Surrey still on top thanks to Davies hundred

Bad light forced an end to the day at Grace Road but Surrey, who had toppled two Leicestershire wickets for 66 runs by the time the umpires called time, are still in the ascendancy.

De Bruyn didn't last long this morning but Steven Davies, who remarkably has recorded scores in the 90s in every format this season without hitting a hundred, got the monkey off his back in this game - and what a good time to score it. He went on to score 121 off 218 balls to provide the backbone for Surrey's eventual total of 343. 40s from Jason Roy and Gareth Batty were the only other substantial contributions.

Again Stuart Meaker was held back from the new ball as Tim Linley and Chris Jordan performed opening bowling duties to kick off Leicestershire's second innings. I'm not sure what the rationale behind holding Meaker back is but I'd have thought exposing a Leicestershire lineup against whom he's taken 13 wickets to him as early as possible would've been better.

It was Linley again who made the first breakthrough as he had Matthew Boyce caught behind but Jefferson and Greg Smith made steady progress in a 46 run partnership in between breaks for bad light. Jordan bowled 8 overs for 19 runs without success - although he did have Jefferson caught at slip off a no ball (his eleventh of the season - Linley has bowled six no balls in about 300 more overs this year for comparison!). Three overs before the close Gareth Batty had Smith caught behind and nightwatchman Nathan Buck helped his side through to the end of the day.

Still 110 runs in arrears, but with 8 wickets left in hand, Leicestershire are down but not out just yet. I'd like to see Meaker bowl alongside Ojha tomorrow morning (or whenever rain allows them to get play started) as an early breakthrough or two might start Leicestershire sliding. With Middlesex in a mighty strong position against Northants it might not matter all that much, but with the door open for a victory Surrey must force the issue.

Ten out of ten - full marks!

The Surrey CB40 juggernaut rolls on as we today recorded our tenth consecutive win in this format, only one no-result against Durham blotting the copybook ever so slightly.

I said after the last game that Jason Roy's maiden List A hundred wouldn't be his last but I didn't expect him to make a second just four days later. Today's hundred was quicker but no less impressive as he guided Surrey from 12-2 to 244 by the time he was out. Some very useful runs from Matthew Spriegel and Yasir Arafat boosted the final total to an impressive 292. Roy now sits second in the list of leading run scorers, his 538 runs comfortably eclipsing any Surrey batsman's best effort from last season (Davies with 485). Spriegel has also been accumulating his runs nicely, 307 runs at 51 and a strike rate only just shy of 100 is impressive. His form with the bat has meant Adams' allrounder-heavy approach has paid dividends - credit to both of them for that.

I also said that Leicestershire had a tendency towards the collapse and today they did so again. After a rapid 50 from Josh Cobb saw them to 75-0 they then crumbled in a heap to Jade Dernbach (who recorded stunning figures of 4-7) and Chris Schofield (4-26) to 151 all out. Du Toit, Jefferson and Taylor all passed 20 but none got more than 26 and the final six wickets fell for 20 runs.

I wasn't all right though, of the bowlers who I named as potential dangers, Gurney and Naik both went for 10 an over or worse. And it wasn't quite all positive for Surrey either, Arafat was expensive and again failed to take a wicket, he now only has three scalps in his last four CB40 games - not good enough for a strike bowler. His lusty lower order hitting can be valuable but Adams might wonder whether Linley, Meaker or Dunn might be worthy of a chance against Durham on Bank Holiday Monday. Ansari leaked runs as well and where in the T20s he was largely quite economical in the 19 overs he's bowled in this format he's gone at nearly 7.5 an over, though he still offers his exceptional fielding talents which counts for much. So clearly abundant is his talent I think Adams will stick with him.

Our last two victories have been by 130 runs and 141 runs, and ten wins out of ten means a home semi-final is guaranteed. One fixture remains, a home game against Durham in eight days time and although there is nothing riding on it from our point of view, momentum is still hugely important. For the time being though, I'm sure they'll be basking in the glory of an exceptional run of form.

Semi-finals here we come

For the first time in what feels like a very long time, Surrey are into the latter stages of a major competition after a comfortable 130 run victory over Warwickshire tonight, with fully 11 overs remaining.

Even taking into account Warwickshire's focus on their Championship fixture against Hampshire starting tomorrow, this was probably our best CB40 performance of the season. But for some determined slogging from Steffan Piolet at the end the margin of victory would probably have been even higher.

On a surface which was much better suited to our battery of five (including Hamilton-Brown) spinners than Warwickshire's seam-heavy attack, our openers got off to their third consecutive flying start putting on 50 in five overs before Davies was out for 40. Hamilton-Brown and Roy continued to race along at nearly 10 an over until the former was caught behind, Chris Schofield came in at number four again but could only manage a three ball duck today.

At 96-3 it could've been panic stations but a steady 66 run partnership between Roy and Maynard recovered things. Then Maynard and de Bruyn then fell within four overs of one another, de Bruyn recording his fourth single-figures score in a row, and Spriegel was required to see Roy to his hundred, which he duly did.

Where previously Roy has perished hitting out perhaps a little early in his innings, today he showed great resolve and intelligence in reining himself in. His first limited overs hundred will not be his last by a long shot, we should count ourselves very lucky to have such a special batsman on board.

Matthew Spriegel played a crucial knock of 40 not out from 40 balls and shepherded the side to 282 which didn't look completely out of reach, but looked very useful.

It turned out to be way more than we needed with Arafat bowling economically and picking up the crucial wicket of Shiv Chanderpaul. Spriegel complemented his effort with the bat by bowling really well, 3-39 was his reward and in snaring Carter, Porterfield and Troughton LBW he took the guts out of the Warwickshire innings. Jade Dernbach returned identical figures to Spriegel, bowling well towards the end of the innings before Piolet started throwing the bat.

So a semi-final, possibly a home semi-final beckons and it's the first real success in competition terms for Chris Adams and Hamilton-Brown - they can be very proud of that achievement. The semis, with Sussex, Somerset, Durham and Nottinghamshire possibly involved will be a different prospect entirely but with the players we have in our squad, on our day we can beat anyone. Well played gentlemen.

Schofield and Roy: A magic gamble

Surrey took an enormous step towards the CB40 semi-finals tonight with an impressive run chase against Northamptonshire, rattling off the 297 runs required with an over and a ball to spare.

It seemed likely that our quest to win two of the final four games would become a much more pressured two from three after Northants, led primarily by young Alex Wakely's 94 from 77 balls on a fantastic batting track, piled on the runs. He was backed up by an even more rapid 55 from captain Andrew Hall with helpful cameos from two or three others.

None of the Surrey bowlers were able to tie down the Northants batsmen, Gareth Batty's 1-50 from his eight overs was the most economical return. Jade Dernbach did a good job to restrict the opposition in their powerplay in grabbing 3-53 but Yasir Arafat was again wayward, he bowled eight overs for 61 runs and didn't take even a single wicket.

Hamilton-Brown and Davies produced their second consecutive lightning limited overs start, putting on 75 runs at nearly 10 runs per over. But where in the past two wickets have fallen quickly precipitating a period of relatively slow scoring, and more wickets, tonight Adams and the skipper took a gamble which paid off handsomely.

After Davies fell with the score on 111, it was not Maynard but Schofield who joined Jason Roy at the crease. By the time they were parted 72 runs had been added at almost 8 an over, the required rate was down to six. The promotion of Schofield up the order, while not a long term solution, is ingenious. Batting down the order he is either required to hit every ball to the boundary or try and eke out his runs, at four he can just play his natural, attacking game. When Roy fell for a fine 65 off 42 balls we still had Maynard and de Bruyn to come.

Schofield carried on his merry way and with Maynard took Surrey to within 22 runs of their target. The four quick wickets of Maynard, Schofield, de Bruyn and Spriegel thereafter served notice of the dangers of the selection, but Arafat and Ansari were able to see us over the line.

One win from the final three games will almost certainly see us into the semi-final top of the group, and given we're the only side in the country unbeaten in the CB40 you have to say that's highly likely. Tonight was a seriously impressive performance, at the close of the Northants innings I didn't give us much of a chance, but we came through with a bit of room to spare. Well played.