Warwickshire have been sucked back into relegation trouble in the totesport League after succumbing to a 90-run defeat to bottom of the table Surrey. A brilliant innings from Ian Bell was not enough to redeem an inadequate performance in the field, and Warwickshire are still searching for a successful formula in one-day cricket. Surrey amassed the second highest total in this form of cricket at Guildford against an attack that, the admirable Brad Hogg apart, looked bereft of ideas and ability. Warwickshire did not bowl particularly badly, but they were wholly unable to stem the tide as Surrey's batsmen made use of an excellent pitch for one-day cricket in amassing the second highest score in this form of cricket on this ground. Perhaps most worrying was that Warwickshire were uncharacteristically untidy in the field. The bumpy boundaries of this ground are not the easiest for fielders, but there still an uncomfortably high number of mis-fields, overthrows and even a failure to back-up throw ins. Perhaps the team is simply tired. Many of them have played in every game of the season and, on the back of the best part of two days in the field in the Championship game, it is understandable that the level of intensity has been hard to sustain. Despite accounting for Scott Newman in the first over, Warwickshire were soon under pressure as 21-year-old James Benning produced a career-best one-day performance. The Bears' season-long fallibility in the slips returned to haunt them, as Mark Wagh put Benning down off Neil Carter when the batsman had 43. To compound the error Wagh injured his thumb in the incident and was unable to bat. Although Warwickshire believe Wagh's thumb is just heavily bruised, he will undergo an x-ray today and must be a doubt for both the games in Manchester this week. It is easy to see why Rikki Clarke has been fast tracked by the England set-up. He hits the ball wonderfully crisply, plays admirably straight and bears striking resemblance to (a much thinner) Graham Gooch. He bowled impressively too, generating appreciable pace, gaining more bounce than any other bowler and destroying the Warwickshire top order. Here he struck ten fours in a 69-ball innings that built on Benning's foundation, and with Ali Brown (27 balls) sustained the impressive run-rate of the early overs. But the real damage was done by Azhar Mahmood. Dougie Brown was bludgeoned for 35 from his final two overs as Azhar produced an outrageous display of clean hitting in rushing to a 27-ball 54. Four times he thrashed Brown for six and such was the bowler's inability to contain the batsmen that, upon calling for a replacement ball for one hit far, far out of the ground, the umpire remarked "we'd better have a couple." Brown and Richardson both surpassed the most expensive analyses ever conceded in games between the two sides, with the latter particularly culpable for straying down leg. The real problem was the attack's lack of pace. On such pitches batsmen are able to hit through the line with something approaching ease, and Warwickshire simply have no answer. In reply Warwickshire were soon behind the rate, but a wonderfully aggressive innings from Bell revived their hopes. The tactic of using Neil Carter as a pinch hitter at the top of the order is beginning to look stale. Word gets round the county circuit pretty quickly and bowl-ers have no wised up to his uncomplicated tactics. Here he looked uneasy against Clarke's pace and took 18 balls over his 12 before holing out to deep square leg. Nick Knight was bowled as he gave himself room, Jonathan Trott lofted to mid-on and Hogg fell to Alec Tudor, but Jim Troughton, bowled off a Benning no-ball on seven, lent Bell decent support in a partnership of 89. Bell (70 balls) was averaging just ten in this competition this season before this innings, but here he looked at his absolute best. Five times he charged down the pitch to plant straight sixes into the seats around the ground, dealing especially harshly with Nayan Doshi, and lacing nine sweet fours. It is hard to think of many other batsmen who could have played an innings of such technically correct butchery. It was magnificent. Alas, Bell fell to a mis-cue to the out field, Troughton followed and by the time Graham Wagg, who will not bowl again this season, perished to an outside edge, Warwickshire's last real hopes had gone. Perhaps calmer heads would have helped. Warwickshire were, remarkably, ahead of the required run-rate, and more than ten overs were left unused by the time Tony Frost perished to a flick to square leg. | 
