Surrey shine again

National League D1, The Oval: Essex 220 all out (44.2 overs) lost to Surrey 221-7 (42.5 overs) by three wickets
Points: Surrey 4, Essex 0

Match scorecard

Azhar Mahmood and Graham Thorpe were the key contributors as Surrey overcame Essex at The Oval.

The Division One leaders were steered to victory with 13 balls remaining by Thorpe's unbeaten 79, a knock which included eight boundaries.

Thorpe, who has been in devastating form of late, kept his head while three team-mates perished quickly late on and Essex pushed for an improbable victory.

Earlier, Pakistani Mahmood put Essex on the ropes with a magnificent spell of bowling that reaped the figures of 6-37.

The visitors, who had lost the toss and were sent in to bat, looked like building a decent total on 193-4 before Mahmood ran through the middle-order.

Darren Robinson top-scored with a lively 78, but a total of 220 was never likely to be enough to stop a rampant Surrey side.

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Surrey: I J Ward, A D Brown, M R Ramprakash, G P Thorpe, R Clarke, A J Hollioake (Capt), Azhar Mahmood, J N Batty, M P Bicknell Saqlain Mushtaq, J Ormond.

Essex: W I Jefferson, A Flower, J S Foster, M L Pettini, D D J Robinson, A P Grayson (Capt), J M Dakin, J D Middlebrook G R Napier, J E Bishop, S A Brant.

Umpires: J H Hampshire, R Palmer.