With Surrey polishing off Leicestershire inside three days and Kent on the brink of losing at Edgbaston, the Oval outfit would now have to do something truly remarkable to miss out on a third championship in three seasons.

With four matches to go, Adam Hollioake’s men have the luxury of a 36.25-point lead over their nearest rivals. In a year that has generally seen the bat govern the ball, the championship leaders have rarely passed up the opportunity to put big scores on the board. They certainly owed their success in this match to the way they worked over Leicestershire’s bowlers on the opening day. But, for the home side, to twice be bowled for less than 300 on a strip as low and slow as the one at Grace Road was reprehensible.

At tea on the second day the game looked likely to end in a draw. For 22 wickets to then fall in four sessions cannot be blamed on the pitch. The only explanation one can possibly give for the Foxes’ performance is that they were distracted by the shock news that James Whitaker, the club’s secretary-manager, had resigned after three years in the job. Surrey’s mini collapse was due simply to their eagerness to complete the job.

It took the visitors less than eleven overs to polish off Leicestershire at the first time of asking. Philip DeFreitas was out to Mushtaq Ahmed’s fifth delivery of the day when he changed his mind and went back to a full-pitched delivery. Four overs later Jamie Grove was defeated by a googly, which took out his off stump. Surrey then profited from Matthew Whiley’s lack of presence. Awaiting the outcome of an lbw shout, Nadeem Shahid threw down his stumps from short leg. Jimmy Ormond wrapped things up when he had Devon Malcolm gloving the ball to Jonathan Batty.

Surrey soon had Leicestershire in further trouble when Martin Bicknell lured Trevor Ward into playing across the line. But then another valuable alliance between Sutcliffe and Maddy seemed as if it would provide the platform for a sizeable total. Darren Maddy had the confidence to sweep Mushtaq Ahmed from outside off stump and overtook Sutcliffe for the second time in the match when he hit four successive fours off Mark Butcher in the final over before lunch.

Maddy struck three more boundaries in Ormond’s fourth over after the break. The second, from a straight drive, took the all-rounder to his seventh half-century of the campaign in only 54 deliveries. Iain Sutcliffe reached his fifteen overs later, off 123 balls, with a cover driven four off Alex Tudor.

When Sutcliffe on drove Mushtaq Ahmed for four in the 45th over the pair had put on 150. In the next, however, Martin Bicknell moved Alistair Brown from second slip out to the off-side and tempted the left-hander with a wide half-volley, which he obligingly drilled straight to cover. The stand-in captain had batted for nearly three hours, which, as it transpired, was longer than it would then take Surrey to apply the coup de grâce.

Close catches either side of the wicket brought Mushtaq Ahmed the scalps of Stevens and Burns to add to his five for 71 in the first innings. But it was James Ormond, who recovered from the effects of flattening a piece of fencing earlier in the day, who claimed the key wicket of Darren Maddy with the first ball after tea.

Leicestershire’s last five wickets went down in the space of 32 balls. Alex Tudor took four for six and sandwiched amongst those was a third victim for Mushtaq, two balls after he had been clouted over long-on for six by Whiley.

Philip DeFreitas, who effectively made a pair yesterday, did not take the field. So, with the visitors needing 40 to win, Matt Whiley took the new ball and then the wicket of Ian Ward. Devon Malcolm claimed had his first success in the game when he had Batty caught at second slip. Two overs later the 39-year-old fast bowler also accounted for Butcher off an inside edge.

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