Scots recover before rain forces abandonment

Defending champions Surrey were forced to share the points with Scotland after rain ruined their Clydesdale Bank 40 encounter at The Oval. Only 23 overs were possible before the weather closed in with the visitors having recovered from a poor start.

Surrey new-ball pairing Jade Dernbach and Stuart Meaker had threatened to blow the Scots away as they were reduced to 46 for 4. An unbroken stand of 78 between Jean Symes and Preston Mommsen slowed Surrey's progress before the rain halted it completely.

Scotland's South African overseas signing Symes batted particularly well for his 58 not out, while Mommsen - who has played one County Championship match for Leicestershire this summer - was 30 not out from 33 balls when the weather closed in. The point was enough to give Surrey sole ownership of the top position in Group B, while Scotland collected a fourth point of the campaign to stay fifth.

The visitors had been in immediate troubled when Meaker made the initial strike, forcing Calum MacLeod to glove a ferocious lifter straight up into the air and into the gloves of wicketkeeper Steven Davies.

Dernbach then made a double strike in the seventh over of the innings. Josh Davey, on 7 and attempting to pull, spliced a simple catch to mid-on, before Dernbach seamed one back into Craig Wallace's pads to have him lbw for a duck.

But left-hander Symes, in at No. 5, then pulled Dernbach for four and lofted and cut Murali Kartik's left-arm spin for further boundaries as he led the Scottish fightback. Ewan Chalmers, who made 10 as the total was doubled, fell to Kartik when he presented a straightforward return catch, but Mommsen then came in to join Symes in a spirited partnership.

Symes included seven fours in his 50, and had just scythed the recalled Meaker for six over the short third-man boundary when a fine drizzle turned to heavier rain and the players were forced from the field, never to return.