for GBH – Grievous Bowling Harm – as Surrey reached 115-1 at the halfway mark.

Chathli was eventually caught at long on by Laura Harris for 65 at a Strike Rate of over 200 – quite a statement from a player whose spot at the top of the order is very much at risk with Danni Wyatt-Hodge, Alice Capsey and Sophia Dunkley all due back from England duty next weekend – though as the wicket-keeper she will obviously be in the XI.

The runs continued to flow for Surrey, with Alice Monaghan getting the better of fellow ex-Viper Millie Taylor, hitting her for 12 of the 14 the left-handed-leg-spinner* conceded off the 12th over.

(*Yup – she’s a left handed bowler with a leg-spinner’s action, whose stock ball is a wrong-un – ie. breaking away from leg for the right-hander – making her a left-handed leg-spinner rather than a classic left-arm unorthodox!)

Grace Harris holed-out in the deep for 37; and Taylor got a degree of revenge on Monaghan, holding on to a steepler that seemed to hang forever in the London sky to dismiss her caught and bowled for 24.

With Surenkumar picking up the wicket of Paige Scholfield (15) the very next ball, things did then slow down a little. Emma Jones and Kalea Moore continued to look to score off every ball; but the boundary suddenly seemed harder to find, as if the rope had been moved out an extra 10 yards. Nonetheless, a 4 pumped through cow corner by Moore off the penultimate delivery brought up the magic 200, with another 4 making it 204-5.

Surrey made something of an art of losing high-scoring games earlier in the season in the 50-over comp at Beckenham; but they had lost just once in the Blast coming into this fixture. Bears were going to need a big start, but they didn’t get one.

Kalea Moore dropped a very difficult chance to catch Davina Perrin diving forwards at deep extra cover on 1, but made up for it by holding on to a much more straightforward chance the next ball to send Meg Austin back to the dugout for 5; and whist Perrin did finally find the boundary driving down the ground off the 5th delivery she faced, her attempt to repeat the trick next ball saw her caught at long on for 7.

If Bears wanted to actually win this game, they probably should have sent in Laura Harris at that point, and prayed for a “Harris Special” to save them; but presumably given that the result was a) a foregone conclusion already by that stage and b) didn’t actually matter, they chose to stick to the game-plan, sending Sterre Kalis out to join Issy Wong in the middle. It made little difference either way. After Kalis nicked one to Chathli, Harris was soon out there causing chaos in the way only she can, with both batters ending up at the same end from the last ball of the 6th over, but somehow Surrey failing to execute the runout, as Bears finished the powerplay 39-3.

That soon became 39-4 as Issy Wong got underneath a pull and was caught for 16; leaving Nat Wraith and Harris as Bears’ last line of defence. A “Harris Special” did still threaten – she struck seven 4s and two 6s on her way to 42 off 14 balls – but she was caught in two minds coming down the pitch to Alice Monaghan and ended up bowled trying to squeeze-out a cut.

At the turn, Bears were 91-5 – not a million miles behind the rate – but having lost 5 wickets, the Win Predictor put them at just 13%.

And if we’re honest… that was probably optimistic. We knew the result; Surrey knew the result; and Bears knew the result. The one thing that did offer Wraith and Amu Surenkumar was the opportunity to play with a bit of freedom – spend some time in the middle and find their ranges at a ground where neither has played much before, but where both will need to be at their best next weekend if Bears are to win their semi-final versus the Blaze and have the chance to meet Surrey again in the final.

Surrey also took their foot off the gas somewhat. There was little urgency to their fielding, epitomised by Bryony Smith declining to dive on the boundary to let through a 4 that she definitely could have stopped at the price of getting her knees a bit dusty.

Wraith and Surenkumar’s extended net session ended up being Bears’ highest partnership of the match – 60 off 38 balls – runs which could come in very handy if they can score them again next Sunday. Both ended up caught by Alice Monaghan in the deep – Wraith for 32 and Surenkumar for 36; though only after more Surrey sloppiness had given Surenkumar a life – Paige Scholfield dropping a sitter at deep midwicket.

Bears finished 179-9, with Millie Taylor bowled by Moore off the final delivery for 21. It was a loss for the Bears, but having made a total that would have won a lot of matches in this competition, they’ll feel optimistic about their impending semi-final. As for Surrey, a near-perfect performance with the bat wasn’t quite matched in the field. If their opponents in the final – whether it be Bears or the Blaze – can keep them to a few less than the 204 they made today, they’ll know they have a shout.