LV COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP DIVISION TWO, Northampton:
Surrey 386 & 241-3 beat Northants 397 & 229 by seven wickets
Surrey 22pts, Northants 7pts
Match scorecard

Veteran Mark Ramprakash hit half-centuries in both Surrey innings

Mark Ramprakash hit an unbeaten 79 as Surrey secured their first Championship win of the season against Northants.

Set 241, Surrey cruised home by seven wickets after tea as Arun Harinath (48), Rory Hamilton-Brown (45) and Usman Afzaal (33no) also contributed.

Northants had begun the final day on 154-4 but soon lost Nicky Boje as their last six wickets went down for 75 to be bowled out for 229.

Third-day batting heroes Andre Nel and Jade Dernbach both took two wickets.

Nel, who hit 96 and shared a last-wicket stand of 118 with Dernbach (56no) on Wednesday, finished with figures of 4-68, while Dernbach claimed 3-42.

It was Surrey's first victory in 17 Championship games, their last having come in the same fixture last summer.

But it failed to lift them off the bottom of Division Two, although they now trail second-from-bottom Leicestershire by just five points.

Surrey got off to the perfect start when Boje smashed his fourth ball of the morning off Tim Linley to Matthew Spriegel at backward point.

David Sales, who had been suffering from a migraine during the match, was then run out by Chris Schofield to complete a pair, before captain Andrew Hall edged Nel to wicketkeeper Steven Davies.

Nel then trapped James Middlebrook leg before, leaving Dernbach to wrap up the innings by removing Chaminda Vaas lbw and bowling Lee Daggett.

Surrey were given 68 overs to reach their target and they never looked back after crashing 37 from the first seven overs.

And with Ramprakash's wise old head there to steady any nerves, Surrey got over the line with 10 overs to spare courtesy of an unbroken fourth-wicket stand of 88 with Afzaal.

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