If only the England selectors had waited. On the day they announced their squad for the NatWest Series, Surrey and Glamorgan were at it hammer and tongs in their C&G Trophy match at The Oval. Surrey eventually squeezed home by nine runs, in arguably the most astonishing one-day match of all time. A grand total of 867 runs were scored in 99.5 overs, the highest aggregate in one-day history. One of England's rejects, Ally Brown, stole the headlines by pounding a world-record 268. Another, Robert Croft, did his utmost to steal them back, pasting Surrey's all-Test attack for 119 from just 69 balls. When he fell, with the score on 162 for 1, David Hemp maintained the tempo with 102 from 88 balls, and with 10 needed for victory, Darren Thomas was left stranded on 71 from 41 balls. Surrey's total of 438 for 5 was a world record, beating Somerset's 413 for 4 against Devon in 1990: Glamorgan's reply of 429 all out would have been.

The day, though, belonged to Brown. In 199 minutes of mayhem, he faced only 160 balls, hitting 30 of them for four and a further 12 for six. He effectively faced 26.4 overs, all the while scoring at more than ten runs an over, an astonishing rate over a sustained period of time. He was eventually bowled by Michael Kasprowicz in the final over, having shattered the previous-highest score, Graeme Pollock's rollicking 222 for Eastern Province against Border in South Africa in 1974-75.

Brown himself held the record for one-day matches between first-class counties in England, having clobbered 203 against Hampshire in a 40-over Sunday League match at Guildford in 1997. Though Alvin Kallicharran (whose 206 for Warwickshire in 1984 was the highest score in this competition) and Vince Wells have also made double-hundreds in one-day matches, they did so against the might of Oxfordshire and Berkshire respectively.

Taking advantage of a short leg-side boundary, Brown almost took the record for sixes in a one-day innings as well: his 12 were one short of Ian Botham, who mangled Northants at Wellingborough in a Sunday League match in 1986.

But when someone like Brown becomes a hero, there has to be a fall-guy or two. Thomas, who came so close to sealing Glamorgan's victory with the bat, was brutalised with the ball. His figures of 9-0-108-3 were the worst figures in a senior one-day match: Cornwall's Christopher Lovell was the former record-holder, disappearing for 107 in 12 overs against Warwickshire in 1996.

Only one county bowler has previously made a one-day century, and Warwickshire's Graeme Welch bowled 11 overs when he was battered for 103 by Lancashire in 1995. It's a good job for Thomas that he didn't finish his 10-over stint. Andrew Davies didn't fare too well either, returning an analysis of 8-0-88-0.

Surrey's attack barely passed muster either. Martin Bicknell's two wickets cost 84 runs, and Saqlain Mushtaq can rarely have been hit so hard and so often than he was here: his figures were 10-0-82-0. Arguably the performance of the day came from the returning Adam Hollioake. He picked up five vital wickets, and was cool at the end despite conceding a six in his final over.

Although Brown's onslaught came on the day England named their squad, he was never really in the frame. Brown, who's 32 now, played the last of 16 one-day internationals against Australia at The Oval last year. He was labelled a "clown" in The Times after making a scratchy 37 on his international debut, although his career certainly had its highlights. He made a matchwinning 118 in his third appearance, against India at Old Trafford in 1996, and two years later slammed 59 off 40 balls against South Africa at Headingley.

Rob Smyth is on the staff of Wisden.com.

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