SURREY’S appearance at Tunbridge Wells Festival took a turn for the worse on Friday afternoon when they were docked eight county championship points following an investigation into ball tampering.

While Kent piled on second innings runs to build a substantial lead in this game, so the news came through from St John’s Wood that Surrey were to be deducted eight points, with a further nine points levied under suspension until May 31, 2006.

The decision, announced by chairman of ECB discipline committee Gerard Elias QC, ensures Surrey drop one place in the Division 1 table below Kent with immediate effect.

An internal club investigation, led by Surrey’s chairman of cricket Micky Stewart saw the players close ranks and refuse to name those guilty of tampering with the ball.

That subsequently led to disciplinary procedures against the 11 players involved in the match, though club chief executive Paul Sheldon refused to reveal if players had been fined.

Mr Sheldon said: "I am not going into the details of our investigation or the disciplinary measures we have taken since, but you can surmise they were very rigorous.

"The players know the various ramifications and were told of our disciplinary measures a couple of days ago, then they were informed of the result of the ECB enquiry at a team meeting yesterday."

Mr Sheldon added: "It has probably been the most significant personal disappointment since I took up this post 10 years ago.

"I’d like to think this is a temporary blip, it is something we are not remotely proud of, but we are big enough to recover from this and go on to play the standard of cricket we have for the past eight years.

"The players have also given an absolute assurance that this will not happen again."

The tampering incident took place at The Oval on May 6 on the opening day of Surrey’s clash with Nottinghamshire, a game in which the visitors went on to score 692 for seven.

The match ball was later sent to Lord’s for inspection by match umpires Nigel Llong and Mervyn Kitchen, who reported the quarter seam of the ball was found to be sticking up "like a wing".

Meanwhile, Kent continued to make hay in ideal batting conditions at the Nevill and against a Surrey attack shorn of the injured Rikki Clarke and Martin Bicknell.

Both Rob Key and Martin van Jaarsveld weighed in with centuries as Kent romped to 372 for two for an overall lead of 310.

So far, the third wicket pair have added 292, the highest championship partnership ever for Kent at The Nevill.