Surrey champagne on ice

Knight struggles to play a cover drive

County Championship D1, Edgbaston, final day: Warwickshire 345 & 404-9 dec. drew with Surrey 544
Points: Warwickshire 9, Surrey 12

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A dour century from Nick Knight, lasting six hours and 20 minutes, meant Surrey were unable to celebrate the win that would have given them the 2002 title.

Knight hit his fifth century of a prolific season in the Championship despite batting with a runner because of a hip injury.

He was finally out when Ian Ward tried out his own bowling, after Knight had defied the eight other bowlers used by the Surrey captain.

Ward bowled Knight in his first over after the Warwickshire opener had hit 15 fours in a gutsy innings of 133.

Knight salutes the crowd after reaching his ton

The day bgean with the home side 154 for three in their second innings, some distance away from making Surrey bat again.

But the fourth-wicket pair of Knight and Jim Troughton kept Surrey out for most of the first session.

Ian Salisbury and Saqlain Mushtaq finally struck just before lunch to make it 225 for five.

Troughton was the first to go, trapped leg before by Salisbury for 63.

Eleven runs later Pakistani off-spinner Mushtaq had South African star Shaun Pollock caught by Nadeem Shahid for three.

After lunch, Dougie Brown soon presented Saqlain with his fourth wicket.

Company

But wicket-keeper Tony Frost lasted an hour-and-a-half, keeping good company with Knight.

Frost was eventually caught behind for 13 with Rikki Clarke removing both him and subsequently Ashley Giles for 25.

By then, Surrey could not realistically win the game, but at least they finally removed Knight.

Once he was out the teams agreed on a draw soon afterwards.

A win at Edgbaston would award Surrey their third title in four years - with two rounds of matches still to be played.

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Warwickshire: M J Powell (Capt), N V Knight, M A Wagh, I R Bell, J O Troughton, S M Pollock, D R Brown, T Frost (Wkt), A F Giles, M A Sheikh, M M Betts.

Surrey: I J Ward, J N Batty (Wkt), M R Ramprakash, N Shahid, A D Brown, A J Hollioake (Capt), R Clarke, M P Bicknell Saqlain Mushtaq, I D K Salisbury, J Ormond.