Date-stamped : 29 Apr97 - 06:17 Ealham strikes a blow for tradition By Simon Hughes at the Oval Kent (262-6) bt Surrey (257) by 4 wkts THIS was an occasion when old money triumphed over new - just. Kent, including five public school boys, and whose home ground still has foliage and marquees, beat Surrey`s hyped and expensively assembled team off the last ball in their concrete pleasure-dome. Seven runs needed from the last over became one off the final ball and, after an delay while the umpires consulted the rulebook, Mark Ealham sealed the match in the grand manner, hoisting Ben Hollioake way over midwicket for six. Surrey deserve credit for their innovative attitude, jazzing up Sundays with music and sideshows and sending in an assortment of biffers and tonkers to get their innings under way yesterday. In time it might win the club greater support, but on the day Kent`s less frenetic and more calculated approach won the match. On Sunday, various Surrey batsmen emerged to calypso rhythms over the loudspeakers, and they began in the same mood against Kent`s much-vaunted opening attack, dancing up the wicket and flashing Dean Headley over the top, cutting and carving Martin McCague. The 50 was up before the end of the fifth over, and the hundred in the 12th. Alistair Brown had already departed, driving at Matthew Fleming`s canny dibbly-dobblers and edging to short fine leg, when calypso suddenly turned to kamikaze. Ben Hollioake, promoted to continue the carnage, sent one majestic drive over long off but then left Alec Stewart stranded in mid- pitch just after he had completed his fifty, and Hollioake himself dragged one into his stumps. Ian Salisbury`s agricultural approach lasted only seven balls. Paul Strang`s slingy leg breaks induced relative paralysis while Fleming made further inroads, and at 135 for six there was the unusual sight of two specialist batsmen, Graham Thorpe and Adam Hollioake, sharing a seventh-wicket stand. Thorpe`s more measured style and Hollioake`s automatic-pull steadied the ship and though Chris Lewis added extra thrust, the eventual total looked 40 short of their expectations. Fleming launched the Kent reply with a fusillade of shots, lashing Lewis`s first ball over cover for six. Lewis got his own back but Matthew Walker drove and glided fours through the off side, and Trevor Ward eased the ball around the large outfield. A leg spinner was also the spanner in their works, Ian Salisbury snaring Walker with his wrong `un and reeling off eight accurate overs, including a maiden to his former captain Alan Wells. Several hysterical appeals for lbw underlined the fact that he and Wells were not exactly bosom pals but Wells continued in his unhurried way while Graham Cowdrey nudged and nurdled. Victory was well in hand but the loss of both batsmen within an over and Adam Hollioake`s devious changes of pace created minor panic. Fortunately the Oval`s vast boundaries were not big enough for Ealham. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com)