LONDON, Sept 2: Surrey sealed promotion back to the top flight of the English County Championship after one year away with a 218-run win against Glamorgan on Friday.

Skipper Mark Butcher and Ali Brown scored centuries at The Oval as the hosts declared on 309 for five in their second innings, leaving the hosts to score an unlikely 474 for victory.

And only David Hemp offered much resistance with 155 in the face of adversity as they limped to 255 all out.

It was Surrey's ninth win in Division Two this year under Mark Butcher and his father, coach Alan.

“This is obviously a great result for us as this was our main aim at the start of the season,” said the coach. “But we still have one more job to do and that is to make sure we finish on top of the table.

“It's been a fantastic all-round effort by the squad and to win Division Two would be the icing on the cake.”

Scores and results on Friday:

County championship cricket scores (third day of four unless stated):

Division One:

At Hove (second day): HAMPSHIRE 347 (N. Pothas 122, C. Benham 62, S.K. Warne 53); SUSSEX 416-8 (M.W. Goodwin 107, C.J. Adams 75, C. Nash 67; S.K. Warne 4-119).

At Blackpool: LANCASHIRE 456-9 declared (I. Sutcliffe 159, N.J. Astle 64, S.G. Law 61; Naqqash Tahir 7-107); WARWICKSHIRE 231 (I Westwood 67) and 0-0.

At Scarborough: MIDDLESEX 376 (P.N. Weekes 128 not out, S.B. Styris 64, E Smith 56; G Kruis 5-67) and 224 (B. Hutton 105; M. Lawson 6-88, A. Rashind 4-96); YORKSHIRE 326 (J. Sayers 122 not out; C.E.W. Silverwood 5-63) and 39-0.

Division Two:

At Leicester (first day): LEICESTERSHIRE 170 (H.D. Ackerman 53, A.R. Caddick 5-46); SOMERSET 90-3.

At Derby: DERBYSHIRE 167 (T.R. Birt 63; M.J. Nicholson 4-12) and 286-3 (C.G. Taylor 103, S.D. Stubbings 64); NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 424 (L. Klusener 128, C.J.L. Rogers 112, A. Botha 4-96)

At The Oval: Surrey beat Glamorgan by 218 runs.

SURREY 433 (M.A. Butcher 151, Azhar Mahmood 101, M.R. Ramprakash 77; J.E.C. Franklin 5-68) and 309-5 declared (M.A. Butcher 108, A.D. Brown 107 not out); GLAMORGAN 269 (R.D.B. Croft 71 not out) and 255 (D.L. Hemp 155).

At Worcester: WORCESTERSHIRE 473-6 declared (V.S. Solanki 122, L. Vincent 114, G.A. Hick 104) and 331-5 (G Hick 105 not out); ESSEX 330 (J.S. Foster 80, V. Chopra 70, R.C. Irani 66) and 19-1.—AFP