The Oval is known to be a high-scoring ground, but never has this venerable venue in London SE11 witnessed anything quite like what was seen today. The little matter of 867 runs were scored in one ball short of 100 overs as records tumbled, the scorers had a job to keep up, the crowd could not believe its luck at the entertainment being put before it and Surrey beat Glamorgan by just nine runs.

The day got off to a scintillating start with Ali Brown taking the Glamorgan attack apart. He scored 268 from 160 balls with 30 fours and 12 sixes. It was a world record for a limited-overs match, 438 for five is the highest team total in such a game, 12 sixes is the second highest ever behind Ian Botham's 13 in a Sunday League match, and by putting on 286 with Ian Ward, who scored 97, Brown took part in the fourth highest opening partnership in one-day cricket anywhere in the world. Not only that, he inflicted on Darren Thomas the ignominy of having the most runs ever conceded by a bowler in this form of the game. The Glamorgan bowler's full analysis was 9-0-108-3.

Once Surrey had posted such a total, it might be thought that the result was a foregone conclusion, but it went right down to the wire. Glamorgan opened with Robert Croft who thrashed 119 from 69 balls with 18 fours and three sixes. David Hemp took up the challenge with 102 from 88 balls, and with Thomas exacting revenge on the Surrey attack by scoring an undefeated 71 from 41 balls, Glamorgan took the challenge all the way into the final over. In doing so, they helped create a new world record for the number of runs scored in a limited-overs match.

The man who eventually made sure that the Welsh county would go home empty-handed was Surrey captain Adam Hollioake. Playing his first game at The Oval since returning from Australia following the death of his brother Ben, he took five for 77 from 8.5 overs for what was, in the context of the match, a fairly economical spell.

It was an extraordinary game, and completely overshadowed everything else going on in the fourth round of the Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy, despite the fact that there was no shortage of runs elsewhere.

Marcus Trescothick scored 133 to help Somerset beat Hampshire by 6 wickets. Hampshire had reached 262 for five with 113 from John Crawley. Yorkshire posted 303 for 3 in their fifty overs without a centurion, although Matthew Wood scored 91 against Northamptonshire who had Jeff Cook (71) to thank for getting within 49 runs of Yorkshire's total. James Hockley was another three-figure man, scoring 121 for Kent as they beat Warwickshire by 128 runs, despite Warwickshire captain Michael Powell taking five for 40 when bowling.

Other century-makers included Graeme Hick and Vikram Solanki as Worcestershire beat Nottinghamshire by eight wickets at Trent Bridge when chasing 263 to win. At Grace Road, Richard Montgomerie hit 126 not out to lead Sussex to a six-wicket victory despite Trevor Ward's 112 for Leicestershire.

Not that the batsmen had it all their own way. Ashley Cowan took four for 27 as Essex bowled out Lancashire for 166. Essex lost only one wicket in reply, with Nasser Hussain 83 not out at the close. And Mark Alleyne also had four for 27 as Gloucestershire bowled out Durham for 179 and then won by eight wickets thanks to the day's other centurion Craig Spearman.

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