Surrey provided the perfect welcome back to skipper Adam Hollioake by completing their fourth Championship win of the sumnmer with a day to spare.

Hollioake is poised to return to action after missing the early part of the season following the tragic death of brother Ben and birth of a baby daughter.

And he will have been delighted by the way in which a side shorn of four players on Test deputy with England outplayed Kent in all departments of the game.

Surrey picked up nine Kent wickets in less than 50 overs to leave themselves just 61 to win and opener Jonathan Batty saw them home with an unbeaten 32.

Breakthrough

Starting the day on 79 for one, Kent needed someone to play a major innings but although eight batsmen reached double figures, none was able to reach a half century.

Skipper David Fulton survived an early slip chance but was brilliantly picked up in the gully by Ian Salisbury on 48 off Ed Giddins, who followed up by trapping Ed Smith lbw for 44.

Kent slumped to 162 for seven before Min Patel raced to 37 off 33 balls, including six fours - most of them the result of sweep shots against Pakistani spinner Saqlain Mushtaq.

He was finally caught behind off Giddins, who took three for 80, and Paul Nixon was then caught and bowled by Martin Bicknell for 23 after holding up the home side for almost two hours.

There was further defiance from Amjad Khan, who collected seven boundaries in his 42 before being left high and dry when last man Martin Saggers was dismissed by James Ormond for seven.

The rest was relatively plain sailing for Surrey, who knocked off the runs in efficient fashion for the loss of Ian Ward, whose final act as stand-in captain was to be out lbw to left-arm spinner Patel for 15.

Batty justified his promotion to the top of the order with a sensible innings, containing six fours, and he was joined by Mark Ramprakash, who was 11 not out at the end.

Surrey: I J Ward (Capt), J N Batty (Wkt), M R Ramprakash, N Shahid A D Brown, R Clarke, M P Bicknell, I D K Salisbury, Saqlain Mushtaq J Ormond, E S H Giddins.

Kent: D P Fulton (Capt), R W T Key, E T Smith, A Symonds M J Walker, M A Ealham, P A Nixon (Wkt), M V Fleming, M M Patel A Khan, M J Saggers.

Umpires: B Dudleston and J F Steele