Surrey facing final week battle after draw

Surrey 225 and 313 for 5 (Ramprakash 126, Batty 76*) drew with Warwickshire 338 and 26 for 0
Scorecard
Points Table

Warwickshire's clash against Surrey at Edgbaston petered out into a tame draw on the final day. Mark Ramprakash helped himself to another century but with Warwickshire's first division status confirmed yesterday they will not have been too bothered by the outcome. The draw leaves Surrey needing a win in their last game of the season, against Middlesex, to avoid relegation.

However, Warwickshire will have sensed an outside chance of forcing a win after they snapped up two early wickets. Mark Butcher fell to Alex Loudon - the young offspinner who is interesting the England selectors with his bowling - and Saqlain Mushtaq was caught off Makhaya Ntini, leaving Surrey 70 for 3, still 43 behind.

But Rikki Clarke made a forceful 45, adding 93 with Ramprakash, and taking Surrey into the lead. Ramprakash had few problems reaching his century from 174 balls and as the draw became assured he and Jonathan Batty eased their way to a stand of 150.

When Ramprakash fell Warwickshire were set an impossible 201 and play was called off after 11 overs, leaving Surrey on the brink of relegation.