Hollioake refuses to write off title rivals Lancashire

The Surrey captain, Adam Hollioake, was delighted with his team's County Championship success over their First Division rivals Lancashire - but is not ruling them out of the title race just yet.

The Surrey captain, Adam Hollioake, was delighted with his team's County Championship success over their First Division rivals Lancashire - but is not ruling them out of the title race just yet.

"Most people thought after our first innings that it would be very difficult to get a result because of all the rain," said Hollioake. "But I was very pleased with the way we played and felt it was a great all-round performance," he added.

Ian Salisbury and Saqlain Mushtaq dealt the main blows by spinning Surrey to a crushing 272-run win at The Oval on Saturday. Salisbury claimed 5 for 46 and Saqlain 3 for 45 as the visitors, chasing an improbable target of 418, were skittled out for just 145 to leave Surrey 19 points clear of third-placed Lancashire at the summit.

Yorkshire provided a poor advert for the four-day game as a high-scoring encounter against Somerset fizzled out at Taunton. Peter Bowler and Keith Parsons, unbeaten on 139 and 108 respectively, led the hosts to a declaration on 368 for 3, whereupon the game was brought to a halt with Somerset exactly 400 ahead. It was Bowler's third championship century of the season, while Parsons grabbed his first

A thrilling final day at Derby saw Luke Sutton and Michael Di Venuto retrieve a draw for Derbyshire when a Hampshire victory had seemed certain. A career-best knock of 79 from Sutton, together with Di Venuto's unbeaten 78, saw the hosts snatch the result that does however leave both sides at the wrong end of the division.