AFTER conceding 406 runs to lose their championship game against Yorkshire the day before, Leicestershire endured few problems in defending a target of 195 yesterday. Their first victory of the season in the totesport League left Surrey, relegated from the first division in 2004, at the bottom without a point from the first four matches.

Although this was billed as Family Fun Day by the home club, a slow pitch militated against the kind of big hitting likely to entertain the crowd. In this context, the innings of 67 from 86 balls by Dinesh Mongia, though never fluent, stood out for its magnitude. Surrey made regular inroads in the last ten overs but also conceded 64 runs.

Even Scott Newman, fresh from his hundred and double hundred against Glamorgan, struggled to time the ball and David Masters maintained a stranglehold by bowling a straight line at a stifling medium pace. Mark Ramprakash sought to underpin the innings, only to hole out after taking 69 balls over his 34.

It proved to be the turning point of a game that was previously nicely balanced. Surrey, still without Mark Butcher and Graham Thorpe because of injury, lost four wickets in 15 balls to Darren Maddy and Mongia, whose left-arm spin produced personal best one-day figures of four for 15.