Surrey knew they had to win to stand any chance of staying in the Division they topped twelve months ago. But after being dropped at first slip in the fourth over of Northamptonshire’s reply, Usman Afzaal made them pay for their lapse. The former England batsman cruised to an unbeaten 86 off 112 balls, which, as well as condemning the Lions to another stint in Division Two, kept alive the Steelbacks’ own hopes of avoiding the drop.

Had Rikki Clarke claimed the regulation chance off Azhar Mahmood – who also saw a difficult catch put down off Jeff Cook at backward square leg in the same over – the home side would have been 11 for two chasing an adjusted target of 189 in 41. Given that Northants’ victory was achieved with just seven balls to spare, Clarke, who also made an inept four-ball duck, had more to reflect upon than his peers as Afzaal slowly twisted the knife.

But Surrey’s totesport League season did not come down to a single dropped catch; their recent run of success was preceded by just six points from the first eight fixtures. In a competition where momentum is often everything, last year’s champions simply left themselves a mountain to climb in the second half of the campaign. Just one victory away from home in both leagues this term also tells its own story.

The lack of a top quality spinner has not only plagued Surrey in this competition, but the County Championship as well. Another factor has been the fallow nature of Alistair Brown’s form. Before yesterday he had only one score over thirty to his name in this summer’s 45-over league, but Brown made amends with a 51-ball 54 (which also took him past 6,000 one-day league runs) that helped his side post a respectable total after being reduced to 50 for five by Johann Louw and Paul Rofe, not to mention the dead-eye throwing of Tim Roberts.

Roberts’s arm also accounted for Brown, though not before he and Azhar had put on 75 in fourteen overs for the visitors’ sixth wicket. The Pakistan all-rounder is another who has looked off colour at times with the bat, but not so with the ball and certainly not yesterday. He struck 67 in 85 deliveries, including an on driven six in Jason Brown’s final over – which straddled a forty-minute break for rain – and three consecutive fours off Cook.

When Roberts departed third ball to a beautiful nip-backer from Martin Bicknell the Lions’ tails were up, but their joy was short lived. Afzaal and Cook made light of the chances they offered early on and started eating into what ought to have been a stiff target on a pitch that was not the easiest to tame. The left-handed pair added 74 in seventeen overs before Jeff Cook miscued to mid-on.

The departure of Cook and of David Sales were made to seem like mere hiccups until Jimmy Ormond comprehensively bowled Graeme Swann and then had Gerard Brophy caught behind. Although the hosts showed nerves, they overcame them; which was more than could be said for the visitors, whose fielding proved incapable of squeezing the Northants batsmen. Fittingly, therefore, the contest was decided when Adam Hollioake gave away four overthrows in an attempt to thrown down Huggins’s stumps off his own bowling.

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