Yet another great week in the life of Surrey cricket. Having made hay while the sun shone in Southampton, the club is now sitting pretty at the top of the championship table.

What's more, Ali Brown has been restored to the England One Day squad to face South Africa this week in the Texaco series.

Last Sunday had seen the team beaten by Yorkshire in a low-scoring game at Headingley. The pill was sweetened by the return to form of Darren Gough, spearhead of the England attack, who was back to his penetrative best.

Surrey then journeyed to the south coast to play neighbours Hampshire.

The game appeared to be played on two different pitches as Surrey amassed a huge total of 591, the highest in the championship so far. But Hampshire struggled in both innings to lose inside four days by an innings and 184 runs.

Surrey star performers were Ali Brown and Mark Butcher who both scored centuries, and wicket-keeper-batsman Jonathan Batty, who contributed valuable late order runs to pile on the pressure.

As pleasing was Alex Tudor's return with a devastating 4 for 32 to set the seal on an impressive win.

In the Sunday game a poor all-round display saw Surrey surrender the initiative tamely.

But another away game, a championship one this time, against Somerset at Taunton, could enable us to maintain this winning streak and carry on the momentum to the Benson and Hedges quarter final against Lancashire next Wednesday.

We look forward to the challenge.

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