WITH Surrey and Gloucestershire finishing first and second respectively in the National League last season, a battle between the top two one-day sides in England appeared to be on the cards as the teams met on Sunday at the County Ground.

However, with the Lions and the Gladiators both winless beforehand this was not quite the major tie that it appeared to be on paper.

Nonetheless, inspired by Chris Taylor's heroic fielding and another fine innings from starlet Alex Gidman, Gloucestershire were able to claim their first one-day win of the season to finally get their campaign going in the right direction.

The National League competition has not been as kind to Mark Alleyne's team as it was last year, when the Gladiators just missed out to eventual champions Surrey after a mighty joust for the title. This time around the team had endured two defeats in their first two games, as had Surrey, and so Sunday's clash was a case of last season's heavyweights attempting to spark their season into life.

In front of the watching Sky TV cameras, Gloucestershire valiantly defeated their mercurial rivals, building a meaty total of 257-6 before destroying Surrey's faltering batting with a mixture of some neat spin bowling and an excellent combination of two run outs and one dramatic juggle catch from Taylor.

Indeed, County Ground fans will see few more dramatic moments this season than the mid-wicket recovery from Taylor, which saw the four-day captain struggle to hold a James Benning drive as the ball popped out of his hands three times before he finally claimed it.

Gidman was named as man of the match after a bravura innings of 70, which had followed Craig Spearman's 26 and Phil Weston's 53 as the Gladiators patiently built up a hefty score. Matt Windows' 46 and Shoaib Malik's 20* ensured that the Gladiators bettered the 250 mark as their innings ended on 257.

Surrey's reply had begun disappointingly, with the score on 36-2 before veteran Mark Ramprakash (73) and England star Rikki Clarke (41) put on a century stand off 109 balls to give the Lions some hope.

However, Surrey fell apart after Clarke was lost lbw to Alleyne and Ramprakash was bowled behind his legs after an expert delivery from Malik. Although captain Adam Hollioake made a useful 33, the rest of the Surrey order was ruthlessly dismantled by a Gloucestershire side determined to claim an opening one-day win.

Taylor was undoubtedly the hero in the field, running out Scott Newman (six), Hollioake (33) and Jonathan Batty (seven) before claiming two catches, including the juggling act, as Surrey capsized to a total of 215-9.

Malik had used his range of spin bowling to good effect in claiming 9-0-39-2, while Martyn Ball also claimed two wickets as he performed his usual duty of cleaning up the tail.

This was a richly reserved victory for the Gladiators against their principal tormentors of last season, although the team's hopes of gaining a first win in the County Championship were dented on Saturday. Despite leading rivals Northants by 256 after the first innings, Gloucestershire could only draw at Bristol, leaving this week's game against Worcestershire at New Road as a decisive encounter.

Evergreen seamer Mike Smith has returned to the four-day squad for this match, although summer signing Shabbir Ahmed is likely to miss several matches with a hamstring injury. Wicketkeeper Jack Russell remains sidelined for several weeks.

l Gloucestershire take on Hampshire at the County Ground on Sunday as they look to make it two National League wins in a row.