The fifth day of a Test match normally produces one of those Scottish Second Division football attendances. Supporter phones club.
Club tells supporter.
Under normal circumstances, the height of inconvenience for an Oval security guard on Test Match Monday is an occasionally interruption to the crossword to issue directions to the appropriate turnstile. Yesterday, though, the Hobbs Gate was resembled the portcullis of the Bastille, with the Surrey committee only just stopping short of having vats of boiling oil sent up to the ramparts. The last time England filled the ground on the fifth day of a Test match was at the same venue, against the same opponents, in 1991. On that occasion, though, it filled up gradually, the excitement generated by England inching towards victory in the match diluted by the knowledge that it meant nothing more than a 2-2 draw in the series. Several fans were in tears at their failure to get in, as they were when they were teething, or requiring a nappy change, on the last occasion England won a series against this opposition.