DOMINIC CORK hit the second-fastest century of the season yesterday but it did no more than delay the inevitable before Surrey completed a crushing victory with a day and a half to spare to soar into the top three in the first division and leave Lancashire anchored in the relegation zone.

Steve Rixon, the Surrey coach, has been saying throughout his first traumatic summer at the Oval that, if his side could put two wins together, he would have a better idea of where they stood. Now that they have done it he can see light at the end of the tunnel.

“I was confident that we would get our heads around playing all brands of cricket and we are doing that now,” he said. “What pleased me most was the way our seam bowlers worked together and, most importantly, assessed the conditions a little better than the opposition.”

The return of Martin Bicknell for the first time in six weeks allowed James Ormond to perform like the strike bowler he is and, with Azhar Mahmood and Tim Murtagh supporting them, Surrey never let Lancashire off the hook after reducing them to 21 for four in their first innings. All they needed after that was a commanding innings and Mark Ramprakash produced it.

Lancashire still needed 258 to make Surrey bat again when they resumed yesterday on 57 for three and were hurtling towards defeat when Bicknell had Jamie Haynes leg-before with his fifth ball and Ormond defeated Chris Schofield from around the wicket. Carl Hooper made 51 off 99 balls with a six and nine fours before pushing tamely forward against Azhar to be caught behind, while Glen Chapple was stunned to be run out by Murtagh’s direct hit from 75 yards away on the square-leg boundary.

All that remained was for Cork, combative to the last, to make his bid for the season’s fastest century. Andre Adams, of Essex, has set the pace with a hundred off 80 balls and Cork took only one ball more, hitting seven sixes and ten fours and going on to 109 before he holed out on the mid-wicket boundary.

It was scant consolation for Lancashire, championship favourites at the start of the season but now relegation candidates.