MARK ALLEYNE has a hard act to follow succeeding John Bracewell as the Gloucestershire coach, but he can now claim to have gone a step farther than his lauded predecessor. For all he achieved as a master planner, Bracewell never had to unzip his tracksuit, tread pitchside of the boundary rope and cut through one of the best batting orders in the country.

This was precisely the task to fall to Alleyne yesterday when Alex Gidman was advised to rest a bruised toe. The former captain responded with a “do as I do” display in returning his best figures since 2001 of five for 71. Along the way Nadeem Shahid became his 400th wicket for the county, this to add to almost 15,000 runs accumulated over 18 years of service.

The pitch is slow and offered only a little seam movement, while the ball swung in the initial stages. Alleyne, though, caused as many problems with variations of pace, and Surrey, third at the start of play, had every reason to feel that they underachieved after winning the toss against the weakest bowling attack in the first division.

Rikki Clarke demonstrated the raw talent that has made his meek acquaintance with international cricket so frustrating, and Shahid also struck a powerful half-century. Otherwise the specialists fell short and it was left to Martin Bicknell and Tim Murtagh, with a stand of 61 for the eighth wicket, to rescue the situation.

Surrey’s cause was helped considerably by the indiscipline of Shabbir Ahmed, who delivered ten no-balls and two wides on his return from injury. One of those no-balls bowled Bicknell on 31, though the Pakistan bowler could point to three chances being missed off his medium pace.

Shabbir made the initial breakthrough when Scott Newman edged on to his leg stump and Jon Batty, surprisingly restoring himself to an opening berth after scoring a hundred from No 5 against Kent last week, fell soon afterwards, attempting to play Jon Lewis from the crease.

Mark Ramprakash left in evident disappointment after a thin edge to an away-swinger from Alleyne, and when Alistair Brown presented a leading edge, Surrey were in serious bother. However, Clarke and Shahid were let off the hook with a wasteful 40 minutes or so of bowling. They added 71 in ten overs before lunch with barely a risk.

From a crouching start with the tip of his bat wiggling like a fishing rod just above the horizontal, Clarke looked to get in a good stride forward and drive anything within his arc. He can be a nervous starter, but this time he took command straight away to score heavily between mid-on and extra cover.

There were ten boundaries in his half-century but, soon after the break, he misread a slower ball from Alleyne. If anything, the one that removed Shahid’s off stump later in the same spell appeared to be slightly quicker. It was a good wicket, with Shahid having gained confidence during his first significant innings of the season.

Bicknell used his reach to purposeful effect while Murtagh rode his luck, but Bicknell was left staring daggers at Nayan Doshi when the man making his debut holed out recklessly with Surrey two runs short of a third bonus point. Alleyne looked happier after completing the ninth five-wicket haul of his career.

The early loss of Craig Spearman gave Surrey a degree of impetus, but from then on batsmen either played and missed or saw edges fall short. Phil Weston remained unperturbed as the ball continued to wobble well after the scheduled close. He put on 79 with Tim Hancock before the latter presented Batty with a simple catch as seven o’clock approached.