NEWS of Middlesex’s defeat will have delighted Surrey, who will leapfrog their rivals if they win this match. A useful first-innings lead leaves them well placed and that they gained one was almost entirely thanks to Mark Ramprakash.

The former England batsman, who turns 36 next month, still continues to play as well as he ever has at this level. During the course of his superbly crafted 185 not out from 310 balls, he passed 1,000 runs for the season. If there were one or two moments of uncertainty at the start of his innings, notably when he was dropped in the gully by Ian Fisher off Mark Hardinges on 18, they were soon dispelled in his long march towards, and then beyond, a fourth century this summer.

On a typical Oval belter, it was a surprise that no other Surrey batsman made more than 56. Mark Butcher could hardly have wished for better conditions for his first championship innings of the campaign, but he clipped William Rudge, the 22-year-old rookie medium pacer, straight to mid-wicket. Later, Graham Thorpe, after some careful reconnaissance, fell to the same bowler in almost identical fashion, flicking to square leg.

Had Fisher not put down a straightforward enough return catch when Jonathan Batty had reached 13, Surrey would have found themselves 177 for five. Instead, Batty and Ramprakash extended their fifth-wicket stand to 133 before the Surrey wicketkeeper, edged a drive to second slip.

Neither of Gloucestershire’s two spinners extracted more than a smidgen of turn. At one point, they had to bowl with a wet ball when the sprinklers were erroneously switched on at the Vauxhall End. Malinga Bandara was eventually rewarded when he persuaded Alistair Brown to chip a return catch and then deceived Azhar Mahmood with a googly.

Ramprakash, moving his feet decisively, twice struck Fisher’s left-arm spin into the pavilion. As ever, his driving and cutting were exemplary and his defence watertight. Still supremely fit, he looked stronger and stronger as the day wore on, if anything raising his concentration to even greater levels. In the last hour, when Tim Murtagh helped him to add 70, he was immovable.