Hollioake seals Surrey's rise

An unbeaten 48 from their captain, Adam Hollioake, enabled Surrey to clinch promotion to the First Division of the National League with a six-wicket victory over Derbyshire at The Oval yesterday.

An unbeaten 48 from their captain, Adam Hollioake, enabled Surrey to clinch promotion to the First Division of the National League with a six-wicket victory over Derbyshire at The Oval yesterday.

Hollioake and Jason Ratcliffe put together a match-winning stand of 93 in 119 balls to see Surrey home with an over to spare. Victory puts unbeaten Surrey on the brink of winning the Championship but keeps Derbyshire rooted to the bottom.

Derbyshire were in serious trouble at 118 for 6 but Rob Bailey, who compiled his highest National league score of the season, played a leading role in turning things around. When he was clean bowled by Hollioake he had made 43 from 76 balls and Derbyshire's tail-enders inched the score along to 175. Once again it was Surrey's spinners who proved most effective, Saqlain Mushtaq finishing with 2 for 34 and Ian Salisbury 3 for 32.

Surrey found themselves struggling at 83 for 4 in reply, but Hollioake and Ratcliffe patiently picked off the singles to guide the home side to victory.

The England internationals at Yorkshire who were not involved in winning the two-day Test against the West Indies at Headingley had plenty to smile about yesterday. Matthew Hoggard and Chris Silverwood proved that his team-mates, Darren Gough and Craig White, are not the only ones capable of destroying the opposition as they bowled out Leicestershire for 53 to increase the county's chances of winning the FirstDivision title.

Yorkshire took just two and a half hours for their emphatic victory, Hoggard setting a new career best for the second match in succession, taking 5 for 28. He was backed up by Silverwood's 4 for 11. Yorkshire lost just two wickets in attaining their target.

Worcestershire's hopes of the title were held up by Somerset's Jamie Cox and Michael Burns who both scored half centuries in the visitors' total of 227 for 9 at Worcester. The home side fell well short with their reply, losing by 53 runs.

Tony Penberthy was in top form for Northamptonshire at Eastbourne, taking 4 for 32 as Sussex reached 196. Richard Montgomerie scoring 89 to keep Sussex in with a chance of victory, but a sparkling unbeaten 84 by David Sales guided Northamptonshire to a six-wicket win.

Hampshire's Allan Mullally was another England bowler to perform well, taking four wickets in an eight-wicket win over Second Division rivals Essex at Colchester. Robin Smith and Derek Kenway both hit half centuries in an opening stand of 120 for Hampshire.

On Saturday, Lancashire kept themselves in the hunt for their first outright County Championship title win since 1934 after their 154-run success against Kent at Old Trafford. The 16 points put them two points behind Yorkshire. Chris Schofield produced his best all-round performance for the club with an unbeaten 70 in Lancashire's second innings and 4 for 25 as Kent were bowled out for 125.