GOOD news at last for the England selectors as Graham Thorpe travelled up past Hadrian’s Wall and came away with some much-needed runs. He arrived in the middle of a mini crisis as Surrey, chasing Scotland’s first impressive total of the season, saw their runaway start broken as Scott Newman and Mark Ramprakash were out to consecutive balls.

But Thorpe stuck doggedly to his task to see his side home with something to spare, perishing 11 runs short of the victory target for an impressive 69.

For a long time, he was playing second fiddle to Alistair Brown and he was never nearly as flamboyant as his partner, whose 65 came in a flurry of boundaries, including sixes off consecutive deliveries from Ryan Watson, but Thorpe stuck to what he does best, relying on placement rather than brute force for most of his runs.

It was always an easy batting strip and the Surrey batsmen must have been confident after watching Scotland threaten to compile a match-winning total but yet again fall short of their potential. Fraser Watts fell frustratingly on 39, which brought Jonathan Beukes to the crease and as long as he was there, a daunting target was possible.

Then he got himself out for 91, leaving the tail to struggle and 252, while Scotland’s best total of the season, was still 20 to 30 runs short of what it could have been. Just how short was demonstrated as Newman and Jonathan Batty put on 88 for the first wicket.