Under most circumstances, a 20-year-old English all-rounder scoring a classy fifty and taking a couple of vital top order wickets in front of a television audience would attract considerable attention from the media. However at Hove under pleasant seaside sunshine it was very much a sideshow to the main event.

After Surrey's previous game in the world's oldest limited-overs competition had featured well over 850 runs, it was no surprise that Sky brought their cameras to the clash between two of the three oldest county clubs. Early on in the piece it may have seemed that they had made a poor choice, as Worcestershire made an express start at Taunton and news came through of the unfortunate injury to Marcus Trescothick in the other remaining quarter-final. However after a cameo from Ali Brown, who for once failed to capitalise after being dropped, Rikki Clarke and Mark Ramprakash set about establishing a sound base to the innings.

Clarke pulled and drove with authority on his way to his third List A fifty. The 2002 season is proving rather more to his liking than the three games he managed last summer, where he scored a total of just nine runs in three innings in limited-overs games, and did not feature in any first-class matches. His first-class form this summer, where he has scored 460 runs at an average of over 65 with two centuries, suggests that not sending him to the Academy this winter, where intensive fitness and technique coaching could transform his sharpish medium pace bowling (of which more later) into a genuinely hostile weapon, would be a selectorial gaffe to rival even the omitting of Alec Stewart and Darren Gough from the winter's New Zealand tour to punish them for wanting a brief break from cricket.

At the other end, Ramprakash looked ready to add significantly to the 1400 or so runs he had contributed to Surrey's cause already this year. Looking in no trouble against an attack deprived of its only truly effective bowler by injury, he gently accelerated towards a run-a-ball hundred.

All this was pushed from the minds of those watching, however, after Clarke was caught at deep square leg with the total at 189 and not much over ten overs to go. Adam Hollioake rarely gets to play in front of his parents but, after attending the service for their other cricketing son Ben at Southwark Cathedral on Monday, they were able to see the Surrey captain at work today. Clearly he did not intend to disappoint them. Starting off at a leisurly strike rate of about 150 he started to overhaul his partner's 78-run lead.

Time after time the ball raced to the boundary, or far over it. No bowler or indeed spectator could feel safe. The few mishits comfortably cleared any fielders, and when he hit as he intended anyone more than a few feet from the ball's path was a mere bystander. Had they stolen a third run from the last ball of the innings, Hollioake would have finished with a strike rate of exactly 200 for only the second one day hundred of his career. Everyone in the ground stood to applaud him as the innings closed. His partner, who had reached his own hundred a few balls before his captain went almost unnoticed. The final ten overs had brought 117 runs, and transformed what looked like being a good total into an almost unassailable one.

When Sussex started their reply it soon became clear that they did not believe the visitors' score was unbeatable. Helped by Jimmy Ormond, they were soon well ahead of the Duckworth-Lewis total. After just three overs in which he conceeded 35 runs, the England opening bowler of just a few months ago was replaced by Clarke, and the run rate started to decline. Ambrose, the quiet half of an opening stand of 55 at over a run a ball, then edged Clarke to Brown at slip, bringing the Sussex captain in to see if he could better his opposite number. The partnership between the two "thirty something" batsmen continued an excellent reply, and when Clarke had Adams well caught by Stewart standing back, Sussex may even have felt they were favourites for a remarkable win.

Montgomery was joined by Murray Goodwin, and despite their inability to score any boundaries off Saqlain, who had come on as soon as the first 15 overs were up, momentum was maintained. Jason Ratcliffe started well by removing the increasingly dangerous Montgomerie, caught by Stewart standing up, but was soon hammered out of the attack by Prior. Ormond, although much better in a second spell (4 overs for 26) offered no threat nor any control. A suicidal second run trying to beat Rikki Clarke's javelin-like throw ended a dashing knock by Prior and an inevitable slower ball later in the same over was too good for Cottey, who had earlier had a poor day in the field and an uncomfortable few overs trying to follow Davis's comparative success with off spin.

Giddins replaced Ormond, to break a promising partnership with an attempted slow yorker that hit Martin-Jenkins' stumps on the full. Carefully juggling his best three "finishing" bowlers, Saqlain, Giddins and himself, Hollioake steadily squeezed the home team out of the game, although Goodwin kept the Sussex hopes alive. When Giddins started the final over 22 runs were needed. When Goodwin could not score from the first ball, it was clear that no miracle would happen and an excellent game ended, as the poet would have predicted, not with a bang but a whimper. Surrey's last two games in this competition, after a rain-affected game at The Grange in Edinburgh, have produced over 1500 runs. What fan of explosive cricket will not want to be at Headingley for the semi-final?

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