Bicknell joy in Surrey win

County Championship D1, The Oval, day four:
Surrey 479 & 174-3 beat Kent 239 & 413 (f-o) by seven wickets
Points: Surrey 22, Kent 4

Full scorecard

To reach 1000 first-class wickets is a hell of an achievement for any bowler Martin Bicknell

Martin Bicknell claimed his 1,000th first-class wicket as Surrey opened their championship account with a seven-wicket win over Kent at The Oval.

Bicknell capped his red letter day with figures of 5-128 - a 41st five-wicket haul in 273 championship outings.

The former England paceman helped bowl Kent out for 413 - in which Rob Key made 199 - setting Surrey 174 to win.

Another ex-England man, Mark Ramprakash, ensured the hosts would not fluff their lines with an unbeaten 91.

Surrey, the 2002 county champions, are finally getting their season in order having won their first match of any kind this season in the Totesport League last weekend.

This victory puts them above Kent, previously second, though David Fulton's team have a game in hand.

But the day was all about Bicknell. He secured the 1,000-wicket milestone when his dismissal of Matthew Dennington offered skipper and keeper Jon Batty his ninth catch of the match.

"I had the record in my sights at the start of the season and thought it was likely that I'd be in with a chance here, so to do it here is fantastic," Bicknell said.

"I'm absolutely delighted to have achieved this feat and I'm looking forward to playing for a few more years yet."

Surrey coach Steve Rixon said: "Martin works tremendously hard at his game and his fitness.

"Bickers is a great role model for any young bowler, both in terms of his approach to training and bowling action.

"He is a modern day Surrey legend."

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Surrey: S A Newman, N Shahid, M R Ramprakash, R Clarke, J N Batty (Capt, Wkt), A D Brown, A J Hollioake, Azhar Mahmood, M P Bicknell, J Ormond, Z Khan.

Kent: D P Fulton (Capt), R W T Key, E T Smith, M J Walker, M A Carberry, M J Dennington, N J O'Brien (Wkt), R S Ferley, A Khan, M J Saggers, Mohammad Sami.