Oxfordshire have it all to do if they are to make it through to the knockout stages of the 38-County Competition after a crushing seven-wicket defeat away to a Surrey Board XI yesterday.

Semi-finalists in 1998 and quarter-finalists last season, Oxon must now win their remaining three group games if they are to qualify for the last eight for the third year running.

And to do that they will have to improve dramatically on this display at the Metropolitan Police's Imber Court sports ground. In fairness, there were mitigating factors for yesterday's poor showing.

With Keith Arnold and Arwyn Jones - their two best bowlers - unavailable, Oxfordshire were always going to struggle to contain a powerful Surrey batting line-up.

But what must have upset skipper Rob Williams was his batsmen's failure to post anything approaching a challenging total.

While they managed 201-8 from their allotted 50 overs, it was arguably the most disappointing effort of the lot. The pitch at Imber Court was hard and true. Something in the region of 240 was the minimum Oxon should have been looking to make, especially after making a bright start having won the toss and chosen to bat.

Stewart Laudat went off like an express train, stroking the Surrey seamers to all parts.

He lost his opening partner with the score on 29 when Keith Mustow splices an attempted hook back to the bowler.

But Laudat and Carig Haupt kept the scoreboard ticking over at a healthy rate.

The total was 73 in the 20th over when Haupt was out playing back to spinner Mark Bainbridge. The wicket seemed to rob Oxfordshire of their momentum, and after 30 overs they were 103-3, Laudat having rather tamely presented spinner Chris Bullen with a return catch.

A decent total still looked within reach, especially with Williams and Charlie Knightley at the crease.

The pair are both excellent players of spin bowling and it was, therefore, something of a surprise when they were out within an over of each other.

Andy White and Ben Thompson batted intelligently to get Oxon close to the 200 mark, before Adam Cook took them past it with a late flourish.

But it was never enough, and Surrey cruised to their victory target with eight overs to spare and seven wickets in hand.