THIRD-wicket pair Billy Godleman and Cheteshwar Pujara carried Derbyshire to an eight-wicket victory before tea on the third day of their LV County Championship match against Surrey at The Oval.
Chasing 251 for their fifth win of the season, Derbyshire reached their target at 251-2 in 66.4 overs with Godleman 104 not out and Pujara 90 not out. Together, they put on an unbroken 154.
That came after Godleman and Ben Slater gave their side a superb start by batting through the whole of the first session in putting on 94 before Surrey were able to make their breakthrough.
Heavy cloud cover had replaced the sunshine and clear blue skies of the first two days and Derbyshire must have feared that would add to the difficulty of their task as they set out in the morning.
But though the occasional ball passed the outside edge and one or two stayed very low, the opening pair went about their business with few scares against the seamers.
Slater was on 45 when he was caught at first slip off Jade Dernbach at 94-1 in the third over after lunch but it was a very good effort from him. He faced 106 balls and hit five fours.
There was a further small wobble for Derbyshire in the following over as Wayne Madsen was caught at slip off left-arm spinner Zafar Ansari for two to make it 97-2 but that was as close as Surrey came to putting Derbyshire under pressure.
Pujara, who has made a poor start to his brief Derbyshire stint, came out in positive mood and Godleman was able to match him stride for stride.
Godleman moved smoothly past his previous best Championship score for the county and completed his first Derbyshire century off 175 balls with nine fours and a six.
Pujara looked every inch the top-class batsman he is, making his runs off 105 balls with 14 fours.
