RELEGATION from the totesport League first division remains a real threat for both these sides although the abandonment of this fixture was felt more keenly by Surrey, whose captain, Jonathan Batty, wanted the match to resume after a second rain delay.

“I thought the conditions would have allowed us to have continued,” he said. “I know they weren’t ideal but we could have got a game in.”

Holding a six-point advantage over the visiting side, it was perhaps no surprise that Ronnie Irani, the Essex captain, did not agree. “There was a tremendous amount of surface water on the ground and it was not fit for us to resume,” he said.

With Irani and Batty unable to agree, it was left to Trevor Jesty and Allan Jones, the umpires, to decide and after a lengthy inspection at 9.10pm, they declared the contest a “no result” even though it had ceased raining about an hour or so before.

Earlier showers had reduced the match to 32 overs per side and strokeplay was never going to be easy in the damp atmosphere. Essex, who chose to bat, made a quick start before Azhar Mahmood and Philip Sampson found the correct line and length and slowed their progress.

Only singles came in each of the fourth, fifth and sixth overs. Irani became frustrated and aimed across the line, Andy Flower was caught behind trying to run Martin Bicknell down to third man and Paul Grayson ran himself out for nought. Will Jefferson played an anchor role and reached his fifty from 72 balls, which included five fours. He drove powerfully on either side of the wicket.

ESSEX
W I Jefferson not out 61
*R C Irani lbw b Azhar 9
A Flower c Batty b Bicknell 17
A P Grayson run out 0
J D Middlebrook c Batty b Bicknell 18
J S Foster c Batty b Bicknell 7
G R Napier not out 9
Extras (lb 7, w 7) 14
Total (5 wkts, 25.1 overs) 135
A P Cowan, A R Adams, D Gough and Danish Kaneria to bat.

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-26, 2-57, 3-57, 4-87, 5-106.

BOWLING: Azhar Mahmood 5-0-16-1; Sampson 5-0-22-0; Murtagh 3.1-0-26-0; Bicknell 7-0-21-3; Doshi 1-0-12-0; Hollioake 4-0-31-0.

SURREY: S A Newman, J G E Benning, *J N Batty, R Clarke, A D Brown, A J Hollioake, Azhar Mahmood, M P Bicknell, T J Murtagh, P J Sampson, N D Doshi.

Umpires: T E Jesty and A A Jones.