SURREY must be wondering what it is about their attack that galvanises Mike Yardy. Although the Sussex left-hander started the season with a modest first-class career average of 29, he had averaged 52 from six innings against the Londoners and, after his determined 111 here, he increased that to an imposing 60.

Yardy batted for nearly five hours under permanently leaden skies in conditions that demanded unyielding concentration. It was an impressive effort from the 24-year-old who, if he continues to play as well as he did here, can expect at last to establish a regular first-team place. Resuming on 44, he reached his fifty off 142 balls and then accelerated nicely to complete his second first-class hundred — both against Surrey — off 202. His driving was a feature, bringing him many of his 17 fours.

It took a good ball that nipped back into him to remove Yardy. Gratifyingly for Surrey, it was delivered not by Jimmy Ormond or Mohammad Akram but by Rikki Clarke, whose bowling has improved out of sight over the winter. Favourable reports came back from the England A tour of Sri Lanka, and it was clear why. Clarke has added a yard of pace to his previously pedestrian seam-up, and is hitting the bat harder after adding some meat to what was a thin frame. Clarke’s height — he is 6ft 4in — will always help him to extract bounce.

His control needs improvement, but he is still only 23. When he knocked out Robin Martin-Jenkins’s off stump with with a ball that seamed back into the batsman, and then had Jason Lewry caught at mid-off, he had claimed only the second four-wicket haul of his career.