Surrey step up title push

County Championship D1, Whitgift School, day three: Surrey 693 beat Nottinghamshire 240 & 242 by an innings and 211 runs
Surrey 22 pts, Notts 4

Match scorecard

Martin Bicknell claimed seven Notts victims in the match

Leaders Surrey kept the pressure on their title rivals by wrapping up their sixth Championship win of the season with more than four sessions to spare.

Having been forced to follow on 453 runs in arrears, bottom of the table Notts were in danger of being humiliated as they slipped to 45-6 with Azhar Mahmood taking four wickets.

But Chris Read showed why he is the heir apparent to England wicket-keeper Alec Stewart by hitting 17 fours in a defiant innings which lasted two and a half hours.

He put on 84 with Paul Franks (27) and 104 with Greg Smith (42), but was denied a century when he was caught by Mahmood for 93 as he attempted to sweep leg-spinner Ian Salisbury.

The end came swiftly as Saqlain Mushtaq picked up the last two wickets, dismissing Smith and Stuart MacGill courtesy of catches by Ali Brown.

Seamer Martin Bicknell was another key figure in Surrey's success, following up figures of 5-42 by removing Usman Afzaal and Kevin Pietersen in the Notts second innings.

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

Nottinghamshire: D J Bicknell, G E Welton, U Afzaal, R J Warren K P Pietersen, C L Cairns (Capt), C M W Read (Wkt), P J Franks G J Smith, S C G MacGill, C E Shreck.