Date-stamped : 01 Jul97 - 10:16 Britannic Championship: Empty stage for Surrey By Peter Deeley at the Oval Third day of four: Notts (73-1) trail Surrey (201-9 dec) by 128 runs TO say there was an unreal atmosphere here yesterday was not to overstate the case. Down the road in SW19 it may have been a people`s Sunday, but in SE11 the ground was almost people-free. You could, in part, put the problem down to the mess the weather has made of this fixture round, compounded by the overlap of vari- ous competitions and Surrey`s brave but ultimately fruitless at- tempt to stage the first floodlit Sunday league game - in midweek. Even so, followers expecting a certain orderliness from the summer game could be forgiven for their confusion. If this was a Sun- day why were the teams wearing whites? Was it the third day`s play? And what time was the first ball due to be bowled? The eerily small crowd may have been partly put off by the fact that the starting time was generally publicised as noon - and if they left it till then they would have missed four Surrey wickets going down for 21 runs. With two days` play washed out - Saturday`s play already called off on Friday afternoon - the spectators were actually seeing the be- ginning of a match compressed into two days. While other sides were engaged in the Sunday slog, here we had reverted to county cricket. Nottinghamshire fast bowler Paul Franks at least did not allow these perplexities to overawe him. Aged 18, he produced a ca- reer- best four for 47 after Surrey had surprisingly chosen to bat first on a pitch which must have suffered from a moisture overdose. The outfield was more lush than one can remember and that cer- tainly slowed the run-rate. Surrey made a late change when Alec Stewart pulled out because his wife had been admitted to hospital and in came Jamie Knott, son of the former England wicketkeeper, Alan. By lunch, Surrey had slumped to 93 for six - and even that was something of a recovery given the disasters of the first hour when the lifting ball accounted for several dismissals. Franks`s open- ing spell brought him two for nine off eight overs while Wayne Noon took four catches behind the stumps. Alistair Brown began a minor revival which included a pull for six off Mark Bowen, and Chris Lewis picked up the torch with a respon- sible innings of 40 before he was sent back by his part- ner Ian Sal- isbury and Mathew Dowman`s throw from mid-wicket narrowly beat his de- spairing lunge for safety. Franks picked up his last wicket in spectacular fashion, hold- ing one-handed on to a caught-and-bowled as he tumbled under a swirling skyer from Salisbury. Lewis removed Notts captain Tim Robinson with a thick edge to third slip, but the visitors progressed so cautiously that a re- sult seems implausible. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) Britannic County Championship: Surrey off the mark as six fall to Salisbury By Simon Hughes at the Oval Final day of four: Surrey (201-9 dec & 123-6 dec) bt Notts (73-1 dec & 120) by 131 runs A SPIN combination reminiscent of the days of Intikhab Alam and Pat Pocock seized Surrey their first championship win of the sea- son as the clock struck six yesterday. Ian Salisbury and Saqlain Mushtaq shared eight wickets hustling Notts to defeat with five balls remain- ing, a feat all the more creditable as rain had reduced the match to a two-day affair. Well, Surrey al- ways were better at the short game. The situation had looked unpromising for them five minutes be- fore tea when Notts, set 252, were 63 for two and in with a sniff of victory themselves. But Salisbury, fresh from a cou- ple of sessions with Shane Warne`s coach, Terry Jenner, almost bowled Nathan Astle twice in his pre-prandial over and soon dismissed him, driving, after the interval. Ashley Metcalfe, prodding forward, followed brilliantly held one-handed by Graham Thorpe at slip. Salisbury was now making the ball fizz and spin sharply, caus- ing as many problems for Alan Knott`s son, Jamie, behind the stumps, as the Notts batsmen. A leg-break shot from out of the rough to bowl the left-handed Usman Afzaal and Kevin Evans bat-padded to silly point. Saqlain was the perfect foil to Sal- isbury`s spite, gliding to the wicket and offering artful changes of pace and angle. The obduracy of Wayne Noon and Jimmy Hindson prompted Adam Hollioake to switch the bowlers round and Hindson fatally shouldered arms to Saqlain`s first ball from the Vauxhall end, making Notts 117 for eight. There was half an hour left but Paul Franks seemed un- flustered by the attendance of eight close fielders and Noon had the bowler`s measure. Further fiddling by Adam Hollioake prised out Noon, but now only five minutes remained. Franks played out the penultimate over, but Salisbury`s spitting leg-break, the first ball of the last, trimmed Mark Bowen`s edge. Surrey`s innings to set up the declaration was a forgettable affair, on what had become a stodgy, crusty surface. Mark Butcher will want to forget it most of all, because after a lengthy delay for treatment to a bashed finger, he was out next ball to the lively Franks. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com)