Cricket

SURREY RAISING THEIR GAME WITH DRAW AND A WIN

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28 August 2008

Mark Ramprakash celebrates

LV County Championship Division One: Surrey drew with Sussex
NatWest Pro40 Division Two: Surrey beat Warwickshire by 21 runs

By Gavriel Hollander
gav@southwarknews.org  

SURREY WERE denied their first Championship win of the season against Sussex, as Chris Nash and Carl Hopkinson kept the Brown Caps' attack at bay for 43 overs on the last day at The Oval.

Having set Sussex a victory target of 299 in 62 overs, Matt Nicholson and Alex Tudor, who took two wickets in his first three deliveries, struck early to leave the visitors in trouble on 31 for three.

However, Nash and Hopkinson rode their luck to put on an unbeaten 123 for the fourth wicket and, not for the first time this season, Surrey had to settle for a draw.

Earlier in the game, Mark Ramprakash, who has been in superb form since finally notching his hundredth hundred, scored a masterful 178 as Surrey posted 455 in their first innings. He was ably supported by Jonathan Batty (102) with the pair putting on 232 for the third wicket.

Sussex looked to be facing the follow-on at 197 for three, but some lower-order hitting from Robin Martin-Jenkins and a few missed chances in the field saw them eventually pass 300.

Surrey could not score their runs quickly enough in the second innings, making 171 for seven declared in 57 overs to set up a run chase that the visitors never truly took on.

Surrey continued their run of good one-day form as they beat Warwickshire by 21 runs in their Pro40 contest at Edgbaston.

A solid batting display saw the Brown Caps make 238 in their allotted 40 overs, thanks in large part to James Benning's 74 and an unbeaten 87-run partnership between Mark Ramprakash (54) and Matthew Spriegel (40).

It proved enough for Surrey to defend as their bowlers put in a disciplined performance despite Warwickshire opener Jonathan Trott's fine knock of 92. Jade Dernbach and Usman Afzaal were particularly impressive. Dernbach took four wickets for 31 runs, while Afzaal chipped in with three further scalps.

An enthralling game could easily have gone either way. Surrey's top three of Benning, Scott Newman and Stewart Walters made a solid start. However, spinners Ant Botha and Ian Salisbury applied the breaks and began to frustrate the Surrey batsmen.

When Benning was third out having picked out Botha at mid-wicket, it sparked a mini collapse to leave the visitors on 151 for five. That brought Ramprakash and Spriegel together, and some big hitting from the pair allowed the Surrey to post a competitive total.

Neil Carter fell to Pedro Collins in the first over of the Bears reply, but Trott and Jim Troughton put on 98 for the second wicket to get their reply back on track.

Afzaal made the all-important breakthrough by getting Troughton stumped by Jonathan Batty for 41. There was no looking back from there, as Dernbach's late burst finally ended Trott's stubborn resistance and gave the Brown Caps their second straight win.

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