Warwickshire beat Surrey under lights at Edgbaston

The Surrey Lions eased their way to victory over the Warwickshire Bears under lights last night at Edgbaston. The victory, by seven wickets places the Lions at the top of the National League Division Two.

Surrey were set 163 to win, and, at the innings break, everything looked set up for a close game. However, Alistair Brown and Alec Stewart took the game out of the Bears reach with some tremendous shots.

After the early loss of Butcher, both Stewart and Brown launched at some weak bowling. Stewart was typically fierce on anything pitched up on off stump. Brown savaged anything short, and both men hit big sixes. Stewart launched Giles for a straight six, whilst Brown repeated the feat, against the pace of Ed Giddins. Brown was badly dropped by Smith at mid-wicket, but by the time he was out - for 45, to an awful leg before decision - the damage had been done.

Graham Thorpe joined the fun with a couple of crisply timed cover drives to the ropes. He was run out from a terrible mix up, and it was left to Alec Stewart and Adam Hollioake to guide the Lions home. Hollioake found it impossible to get himself in, tied down in particular by Graeme Welch.

Despite his advancing years, Alec Stewart looked a class above. He top scored with an unbeaten 72, as the Lions won with overs to spare.

Earlier in the afternoon, the Bears had Nick Knight to thank for getting any sort of total whatsoever. Knight, who was clearly struggling for form, stuck around for 82. He was given some support from Dominic Ostler, but it was Saqlain Mushtaq that restricted the Bears. His nine overs cost 24, the Pakistani off-spinner picking up two wickets. He removed Ostler, stumped as he mis-read Saqqy's 'magic ball.' David Hemp went very next ball, padding up to a beauty.

Early signs suggested that the pitch was going to play uneven. The ball moved around early on, and the Bears found scoring particularly difficult throughout. They lost quick wickets at the end, and found it impossible to hit boundaries, the last four of their innings coming in the 33rd over. Indeed, the Bears hit just nine boundaries in their 45 overs, six of those from the blade of Nick Knight.

Saqlain made the difference with the ball, Stewart with the bat. It shows clearly how top cricketers are able to dominate the county scene. Of Warwickshire's internationals, Ed Giddins bowled just three overs, for 20 runs. He had a catch dropped. It wasn't his day, just as it wasn't the Bears' day.