Ward puts Yorkshire on edge

Surrey 382 and 237-4 v Yorkshire 172 and 446 Surrey win by six wickets

Surrey took another big step towards winning the County Championship back from Yorkshire and simultaneously accrued a psychological edge before their C&G Trophy semi-final against the Tykes at Headingley on Wednesday.

While maybe not a crushing defeat, it was emphatic enough to remind all that this was no match between champions and pretenders; this was a one-sided affair between top and bottom, played on an excellent wicket.

This defeat leaves Yorkshire, like Surrey suffering from international calls and injuries, drifting away from the herd in Division One and ever nearer Division Two next year. "I will not accept it until it is mathematically certain," said their coach, Wayne Clarke.

They are not helped by the impending departure of Darren Lehmann, who plays one more Championship match in early August before joining Australia for international duty. Yorkshire have talked to the Sri Lankan Aravinda de Silva, but the outgoing chief executive, Chris Hassell, was pessimistic about the chances of securing him for the rest of the season for the same reason Lehmann is unavailable.

It left Clarke looking enviously at Surrey: "I can't see anyone stopping Surrey from winning the title, not with their squad." He singled out Rikki Clarke, their all-rounder. "He is one of the best-looking athletes I've seen. He should be put in the Academy squad straight away. I've left a message for Marshy [Rod Marsh, the Academy director] saying so."

Clarke is not the only decent player on the Oval books. The wicketkeeper Jon Batty reinforces Clarke's point about strength in depth. He is one of the unsung heroes – in and out of the side depending on what Alec Stewart is doing. But Batty is still expected to perform. And he does, whether opening the innings or batting down the order, as shown by two previous hundreds this summer and his first-innings 99 here.

And so do the other stand-ins. Batty, Ian Salisbury and others have been essential to Surrey hopes in the past few years with all the enforced absenteeism they have to endure. And nowhere was that more in evidence than in this tie.

For the second match running the man still there at the end was opener Ian Ward. And for the second match running he finished with an unbeaten hundred but, as happened last week, he needed support from the lower order and, like last week, he found it. Salisbury's first fifty of the season went a long way to helping Surrey rattle off the remaining 137 runs needed, and victory was achieved 25 minutes before lunch.

The conclusion to be drawn is that whereas Yorkshire resemble a collection of individuals, Surrey's individuals resemble a collective. With Yorkshire, when one is down they nearly all go down – with the exception of Lehmann – while Surrey have something of the Hydra in them; when one fails another two gifted players seem to pop up to carry on the good work. All very disheartening, especially when a side's confidence is down, as is Yorkshire's.

Surrey's, in contrast, is high. Their improbable victory over Kent last week and this latest win may not have clinched the title but it has made it a lot more difficult for the other aspirants to beat them to it.