Date-stamped : 11 Sep96 - 16:59 ===============================>Day 1 Hollioake settles Surrey By Charles Randall at the Oval First day of four: Surrey 378-9 v Northamptonshire SURREY, fourth in the table at the start of the day, continued to push their title credentials as the county with the most depth, and hundreds by Adam Hollioake and Brendon Julian yesterday emphasised the point. Hollioake has advanced so quickly this season - and captaincy as Alec Stewart`s stand-in probably helped - that his name should now be inked in for a full England tour, even though his batting position at the Oval has remained at six. His power, economy of style and range of stroke marked him as a batsman of class. He is regarded as a devil to dismiss and yesterday rarely lofted the ball - two pulled sixes off Curtly Ambrose being exceptions - on his way to a smart 115-ball century. Northamptonshire`s attack bowled too short, perhaps, to exploit a grassed pitch that offered assistance, though they bottled up Surrey`s leading batsmen easily enough, with the exception of Graham Thorpe before his freakish dismissal. Thorpe was run out after an impressive display of footballing skill from Paul Taylor and Tony Penberthy. Taylor, the bowler, deflected Thorpe`s drive to mid-on with his boot for Penberthy`s kicked return to break the wicket. Ambrose and company could not dislodge Hollioake with hand or foot and Julian, a willing, confident partner, cover-drove delightfully when the chance arose, building on his maiden hundred a month ago. Alistair Brown was dropped for this game and he was all too aware that Julian, among the tail-enders, surpassed anything he had managed this season, apart from his one-day hundred for England against India in May. Hollioake`s 129 was his fifth championship hundred of the season. He offered a chance to second slip when 90, but otherwise played few false strokes during a partnership of 181 with Julian in only 40 overs. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph =====================================>Day 2 Julian repays Surrey faith By Charles Randall at the Oval Second day of four: Surrey (395 & 82-1) lead Northamp-tonshire (265) by 242 runs TO think that Surrey once considered dropping Brendon Julian, their Australian import, during a squeeze for places. They might now not be reaching out for the championship title. Julian yesterday took a career-best six for 37 with his left- arm seamers, a satisfying double entry in his curriculum vitae after 117 with the bat the previous day. His effort kept Northamptonshire under the thumb, though Alec Stewart decided against enforcing the follow-on after David Ripley had halted Surrey`s pillaging with a gritty 55. The pitch seemed to be easing out, and that factor made a turn-round of fortunes all the more possible for Northamptonshire, especially as no team with Curtly Ambrose lurking could be discounted. Stewart said jokingly at the start of the season that bringing Julian over from Western Australia would be his brainwave if he excelled and the coach Dave Gilbert`s idea if he fared poorly. Julian, having arrived in London with a batting average of barely 20, could this week afford to query his lowly position, eight, after his second hundred in a month. He could even scoff at his rank of second-change bowler, certainly after he removed Kevin Curran with his first ball. Surrey struck early when Martin Bicknell had Richard Montgomerie held low at short-leg off the second ball to start a Northants slump. Graham Kersey was awarded his Surrey cap and `celebrated` by surviving as nightwatchman against Ambrose in fading light. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph =====================================>Day 3 Hollioake`s birthday treat By Charles Randall at the Oval Third day of four: Northants (265 & 173-6) need 286 to beat Surrey (395 & 298) HERE was another memorable day in the office for Adam Hollioake, who helped himself to 98 on his 25th birthday and pushed Surrey close to an important victory as stand-in captain. Alec Stewart, Surrey`s usual leader, was detained elsewhere by the impending birth of his second child, but he would have been pleased by the news filtering back from the Oval. Though Hollioake narrowly missed his second hundred of the match, everything else seemed to go right for him - even having Chris Lewis face a rampaging Curtly Ambrose first ball after lunch, illegally, after a deft swap. The oddity of a batsman taking strike at consecutive balls from different ends fooled the umpires and, on other days, might have blown a fuse in the computer scoring system. Northamptonshire, outgunned in this game, lost wickets steadily in the evening sunshine, delayed only by a breezy second- wicket stand of 92, at almost a run a ball, between Mal Loye and Richard Montgomerie. The pitch began to justify Surrey`s decision to field a seam- dominated attack. Air-shots multiplied, and one lifter from Lewis off a few paces easily cleared the wicketkeeper`s head for four byes. Lewis`s second spell produced three wickets in 10 balls, including Loye, yorked middle stump. Surrey then sensed the kill and a chance to keep pace with the championship front-runners. The ebullient Hollioake needed to steady Surrey`s second innings when it wobbled against the bounce and guile of Ambrose. He had made two hundreds in the match at Taunton in May, and he missed a paddle shot to leg attempting twin hundreds twice in one season, achieved previously by only one Surrey player in the championship, Tom Hayward in 1906. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph =====================================>Day 4 Hollioake cautious as Surrey move up By Charles Randall at the Oval Surrey (395 & 298) bt North-ants (235 & 233) by 225 runs SURREY moved to second place in the musical chairs run-in for the championship, parcelling up Northamptonshire as expected yesterday morning. They needed four wickets and managed three, plus David Ripley, retired hurt with a damaged finger. This was Surrey`s eighth win in 10 games - impressive for a side whose first success came in mid-June. Alec Stewart remained absent as captain for the second successive day, attending the birth of his daughter, who appeared just over an hour before Joey Benjamin produced the delivery that ended it all at the Oval. Five-and-a-half of those Surrey victories had been achieved without the captain`s presence - and five without Graham Thorpe, the best batsman - which gave Adam Hollioake, as stand-in captain, cause for satisfaction. Hollioake, whose chin has taken on luxuriant designer stubble like a badge of office, gives the impression of a natural leader with an engaging mix of self-effacement and brimming confidence. Speaking after the match yesterday he said that individual success, most notably his own, followed naturally from each successful team effort, and he frequently referred to the tactical input of `Lizard`. This, I understand, was a reference to Mr David Gilbert, Surrey`s highly respected coach. Surrey`s last two matches are against Glamorgan in Cardiff, starting next Thursday, and Worcestershire at the Oval, a relatively easy run-in, but Hollioake said: "I don`t think there is any such thing as an easy or a hard game for us. "It depends on how well we perform, because the only people who can beat us are ourselves, really. The boys are quite an arrogant bunch, and I hold my hand up and say I`m up there with them, but now we have to try and keep our feet on the ground." Source :: The Electronic Telegraph Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com)