Brown bags century for Surrey

Ali Brown © Getty Images

Alastair Brown rolled back the years with his third century of the season to ensure Surrey started their Liverpool Victoria County Championship Division Two clash with Northamptonshire at a quick pace.

The former England one-day batsman chalked up 113 in 185 balls to put the Division Two leaders firmly in the driving seat with a first-innings total of 328 all out.

To rub salt into the wounds, the visitors then claimed the key wickets of Rob White, Bilal Shafayat and Sourav Ganguly as Northants wilted in the heat to end day one on 61 for three in reply.

Surrey overcame the early dismissals of openers Jonathan Batty and Scott Newman to take a stranglehold on the game and justify skipper Mark Butcher’s decision to bat first.

Batty crashed two boundaries into the boards before top-edging Matthew Nicholson behind to wicket-keeper Riki Wessels for eight.

Newman (23) then gave the ‘keeper his 50th first-class catch for Northants with a feather touch off his bat off Ben Phillips to leave the visitors on 41 for two.

Mark Ramprakash drove Jason Brown down the pitch for four to reach his half-century in 71 balls – but he was back in the pavilion just two balls later after thick-edging Nicholson to give Wessels his third catch of the day.

Surrey went into lunch on 129 for three and Nicholson struck again when he claimed Butcher’s off stump three balls after the break.

But the hosts’ joy was short-lived, with Rikki Clarke striking up a stubborn fifth-wicket stand with Brown.

Their 82-run partnership was eventually ended by former Indian captain Ganguly, who claimed Clarke’s off stump to leave him three short of his half-century.

Brown – for his part – reached his 50 when he pulled the Indian for four through mid-wicket.

Just as the visitors looked to be taking total control, Nicholson caught Azhar Mahmood in the covers off Phillips and skipper David Sales ran out Ian Salisbury for a single.

Phillips then made it three wickets in three overs – trapping former Northants player Mohammad Akram lbw to leave Surrey 279 for eight.

A single to third man off Charl Pietersen gave Brown his century before Neil Saker was caught behind by Wessels off the South African’s next ball - with the visitors’ innings ending when Nicholson trapped Brown lbw to end with figures of 4-84.

Surrey underlined their advantage when Akram had Shafayat lbw with the third ball of the innings, with White also trapped right in front lbw by Mahmood who then had Ganguly caught behind by Batty.

Pietersen and Usman Afzaal steadied the ship after the hosts had slumped to 43 for three, taking the total to 61 without further loss.