They said Alastair Cook would never hit a six. That he should score a hundred in Twenty20 cricket was so fantastical that anyone suggesting it would have been advised to seek urgent medical attention.

Away from the international lights, he has been transforming himself into a useful Twenty20 player, and he spread his wings on Thursday with an unbeaten hundred off 57 balls, with 11 fours and four sixes, including consecutive maximums off Matthew Spriegel. He reached three figures off the penultimate ball, the best way to sign off before joining England for the Ashes.

Seventeen thousand fans were there to watch in glorious sunshine, not bad after 15,000 the night before and considering that Surrey have no chance of qualifying. They never realistically threatened to chase down the visiting team’s total of 210. Essex, semi-finalists last season, took a big step towards the quarter-finals with their fifth win in eight games.

Cook was matched by his opening partner, Mark Pettini, who followed his unbeaten 80 against Middlesex on Monday with 87 off 53 balls. By the time Pettini was trapped leg-before by Chris Jordan in the seventeenth over with the score on 169, they were only six runs short of the record opening stand in Twenty20 cricket, the 175 put on by Graeme Hick and Vikram Solanki against Northamptonshire at Kidderminster in 2007.

There was little unorthodox, but there did not need to be because of Surrey’s ordinary bowling. The exception was André Nel, who went for 22 off his four overs.

By contrast, both Surrey openers were bowled in the second over. The home team had the same score as Essex, 53, at the end of six overs and were only three behind after ten, on 85, but by then they were five wickets down against superior bowling and they were all out in the sixteenth over.

At Taunton, the match in the Midlands/West/Wales division between Somerset Sabres and Northamptonshire Steelbacks was called a no contest after rain forced the game to stop after only five overs of Northamptonshire's innings. Both teams earned a point.

Essex
*M L Pettini lbw b Jordan 87
A N Cook not out 100
R S Bopara c Ramprakash b Elliott 1
G R Napier c Benning b Elliott 6
R N ten Doeschate not out 12
Extras (lb 1, w 1, nb 2) 4
Total (3 wkts, 20 overs) 210
M J Walker, G W Flower, †J S Foster, J D Middlebrook, D D Masters and Danish Kaneria did not bat.
Fall of wickets: 1-169, 2-170, 3-176.
Bowling: Nel 4-0-22-0; Jordan 3-0-31-1; Elliott 4-0-37-2; Spriegel 3-0-40-0; Schofield 4-0-54-0; Afzaal 2-0-25-0.

Surrey
S A Newman b Napier 1
J G E Benning b Napier 7
M R Ramprakash b Ten Doeschate 23
*U Afzaal lbw b Bopara 30
S J Walters c and b Kaneria 6
G D Elliott b Middlebrook 4
M N W Spriegel run out 0
C P Schofield b Middlebrook 8
C J Jordan c Napier b Ten Doeschate 3
†G C Wilson c Bopara b Kaneria 16
A Nel not out 12
Extras (lb 6, w 10) 16
Total (15.2 overs) 126
Fall of wickets: 1-9, 2-12, 3-60, 4-71, 5-85, 6-86, 7-86, 8-96, 9-99.
Bowling: Masters 3-0-17-0; Napier 2-0-19-2; Bopara 2-0-17-1; Kaneria 2.2-0-13-2; Middlebrook 3-0-28-2; Ten Doeschate 3-0-26-2.

Umpires: R J Bailey and T E Jesty.