Stuart Clark proved that he is ideally suited for Rose Bowl pitches, using his 6ft 5½in to secure his best limited-overs figures, six for 27, and enable Hampshire to defeat Surrey with relative ease and assure themselves of a semi-final against Warwickshire here in the Friends Provident Trophy.

Clark took five for 16 in his initial spell, which reduced Surrey to 36 for six. The Australia bowler gained lift and movement, but also profited from rash shots, not least from Scott Newman and Alistair Brown. Azhar Mahmood was well taken by Sean Ervine at point and Jonathan Batty was beaten by movement away from the bat. The most important wicket of all, that of Mark Ramprakash, bowled for a duck by a ball that angled into him and then left him off the pitch, was taken by Dimitri Mascarenhas.

Had Clark not been taken off with two of his overs remaining, Surrey might well have struggled to reach three figures. Chris Tremlett was not the same threat. Rikki Clarke and Chris Schofield, whose unbeaten 75 was his highest one-day score, then added 122 in 31 overs. It was somewhat formu- laic limited-overs cricket: after the collapse, the substantial stand down the order, the field set back and the most potent bowler held back, followed by Hampshire taking their time to reach a modest total. Yet credit to this pair.

The reply owed much to John Crawley, who reached his half-century with a six off Schofield and hit four fours besides. Michael Carberry also contributed and, although four wickets fell for 15, Hampshire triumphed with ten balls left.