Date-stamped : 28 May97 - 06:17 Surrey eased home by Brown and Bicknell By Charles Randall at Chelmsford Surrey (215-4) bt Essex (214) by 6 wkts SURREY swept Essex aside contemptuously yesterday to put themselves one step away from their first Benson and Hedges Cup final for 16 years. Essex just did not bat well enough to pressurise confident opponents and they could not even claim they had been "Hollioaked" as the Australians were last weekend. Nevertheless, it was a significant day for Adam Hollioake as captain. It now looks quite likely that he will be leading Surrey to a cup final at Lord`s in his first season in charge, having secured the Sunday League title last year as acting captain. The catalyst of Essex`s downfall was probably a fine delivery from Martin Bicknell, which accounted for Stuart Law, the most likely destroyer of Surrey`s attack. Bicknell`s ability to swing the ball away from the batsmen proved to be an important element, and Essex ended up failing to use more than four overs of their allocation. That is usually fatal, and so it proved. Essex`s total of 214 was 70 or 80 runs too few, taking Chelmsford`s slick outfield into account, and the inviting target allowed Surrey to pursue their course in routine fashion, the routine being Alistair Brown firing drives in all directions for 71 in 78 balls. Surrey won with more than seven overs to spare in a contest memorable mostly for the tension of the first two hours, which crackled once when the Londoners appeared to give what Paul Prichard, the dismissed batsman, thought - mistakenly it later transpired - was a verbal "send-off". However, the umpires reported the behaviour of both teams as good, and the Prichard incident - Essex`s captain spoke over his shoulder to the celebrating Surrey players as he departed - faded in the memory as Essex`s innings slipped into crisis. There was a moment of wry light relief in the evening, when Nadeem Shahid pulled a muscle during his journey to the crease. He continued stiffly after a long delay and, with only 10 runs needed for victory, his team-mates refused to send out either a runner or a replacement batsman. Essex had started off by scoring 31 off three overs, with Stuart Law cleaning out Chris Lewis, but Bicknell had the Australian covering up and snicking a catch. Though Nasser Hussain batted very well for a recovery, pulling Bicknell twice for sixes, the bowler returned to find a defensive edge and he then removed Danny Law, Essex`s last hope, flicking down the leg side. The Hollioake factor completed Essex`s downfall. Adam took a wicket with his first and sixth balls, adding a stinging gully catch and a run-out for good measure. His brother, Ben, attempted a million-dollar innings in reply, though, unlike his England debut on Sunday, he missed fatally after smearing 17 runs off 10 balls. Brown batted in similar vein to his Sunday League 157 last weekend. He lost the ball with a six driven off Ronnie Irani into the Hayes Close gardens and hit a spectator with another off Peter Such as Danny Law failed by inches to hold the catch. Alec Stewart perished in the second over of the innings for a duck, chipping to midwicket, and Graham Thorpe looked oddly ill at ease in a scratchy 73. With Shahid limping his runs as a new batsman and Surrey cantering along as certain winners, the game faded into anti- climax as the spectators, who had packed into this ground, began to drift away. Surrey have signed Saqlain Mushtaq, the Pakistan offspinner, as their overseas player for this season, pending a work permit. He could make his championship debut against Essex at the Oval next week. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com)