THE SKILL and resilience of Graham Thorpe, a clear Gold Award winner, enabled Surrey to rise above the dismissal of two well-set batsmen in dubious circumstances and repeat their success of last year's Lord's final. The target was achieved at leisure with three overs to spare.

The clock was quickly put in Surrey's favour by an opening stand of 93 in 13 overs between Alistair Brown, five fours and a six in making 46 off 40 balls, and Alec Stewart.

Stewart, whose contribution was just as significant, was then a victim of a return catch by Min Patel. Stewart's drive struck Patel on the inside of the forearm as he dived and touched the ground before he scrambled the ball back into control.

For a while at least, this setback proved only a pin prick as Thorpe and Adam Hollioake added 98 in relaxed fashion from 19 overs.

But then the elder Hollioake was adjudged stumped in the most unfortunate circumstances. To start with, the fatal ball was a wide. Secondly, Steve Marsh had failed to gather the ball, which ricocheted on to the stumps. And most significantly, television showed that the hapless batsman would have survived had the appeal been referred to the third umpire.

Despite half centuries from Trevor Ward, Carl Hooper and Mark Ealham, Kent would have fallen well short of a defendable total had Marsh not plundered 24 runs off Saqlain Mushtaq in the final over.