It had to happen eventually...

You can't win 'em all, and today Surrey lost their first CB40 game of 2011 despite a spirited effort with the bat.

Hamilton-Brown lost an important toss and from the word go Surrey were chasing the ball around. The captain himself elected to open the bowling again and Phil Mustard proceeded to sweep him around at will, 13 runs were on the board with the game only six balls old. Mustard didn't let up there either as Chris Jordan was carted about at ease. Jordan's first ball was an impressive yorker but that was almost where the good bowling ended, he provided the batsmen with too much width and it was boundaries galore for Durham's opening batsmen.

When Matthew Spriegel was introduced for the seventh over 71 runs were already on the board it was a relief to see him have Callum Thorp stumped off a wide. Stuart Meaker took a good catch an over later to send Mustard back to the dressing room but he'd already feasted on some very average bowling to reach 66 off just 31 balls.

The Durham innings was anchored by an impressive 96 from Paul Collingwood who rarely seemed to take any risks at all. Only two Surrey bowlers (incidentally the sixth and seventh bowlers to be used in the innings) finished with economy rates below 8 and they weren't helped by some uncharacteristically shoddy fielding. 17 runs were given away in wides and no balls and probably 20 more were given away through mis-fields.

The Durham total of 325 looked well out of reach even if the pitch was looking decidedly docile. Graham Onions, who was a cut-above all day, gave them an excellent start having Steven Davies caught off a top edge in the first over and it all looked like it would be well beyond Surrey. Jason Roy scored just five and Hamilton-Brown was involved in another run out, this time he was the man who had to go as he didn't dive to make his ground.

However first Tom Maynard and then Chris Schofield and Matthew Spriegel had other ideas. Maynard played an excellent innings of 56 from just 40 balls before he was bowled by Callum Thorp. And then Schofield - reverting to his more usual number spot in the order combined superbly with Spriegel in a counter-attacking partnership of 98, both finding the boundary regularly. The batting powerplay was delayed and had it been taken with the two of them firing, who knows what might have happened. As it was, Schofield, who had feasted on the spin of Blackwell and Breese, found life tougher against the quicker bowlers as Claydon sent a ball across him and he was caught easily by Collingwood.

Spriegel kept at his task gamely, peppering the boundaries but first Batty, who criminally failed to run his bat in, was run out and then Chris Jordan completed a dreadful day at the office with a first ball duck. When Spriegel was out bowled off his pads by Claydon the game really was up, Surrey ended 36 runs short but without Spriegel things would have been far worse.

So the unbeaten run ends and we now know our semi-final opponents - Sussex will come to the Oval on Sunday. That will be an incredibly tough ask and Chris Adams has some real thinking to do. Jordan's terrible performance today effectively rules him out of such a crucial game but with Schofield and Spriegel in such good form with the bat that might not be such a headache. Will he persist with Meaker or go back to Linley? Which of Ojha or Arafat should play? Is Chris Tremlett going to be available after injury?

Despite winning 10 of 11 group games, Adams probably still does not know his best side. Wholesale changes are unlikely ahead of Sunday and the same basic ingredients will probably comprise the side, but the precise make-up may be tinkered with. The next six days are easily Adams' biggest test as coach - a must-win Championship game against Northamptonshire starting on Wednesday followed by a CB40 semi-final on Sunday. Here's hoping they can rise to the challenge.

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.