Defeat for Derbyshire leaves them adrift at bottom again

Set an awkward victory target of 217 in 73 overs, Surrey slipped to 4-2 against a tenacious Derbyshire bowling attack on a tricky pitch that produced a relatively low-scoring contest.

But South Africa batsman Amla, rated at No 1 in the ICC world rankings for both Test and ODI cricket, batted for 202 minutes and faced 159 balls, hitting eight fours in just his fourth championship innings as Surrey’s latest overseas player.

He was joined in battling stands of 84, 58 and 45 by Vikram Solanki, Zander de Bruyn and Steven Davies respectively.

The win, Surrey’s first of the championship season, earned them 21 points and puts them on 97, two ahead of Derbyshire at the bottom of the first division. Surrey remain 15 points adrift of seventh-placed Somerset, but with a game in hand.

Derbyshire began the final day 161 runs ahead at 231-7 and they added another 55 mainly through the continuation of a fine eighth-wicket stand between Tom Poynton and David Wainwright.

They had put on 93 in 34 overs when Poynton was well held off bat and pad for a determined 141-ball 49.

It was the first of three wickets in nine balls for Gareth Batty, at the cost of just one run, as Surrey’s off-spinner and captain quickly wrapped up the innings for 286 to finish with 5-71.

Matt Higginbottom chipped tamely to mid-on and last man Mark Footitt also fell for one when he edged Batty to De Bruyn at slip.

Former Yorkshire player Wainwright was left 54 not out, an excellent innings spanning 107 balls, and a win for Surrey looked a long way off when Rory Burns was brilliantly caught at wide mid-off for four by a sprawling Wayne Madsen off Footitt in the third over and Arun Harinath safely pouched for a duck by Shivnarine Chanderpaul at first slip off Higginbottom in the next over.

Amla, however, settled in calmly and Solanki also looked assured as he added 44 before he was adjudged lbw to Footitt.

That left Surrey 88-3, but it would have been worse for them had Alex Hughes not dropped Amla on 24 at short extra cover off Wainwright when the total was 60. The miss grew ever more costly as Amla and De Bruyn took Surrey on to 146 before De Bruyn (31) nicked a catch off Hughes to wicketkeeper Poynton.

With just 26 more runs needed Amla was caught at slip off Wainwright. Davies also fell before victory was clinched, edging to Wayne Madsen at slip on 18 as he drove at Wainwright (2-72), before Zafar Ansari and Batty knocked off the remaining runs required with no further alarms to take Surrey to 218 for six with 6.2 overs left.