Maynard tribute dominates tearful day

In a game celebrating the life of Tom Maynard, the Surrey and England Lions batsman who died tragically in a dawn accident on the London underground in June, Surrey secured a resounding victory over his first county Glamorgan.

This was a day in which this CB40 group tie was essentially a complement to the main event: the completion of a 150-mile bike ride from Cardiff to The Oval in aid of the Tom Maynard Trust, which was set up after the death of one of England's most promising young batsmen.

At the front of the cyclists, who numbered more than 20, was a teary Matthew Maynard, his father, accompanied among others by the former England and Glamorgan batsman turned journalist, Steve James and former England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff.

When they rode into The Oval, for a lap of honour, it signaled the official launch of the Trust, which has already raised £22,000. It has been created to give young cricketers opportunities to further their development, such as through equipment and playing and coaching overseas in the winter.

Cheques for the first recipients - Surrey's Matthew Dunn and George Edwards, and Glamorgan's David Lloyd - were presented.

Both sides also wore shirts to commemorate Maynard - all Surrey's players wore 55, Maynard's Surrey number, with T.L.M., his initials, on the back; Glamorgan's wore 33, his shirt number there, and Maynard on their backs. Both shirt numbers will be retired in Tom's honour.

When play began, after a minute's applause in Maynard's honour, the highlight of the match was an enthralling duel between Kevin Pietersen and Simon Jones.

Pietersen's arrival, after Steven Davies's miserable form continued by being bowled by Graham Wagg, was the source of much excitement. Glamorgan may have got a little over-excited, because Wagg immediately switched from his left-arm seam to left-arm spin, hoping for a repeat of Pietersen's first ball dismissal to Hampshire's Liam Dawson on Sunday. But, even against left-arm spin first ball, Pietersen can be trusted to thrash wide long hops to the boundary.

Pietersen had advanced to 18 by the time Jones was introduced to the attack. He flicked Jones's first ball to the leg-side boundary in characteristic style, and a thumping straight drive off Jones also stood out in his 43.

But it was ended by a terrific delivery from Jones, which pitched on middle-and-off and took out the top of offstump. Jones was impressive in his six overs, in which he also claimed a return catch from a slower ball that deceived Jason Roy and was wrongly denied the wicket of Matt Spriegel lbw. It is unlikely, but not totally unthinkable, that he could yet play for England as a Twenty20 specialist.

Surrey's batting has been unreliable all season, and today was no exception. Rory Hamilton-Brown, on a particularly difficult day for him, as a housemate and former school pal of Maynard, was dropped first ball and provided a reminder of his buccaneering strokeplay in hitting 28, by far his best score since his return to the side.

As is often the case, it took sensible batting from Matt Spriegel, whose 51 contained only one boundary but much industrious running, to haul Surrey up to a respectable total. In domestic one-day cricket Spriegel has quietly become an excellent player, as his characteristically frugal opening spell of off-breaks further illustrated: he was deservedly named man-of-the-match.

Support from Zafar Ansari, with a perky 30, and Stuart Meaker, who struck three powerful legside boundaries, helped Surrey reached 219-9.

With the pitch turning prodigiously, Glamorgan never threatened to challenge Surrey's total. Chris Cooke was their only batsman to look assured, with his straight-driving oozing class; that he was run-out rather summed up Glamorgan's run chase.

Gareth Batty with three wickets in two overs, including a sharply turned off-break to dismiss Stewart Walters, showed that he could have been of use in England's World T20 squad. Only some late-order frolics from Graham Wagg and Dean Cosker pushed Glamorgan over 100 and at least provided some excitement for the crowd, boosted by Surrey awarding 7,000 complimentary tickets to members of the local community.

Surrey's crushing victory did their net runrate a huge boost - something that could yet be important in giving them a chance to defend their CB40. It was a title that, as everyone at The Oval needs no reminding, Tom Maynard did much to help them win.