SURREY SUNK BY GLADIATORS' OVERSEAS PAIR by Marcus Hook
Surrey Brown Caps 278-6 (40 Overs) v Gloucestershire Gladiators 282-5 (40 Overs). Gloucestershire Gladiators win by 5 wickets.

Surrey's first defeat in the NatWest Pro40 League could not have come at a worse time for the Oval outfit. Last night's five-wicket loss to the Gloucestershire Gladiators now leaves the Brown Caps on course to finish third in Division Two. That carries with it the unenviable prospect of a last-day play-off against the seventh-placed team in Division One, which could end up being local rivals Middlesex.

Having put a commanding 278 for six on the board, Mark Butcher's men appeared to be in the driving seat. But the difference between the two sides proved to be the Gladiators' two overseas representatives, Hamish Marshall and Ian Harvey. When Harvey came to the wicket in the eighth over of Gloucestershire's reply, the visitors needed to score at seven-and-a-half runs per over under lights.

But, for the next hour or so, the Australian all-rounder powered his way to 91 in 69 deliveries as 120 runs were added in twenty overs for the third wicket. Marshall, who has played 55 one-day internationals for New Zealand, then called on all of his experience to see the visitors home with eleven balls to spare to finish with an undefeated 105 from 86.

After winning the toss and predictably opting to bat the hosts raced to 120 without loss in fifteen overs. James Benning was the first to his half-century, which took 50 deliveries and included a straight six off Martyn Ball. Scott Newman's arrived just as the fielding restrictions were about to be relaxed. It took him only 37 balls.

But then, in what ultimately proved to be the crucial phase of the game, Surrey lost Benning to a catch at short mid-wicket, Newman to a miscued pull to mid-on and Butcher to an unplayable delivery from Steve Kirby. When Alistair Brown gave Chris Taylor a rare success, the Brown Caps had lost four wickets for 27 runs in seven overs.

Mark Ramprakash and Jonathan Batty got their side back on track with a fifth-wicket partnership that was worth 111 in sixteen overs. Batty hit 53 from 55 balls, including a six over third man off Kirby, before skying a catch to mid-wicket. Ramprakash then launched Harvey over the extra cover boundary in the penultimate over, before holing out to long-on. Still, Surrey to have more than enough runs in the bank.

That view was confirmed when Craig Spearman was run out by Tim Murtagh in the seventh over of the Gladiators' response and Phil Weston departed in the next over to a catch at mid-on off Jade Dernbach. But, not long after Harvey and Marshall came together, there was no further need for Gloucestershire to look back.

Harvey posted his half-century in 39 balls and in Chris Schofield's second over, the 19th, proceeded to launch two sixes over long-on. Marshall's fifty arrived five overs later off 42 deliveries. Dernbach claimed a moral victory when he had the Australian caught on the straight boundary, but his New Zealand colleague guided his team home, clubbing two maximums off Nayan Doshi along the way.

GO TO:

BACK TO: