Michael McCann
at The Oval

Surrey beat Gloucestershire by an innings and 180 runs at the Oval yesterday to claim their fifth County Championship win in Division Two this season.

The home side made the visitors follow on, with 7-20 from Tom Curren (pictured) in the first innings and 6-30 from Zafar Ansari in the second ensuring Surrey move to just six points behind Division Two leaders Lancashire.

Gloucestershire were bowled out for just 113 and 155 and claimed only one point from the match, leaving them winless across their last five County Championship fixtures.

Surrey had made 448, primarily through 118 and 98 from Dean Elgar and Ben Foakes respectively, while fifties from Ansari and Gareth Batty also aided the hosts.

Liam Norwell took 5-112 to provide the only significant resistance for the visitors, before 7-20 by Curren, helped by 2-14 from James Burke, destroyed Gloucestershire.

Resuming on 102-7 overnight the visitors made just 11 more runs, as only three batsmen made double figures and Curran was dismissed four for ducks.

Having been bundled out in just 44.3 overs, the visitors were unsurprisingly asked to follow on, faring only marginally better in lasting 72.2 overs to score 155 all out.

Will Tavare made 58 before eventually being dismissed by spinner Ansari, who took 6-30 on a turning surface to ensure victory with more than a day to spare.

Four of the top six scored between 11 and 24 for the visitors, whose batsmen struggled to convert starts into anything of true significance that could change the tide.

Curren claimed 2-37 to finish with nine wickets in the match, in which Surrey looked every inch deserving of being promotion candidates throughout.