Record stand repels Surrey

HD Ackerman put his recent indifferent form behind him to register 180 not out, his first championship century of 2009

A record partnership between HD Ackerman and Boeta Dippenaar slammed the door shut on Surrey's hopes of victory against bottom-of-the-table Leicestershire in the LV= County Championship clash at Grace Road.

The two South Africans put on 314 in 83 overs for the third wicket as Leicestershire ensured the game ended in a draw by piling up a massive 487 for five declared in their second innings.

Ackerman made 180 and Dippenaar 143 and the stand was Leicestershire's biggest ever against Surrey.

It was an impressive fightback by the home side, who had trailed by 164 runs after being bowled out for 165 in their first innings.

And, at the start of the final day, Surrey still had visions of completing a second successive victory following their success against Northamptonshire last week.

But the prospect of that faded rapidly as Ackerman and Dippenaar produced a display of destructive batting in a remarkable pre-lunch session.

With the ball flying to all parts, 151 runs came off 32 overs to take Leicestershire from their overnight 181 to 332 for two and a lead of 168 by the interval.

Ackerman was in brilliant form, scoring the 50 runs he needed for his first championship century of the season off just 47 balls and hitting eight fours. In all he had faced 121 balls and struck 16 boundaries in what was his 16th century for Leicestershire.

Even after taking the second new ball, Surrey were still unable to stem the flow of runs with 58 coming off eight overs.

Dippenaar was almost bowled on 99 by an excellent yorker from Chris Jordan but then square-cut Stuart Meaker to the boundary to post his first century since he joined Leicestershire at the start of last season.

It came off 233 balls and contained 13 fours and a six. Such was Leicestershire's dominance that when left-arm spinner Usman Afzaal bowled a maiden in the afternoon session it was the first for 41 overs.

And it was Afzaal who finally broke the stand when Dippenaar skied a catch to long-on after scoring 143 off 331 balls with 17 fours and a six.

There was more success for Afzaal four overs later with Ackerman beaten and bowled by a cleverly-flighted delivery to end a 226-ball innings that contained 24 boundaries.

Afzaal struck again when Jim Allenby was caught by wicketkeeper Jon Batty when the ball rebounded to him off Michael Brown fielding short leg.

But James Taylor and Tom New then shared an unbroken stand of 66, allowing Leicestershire to declare on 487 for five with a lead of 323.

The game was drawn with Surrey taking 10 points and Leicestershire seven.