Surrey cruise to 10-wicket triumph

Surrey seemed intent on winning by as large a margin as possible, taking few chances and dropping the scoring rate as they gradually approached the modest target of 159. They eventually finished comfortably, with all their wickets intact, hitting the winning runs with 22.5 overs to spare.

By playing almost their strongest side available - Mark Ramprakash and Graham Thorpe are still unfit - in this third round Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy match against the Surrey Cricket Board XI, consisting of players from clubs around the county, Surrey showed just how seriously they were taking this match at Guildford.

The only change in their side today from the one that belted a record-breaking total of 361 two days ago against Nottinghamshire was Jonathan Batty, behind the stumps, with Alec Stewart resting.

For Surrey's left-handed pair of opening batsmen, Mark Butcher and Ian Ward, it was a second successive century partnership in three days. They batted entirely unperturbed against the Board's bowling and scored at ease from the start when Butcher made his intentions known with two boundaries in the first over. They continued taking eight an over until the fifty came up.

The game was hardly a contest. The bowling obligingly provided practice for the Surrey openers. Ward was the first to his half-century, from 55 balls, and five overs later Butcher reached his, off 68. Their innings progressed without a blemish as they averaged six runs an over.

Finally, Ward took a boundary at wide mid-wicket to take his score to 70 off 81 balls and the total to 156. Butcher then drove the next ball, the first of the new over, to mid-off for the winning boundary. It took the total to 160 and him to 73 from 85 balls. He had hit 12 boundaries, as had Ward.

Earlier, the amateurs of the Board X1, having been put in to bat on a cloudy morning, which did brighten later, began well with the left and right-handed combination of Tim Hodgson and John Wileman. Both these batsmen have had some experience of first-class cricket, Wileman with Nottinghamshire and Hodgson with Essex.

They started briskly at more than five runs an over which dropped to four by the tenth over but with 46 on the board, Wileman, 15, edged to second slip off Martin Bicknell. That brought about a top-order collapse which saw four wickets go down for seven within four overs.

Hodgson was run out for 25 and then, man-of-the-match Ed Giddens, claimed the next two in his fifth over. The fifth-wicket stand brought a recovery with 45 when once again the Board lost quick wickets.

The left-handed Scott Newman, who had played confidently for the second highest score of 27, struck four boundaries before being fifth out, leg before wicket to Adam Hollioake. With the seventh wicket falling on 124, the home side had lost three in the space of 27 runs.

Chris Bullen, formerly with Surrey as an off spinner, showed his capabilities with the bat as his top score of 36, from only 38 balls, greatly helped the Board to reach 158 before being dismissed with 4.5 overs remaining. He had hit the only six of the innings - off Saqlain Mushtaq over mid-wicket - before the wily off-spinner trapped him leg before with the next ball.