Surrey v Middlesex Brit Oval (Middlesex won toss): Surrey Brown Caps (2pts) beat Middlesex Crusaders by six wickets

Mark Ramprakash stole the show again last night, equalling his highest score in the Twenty20 Cup with another masterful exhibition of thrilling strokeplay and dancing feet that gave Surrey the victory that they hope will kick-start their season.

It looked like being another disappointing night for Surrey, who are second from bottom of the LV County Championship first division, when they slipped to 24 for three in pursuit of a target of 164 in front of a crowd of 17,873 – more than 5,000 short of the ground’s capacity but still remarkable on a rainy night.

Chad Keegan had claimed James Benning and Alistair Brown in his first two overs and Tyron Henderson had removed Mark Butcher with his first ball for Middlesex but Ramprakash coolly overcame some early problems to make an unbeaten 85 off 52 balls with four sixes and eight fours.

Jonathan Batty, who hit 49 off 42 balls with a six and six fours, joined him in a fourth-wicket partnership of 110 in 12 overs that drove Middlesex to distraction as they tried to locate the ball in the gathering gloom. It was the last straw when Ramprakash was dropped by Tim Murtagh, the former Surrey fast-medium bowler, at backward point and then hit the first two balls of the last over, bowled by the luckless Murtagh, for four and six to settle the issue with four balls to spare.

Middlesex had been lifted by Jamie Dalrymple, who worked off his disappointment at being dropped from the England one-day squad with his highest score in the competition. He made 61 off 44 balls with two sixes and four fours, but it was not enough to save Middlesex from their seventh successive cup defeat by Surrey.