Surrey County Cricket Club strormed into the Royal London Cup semi-finals after a thundering battering display saw them beat Gloucestershire in the quarter-final match-up.

Their hopes of claiming the trophy came to grief, though, when Durham beat them by five wickets on Tuesday (August 17) to line up a clash with Glamorgan at Trent Bridge.

Two blistering centuries by Singaporean strokemaker Tim David had rushed Surrey into final four of the one-day tournament in dramatic fashion.

The Australian-based right-hander made little impact when he was added to the side during the Vitality Blast but, when he came good, he did so in glorious style.

Needing to win their final two matches to qualify for the quarter-final play-offs, Surrey hammered Warwickshire by seven wickets at the Kia Oval with a massive 62 balls to spare, despite having conceded 268-9 from 50 overs. With the reply at 115-3 in the 22nd over, the match was in the balance but David crashed an astonishing 140no from just 70 balls.

Striking some of his nine fours and 11 sixes one-handed, the powerful 6ft 2in batsman’s hitting left some of the crowd in danger, acting captain Jamie Smith’s 45no the ideal foil in an unbroken alliance worth 154 which gave Surrey’s net run rate an enormous boost along the way.

That left them knowing that a win over bottom side Derbyshire two days later would virtually guarantee a home quarter-final play-off spot, paceman Conor McKerr (3-43) and left-arm spinner Dan Moriarty (3-44) ensuring the hosts were dismissed for 215 in the 47th over.

Ryan Patel, who had made a hard-hitting maiden List A century against Nottinghamshire at Guildford last month, added a second in cracking an unbeaten 111, David’s 52no helping to secure victory by eight wickets with 13 overs to spare as they added 95 in quick time.

It set up a date with Gloucestershire at the Kia Oval on Sunday, where the visitors were ailing at 137-7 until George Scott (66no) and Tom Smith (51no) put on an unbroken 105. That dragged the visitors to 242-7 at the end, tightening Surrey nerves.

Losing Mark Stoneman (18) and Ollie Pope (1) cheaply, Surrey were mortified when Patel was run out for 23 following a misunderstanding with David, who suffered the same fate but not before he had hammered 102 from 73 balls, this time 11 fours and five sixes flying over the ropes. That left him with 337 runs at 84 per time in the tournament at a scorching strike rate of 152.

Cool-headed Smith’s 69no, aided by veteran Rikki Clarke (21), drove Surrey to a five-wicket success which set up Tuesday’s semi-final trip to Group 1 winners Durham where they ultimately fell short. 

Smith lost an important toss at Chester-le-Street and entered with his side in trouble at 40-3, seamer Chris Rushworth making all three incisions. Smith’s career-best 85 joined with Mark Stoneman – playing against his first county – in adding 155 for the fourth wicket and the opener went on to make a fine 117.

But their final 280-8 just short and Durham’s strong batting hunted down the target with 15 balls to spare, Alex Lees hitting 75 and skipper Scott Borthwick, who only returned to the club after four seasons at The Oval last year, making 71 to wreck Surrey hopes.