Notts pair batter Surrey

Nottinghamshire's Samit Patel celebrates with fellow centurion Mark Wagh

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Mark Wagh and Samit Patel piled more misery on the newly relegated Surrey by smashing brilliant centuries for Nottinghamshire at the Brit Oval.

Joining forces at 110 for two, the pair put on a thrilling 242 from just 227 balls - a Nottinghamshire record for the third wicket against Surrey – as the visitors lived up to their billing as potential county champions and finished on 420 for five.

While Wagh outscored his 23-year-old team-mate, it was Patel who glinted in the South London sun. His elegant and at times brutal 135, spanning just 121 deliveries, included 12 fours and six maximums.

It made for a dismal day for Surrey who in the morning session were confirmed as the first side to be relegated from Division One.

Kicking someone when they are down is never the nicest thing but Nottinghamshire, and in particular Wagh and Patel, repeatedly put the boot in on Surrey. Darren Pattinson creaming a six off the final ball of the day summed it up.

Resuming on 253 for eight, Surrey endured a nightmare first session which epitomised their disastrous season.

After losing Murtaza Hussain, caught by second slip off Mark Ealham, what followed bordered on the farcical.

Shoaib Akhtar was the last man to go when, having been struck on the throat by Andre Adams, he then fell back on his stumps. The Pakistan fast bowler worryingly collapsed in a heap and lay prostrate for five minutes before staggering back to the changing room like a punch-drunk boxer.

To add injury to injury, wicketkeeper Jonathan Batty was taken to hospital after he made a hash of a regulation take from Stuart Meaker. Initial reports suggested a dislocation or fracture of the middle finger on his left hand.

Bad news comes in threes – just ask Surrey captain Mark Ramprakash as reports then filtered through from Old Trafford that Lancashire had clocked up the required three bonus points to condemn Surrey to the drop.

Shoaib Akhtar is left on the Oval turf after being struck in the throat by Andre Adams - he had fallen on his stumps

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Scott Newman took the gloves in Batty’s absence and at times looked like a pub football team goalkeeper. He fortuitously had a hand in the first wicket to fall, spilling a simple chance off Will Jefferson only for the alert Usman Afzaal to gobble up the rebound. It was Meaker’s first championship wicket.

Against all expectation, Akhtar returned to the field and by the tenth over was pushing off from the boundary boards to start his enormous run up.

But Bilal Shafayat and Wagh had little trouble dealing with his pace, the pair taking turns to powerfully cut the Rawalpindi Express for four as Nottinghamshire reached 54 for one at lunch.

Surrey emerged after the interval with a new wicketkeeper, Daniel Euston, who plays club cricket for Malden Wanderers. The phonecall from Surrey’s management to the emergency gloveman probably started with: ‘Euston, we have a problem’.

Batty’s stand-in was untroubled as Nottinghamshire went about their business of accumulating as many runs as possible.

Wagh led the charge, hitting the slippery Meaker for four boundaries in succession en route to an attractive fifty. It was a passage of play which might have roused a sleeping fox, positioned on the white sheets which act as a sightscreen at the Vauxhall Road End, from its slumbers.

Shafayat followed his partner’s lead, sweeping Hussain for six as the visitors coasted past the 100-mark.

Surrey finally had something to cheer about when Shafayat edged behind and Euston completed the dismissal. But there would be more doom and gloom to come.

The wicket gave Patel the chance to showcase his undoubted talent. Picked for the forthcoming Stanford Super Series and one-day tour to India, Patel made a breezy start with a clip through midwicket off Pedro Collins as good as anything seen all day.

The all-rounder looked in fabulous touch and he soon had Collins on toast, effortlessly whipping him off his pads and driving stylishly down the ground. He latched on to anything short too, pulling the West Indies seamer twice to the boundary as Nottinghamshire accumulated at a rapid rate.

Wagh, watched by stand-in keeper Daniel Euston, works the balls into the leg side during his century on Thursday

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He reached a run-a-ball fifty but looked to have his eyes on something larger when he launched Hussain for a six back over the bowler’s head. A slightly uglier heave in the next over, bowled by Afzaal, brought the same result.

Wagh was by no means pedestrian in contrast and the pair brought up their 100-partnership in 17 overs. Compare that to Surrey scoring just 59 in 33 overs during yesterday’s tedious afternoon session.

Patel continued to feast off the spinners, crunching Afzaal for another maximum over midwicket despite Akhtar’s attempt to tip it over the bar.

The pair continued in the same manner after tea with both smashing Afzaal for six in the same over, Wagh propelling the ball a dozen rows beyond the long-on boundary to reach 99. He brought up his splendid century next ball by clubbing the same bowler down the ground for four.

Patel treated Akhtar with the same disdain as he did the spinners and reached his ton, his eighth, off just 89 balls, with a pull and cut that crashed into the boards.

The Notts duo raced to a 200-stand but with Patel in such majestic form it was anybody’s guess how many they might pillage against Surrey’s wilting attack.

They finally reached 242 before Patel perished attempting a seventh maximum and Wagh was not too far behind after nicking behind off Collins.

Shoaib cut rather a disconsolate figure as the day wore on. Having charged in with absolutely no reward, he summoned up one last burst towards the end of play but new batsmen Ashwell Prince and Graeme Swann, who put on a fifty stand, had the measure of him by then.

Prince was lbw to Hussain late on but Pattinson finished the day in ominous fashion.