WARREN HEGG gave Lancashire a boost before Saturday's tense Championship finish at the Oval by telling his team: "I'm proud of you."

The game continued to swing away from Lancashire with eight wickets from departing Pakistan all-rounder Azhar Mahmoud - including a controversial lbw decision against Stuart Law - reducing them to 200 all out in their second innings.

That left Surrey needing 304 to win and when Andy Flintoff had his ex-England team-mate Mark Ramprakash plumb lbw with a no ball, it seemed that Lancashire were fated not to win.

But Hegg said: "Whatever the result, I'm proud of the side. We've matched Surrey on their own patch, and not many teams do that."

Surrey have stormed to the top of the Championship table by thrashing Sussex and Yorkshire with maximum points wins in their previous two matches.

They are strong favourites to regain the title they lost last year as a tribute to Ben Hollioake after his tragic death in the winter.

Lancashire, in contrast, were tipped to struggle against relegation but they have shown that their position near the top of the table is no fluke by matching Surrey blow for blow.

Law's lbw decision was a vital moment as the Queenslander had moved to 39 and was threatening to play the big innings that Lancashire are waiting for - the sort he produced so often for Essex.

Instead Hegg was left to steer Lancashire to 200 with the tail, producing his best innings of the season to make 43 - and show the England selectors that Alec Stewart is not the only wicket keeper who can bat.

Lancashire's seamers then made early inroads into the Surrey batting with Kyle Hogg continuing his promising form by trapping Mark Butcher lbw.

John Wood took the next two wickets, thanks to good catches by Alec Swann at backward point to get Ian Ward, and Hogg at long leg off Graham Thorpe.

Flintoff also bowled well to have Ally Brown caught by David Byas in the slips but paid a high penalty for his no-ball problems as Ramprakash prospered from his escape to score an impressive half century, linking up with Stewart to steer Surrey within 100 runs of their target with six wickets remaining.