Clydesdale Bank 40: Chance of victory slips from Saltires' grasp

The bald facts show that the Saltires lost this match by 48 runs. The reality is that the home side would have been firmly in the hunt had they not leaked 41 runs from the last two overs of the Surrey innings. Scotland thus found themselves chasing an improbable victory target of 258 and, despite some encouraging individual displays, the task was beyond them.

Fraser Watts, warming to his first innings of the campaign, confidently stroked Yasir Arafat through the covers while opening partner Ryan Flannigan was also quick to latch onto anything inviting as he showed by striking Jade Dernbach's over-pitched delivery to the long-on boundary.

However, the introduction of Matthew Spriegel, who had earlier dominated the Surrey innings, brought immediate reward.

Watts had reached a fluent 27 when he attempted to sweep the off-spinner's second delivery only to be bowled behind his legs. Flannigan followed in the next over when he chipped a simple catch to Dernbach off the medium pace of Stewart Meaker, the second wicket falling with the score on 50.

Josh Davey also looked the part with an attractive 32 but the Saltires suffered a double blow when he and Richie Berrington departed in the same over.

It was left to Preston Mommsen and Neil McCallum to give the innings its substance in a stand of 72. Mommsen continued his excellent form with a run-a-ball 45 while McCallum marked his first appearance of the season with a belligerent 53 that included two big sixes.

However, when both were caught in the deep in the pursuit of runs, the chase petered out. Earlier Scotland made the breakthrough they wanted only to be put to the sword by a barrage of boundaries from Steve Davies and Jason Roy.

The Saltires' tails were up when Matty Parker induced a false shot from Rory Hamilton-Brown and took a regulation return catch. But Davies and Roy soon put the Lions in charge, the latter setting the tone with a straight six off Gordon Goudie. The same player continued with consecutive boundaries off Parker in the next over as Scotland's new-ball bowlers began to stray in line and length.

Davies handed out severe punishment to Goudie, following up two fours with an audacious clearance over the fine leg boundary.The Lions raced to 93-1 from the first ten overs before the brakes were applied as the Scots fought back in mid- innings, skipper Gordon Drummond the first to strike when he had Davies well caught by Berrington at cover point for a 28-ball 40.

Roy went on to complete a fine half-century before Majid Haq claimed his wicket for the second time in this campaign, teasing the batsman out of his crease before Gregor Maiden completed the stumping.

Haq also removed Tom Maynard cheaply while Davey picked up the wickets of Zander de Bruyn, brilliantly caught by Mommsen, and Chris Schofield as Surrey subsided to 171-6.

However, the visitors fought back to plunder those ultimately decisive runs from the last 12 deliveries of their innings. Spriegel did the bulk of the damage, rebuilding the innings with 50 from 64 balls before adding a further 32 from just nine deliveries - with three sixes off the unfortunate Parker.