Five reasons why you need to see some T20 cricket this summer

Of course you might think of cricket as the preserve of old men listening to the test in their garden sheds but yeah, T20 is a much more family-friendly affair. Of course the pace of it sure helps that but The Kia Oval has a designated Family Zone which kids love, too. Why? Well not only do they have the best seats in the house, it’s right next to the England Suite of the JM Finn Stand, which hosts games, cricket coaching, competitions, giveaways and player autograph signings. Plus there’s a bar for the grown-ups… because why should the kids have all the fun?

You want to see the best, right? Well here’s the good news. The Kia Oval is home to Surrey CCC and, well, they’re pretty damn good you know. Having topped the South group and beaten Kent and Gloucester in the knock-out stages, they were narrowly pipped by Notts in the final of last year’s T20 Vitaly Blast competition. So yeah, basically second best in the business. And that’s hardly a surprise with the calibre of squad, which includes the World Cup-winning trio of Liam Plunkett, Tom Curran and Jason Roy, who is not only one of the very best T20 players in the world but, to be blunt, loves to whack it, too. He’s a lot of fun to watch.

Sure, Lords is known as ‘the home of cricket’ but who wants to be that when you can be home to T20? Look, we love test cricket too but this is just more fun. Sorry, test cricket. Anyway, The Kia Oval is the place to see T20 cricket, with everything set up for those festival vibes. Honestly, we’ve been and they know how to put on a party. And the really good thing for you lot? It’s just down the road, in Kennington. And we don’t need to tell you which Tube station it’s on, right? (It’s Oval…)

Yeah you sure do get a lot of bang for your buck here. Tickets for adults start at £29, but if you’re coming as a group – which we can totally recommend, btw – you’re talking around the £25 mark per person. But here’s the absolute clincher for anyone coming as a family: all under-16s can get in for just £1 with the ‘kids for a quid’ deal. Pretty neat huh? We think so. Especially when you consider all that world-class cricketing talent on show.

Okay look we really don’t want to labour the point because we do genuinely love test cricket, but honestly, this is a mile away from dot-ball overs by the dozen and individual innings lasting for days on end. But if you want to know what we really love about these matches – beyond the fact that they’re fun and fast and thrilling and all that? It’s that they take place in the evenings, so are basically the dream after-work summer get-together. And given how overdue those are, we think you deserve more than a few this year, don’t you?