Moxon sprinted to remonstrate with a man who had been shouting up at him on the players' balcony after Yorkshire tossed away a match-winning position.

Moxon ran down to confront the spectator in front of the Rugby Stand, where the pair had a five-minute exchange surrounded by stewards.

Yorkshire lost a rain-ruined game by 63 runs under the Duckworth-Lewis method after an abject batting collapse saw them plunge from 63-1 to 104 all-out in pursuit of a revised target of 168.

"What disappointed me most was that this man was questioning the attitude of the team," said Moxon, the county's director of professional cricket.

"There was a bit of personal abuse going on as well, which I felt I needed to put right, and I think we got things sorted out in the end.

"I've got no problems with spectators getting disappointed because we all get frustrated – spectators, coaches, everyone.

"But I was trying to explain to him that it wasn't about attitude, it was about the fact that we didn't bat well enough, and he accepted what I'd got to say and that's the end of the matter as far as I'm concerned."

Moxon's passion was palpable after his team made a hash of their run-chase, despite being given a flying start by Rana Naved-ul-Hasan.

The Pakistani bowler, coming in as a pinch-hitter at No 3, raced into the 40s with a procession of meaty blows to lay a solid platform for what looked like being Yorkshire's third victory in four Friends Provident Trophy games.

But an almighty clatter of wickets in a style that has had Moxon tearing his hair out for longer than he would care to remember scuppered Yorkshire's attempt to put one foot in the quarter-finals with four group games to play.

First, Jacques Rudolph was beaten in the flight by leg-spinner Chris Schofield and stumped after adding 59 with Rana following the early loss of Andrew Gale, who went lbw to Jade Dernbach.

Michael Vaughan edged Grant Elliott to the wicketkeeper after managing just 10 runs in 32 balls during a costly passage that took the wind out of Rana's sails.

Anthony McGrath went lbw to Schofield; Rana was caught behind off the same bowler one short of a half-century and walked off clearly unimpressed with Ian Gould's decision; Adil Rashid got a leading edge off Elliott, and Simon Guy was caught behind first ball off the same bowler to leave the innings in disarray.

After the weather intervened with the total on 86-7 in a game already reduced by morning rain to 47 overs per side, an already unfeasible task became all-but impossible when D/L calculations left Yorkshire wanting a further 82 from 29 balls.

They managed only a further 18 to be dismissed for 104 as the tail offered scant resistance.

In stark contrast to what followed, Yorkshire's bowling and fielding display could hardly be faulted.

After Surrey laid an encouraging foundation themselves by reaching 39 in the 10th over after winning the toss, Yorkshire captured four wickets for 20 runs including the dangerous Mark Ramprakash, who followed his century against Durham the previous day with a horrible slash at Ajmal Shahzad to be caught behind for five.

Shahzad was outstanding, returning 2-29 from nine overs and putting the squeeze on the Surrey scoring along with Richard Pyrah, who claimed
2-37 to enforce his status as arguably Yorkshire's most consistent one-day performer.

Surrey's innings was going nowhere until it was given much-needed impetus by Matthew Spriegel and wicketkeeper Gary Wilson, who added 67 for the sixth wicket before the latter was unluckily run-out backing up.

Spriegel finished unbeaten on a one-day career-best 56 from 90 balls during a Surrey innings that contained only nine boundaries. At one stage, the visitors went 25 overs without managing a boundary, highlighting how well the home side bowled.