A quite breathtaking knock of 108 not out from a mere 63 balls by Alistair Brown enabled the Surrey Lions to register back-to-back totesport League victories when they trounced the Leicestershire Foxes by six wickets with thirty-three balls to spare under the lights at the Oval.

Brown had arrived at the wicket in the seventeenth over with his side in a spot of bother at 65 for three, 193 runs adrift of victory, yet raced to a 30-ball fifty that rapidly brought the Lions back into contention. His partnership with skipper Mark Ramprakash soon allowed the home fans to erase memories of the early struggles their team had endured against Ottis Gibson and the excellent Charl Willoughby, who produced a opening spell figures of 7-0-23-1.

Inflexible captaincy by the Foxes' captain, H.D. Ackerman, allowed Surrey's two best players of spin to first milk and then maul the visitors' three slow men, which saw them take control during the middle overs of the innings. By the time Ackerman reacted, returning Gibson to the attack, the game was as good as over and Brown was on the brink of an outstanding century, which he duly reached from just 57 balls by driving Dinesh Mongia for a magnificent straight six.

Ramprakash, who had completed his personal fifty from 59 deliveries, eventually perished for sixty-nine to the belatedly recalled Willoughby; though not before a thrilling assault on Claude Henderson had carried his side to the verge of victory at 231 for four in the thirty-seventh over.

The brilliant strokeplay that had seen the Ramprakash-Brown partnership accumulate 166 runs from only 122 balls was then continued by Azhar Mahmood, who blasted an unbeaten twenty-two from just twelve deliveries as the Lions roared home with plenty to spare.

Man-of-the-match Brown left the field to a standing ovation, having recorded one of the fastest hundreds by a Surrey player in one-day cricket and further enhanced his fine career record against Leicestershire in the limited-overs form of the game.

Earlier in the afternoon the Foxes had opted to bat, but made a sluggish start after losing Darren Maddy in the fifth over to a marvellous leaping catch by Stewart Walters, who intercepted a full-blooded pull at square leg. Ackerman, and Tom New in particular, were then overly cautious in re-establishing the innings in the face of excellent new-ball spells from Azhar and Tim Murtagh, and by the time New chipped Nayan Doshi to Brown at long-on, Leicestershire were almost halfway through their allocation of overs with only 81 runs on the board.

Their position then deteriorated further when Mongia edged his second ball to Ian Salisbury at slip as soon as Ramprakash re-introduced Azhar for a two-over burst in mid-innings. Some much needed impetus was eventually supplied by Ackerman as he accelerated to a 65-ball half-century in company with a very positive Aftab Habib. The pair shared a 78-run partnership for the fourth wicket. However, this turned out to be a comparative calm before a storm. After the Foxes' skipper - who made 78 - had driven the deserving Doshi low to midwicket with the scoreboard reading 163 for four in the thirty-sixth over, carnage ensued as ninety-five runs gushed from the final nine overs of the innings.

Habib's fine 52 off 56 balls was upstaged by Paul Nixon's brutal knock of forty-seven in 28 deliveries and a 13-ball cameo of twenty-five by Jeremy Snape. Finally, Leicestershire had done justice to a typically excellent Bill Gordon pitch, though the ease with which they had amassed 126 runs from the closing thirteen overs suggested - correctly, as it turned out - that their total of 258 for five was no better than par.

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