Date-stamped : 07 Aug95 - 10:28 Ward and de Silva make Surrey wilt By Simon Hughes at Canterbury Kent (301-7) bt Surrey (246) by 55 runs NOT surprisingly for a man who has played 136 limited over inter- nationals for Sri Lanka, Aravinda de Silva has raised the art of one day batting to a different plane since the weather has warmed up. His 112 in the Benson & Hedges final was a display of breathtak- ing audacity, matched yesterday by a brilliant century off 83 balls. He put on 241 in 30 overs with the forthright Trevor Ward, brutalising an injury ravaged Surrey attack - well that is what can happen when you have four seamers over 30. The Ward/de Silva partnership had everything. Big straight sixes, deft sweeps and glides, shots into the lime tree, massive hoiks over midwicket one of which broke a spectator`s nose. At one juncture de Silva even reverse pulled a knee high full toss from Adam Hollioake for four, clearly attempting to become the first man to hit a six reverse sweeping. They registered Kent`s biggest Sunday League partnership for any wicket and the second highest for any county. Nor was the entertainment over when both were out. Mark Ealham cleared the old pavilion with an enormous straight drive, and Martin Bicknell should have finished the innings with a hattrick, but long-on and long-off left the skier for each other. Surrey faced a hopeless task when after three overs Alistair Brown and Graham Thorpe had succumbed to Ealham but Adam Hol- lioake kept the crowd entertained and the bowlers on their mettle with a breakneck 93 in 74 balls, his best Sunday score. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk) Contributed by Gazza (G.Hunt@bath.ac.uk)