That Mark Ramprakash's was the most prized wicket was clear from the excited shouting when a Durham bowler beat his bat - and from the lowered heads and silence when Phil Mustard spilt a chance.

This bad drop, after Ramprakash had made nine in an hour, looked ominous. He eventually fell for 30 to the deserving Graham Onions. But Mark Butcher had been the more confident in a stand of 99 and it was a surprise when he was out in the final over for an assured 65.

In the afternoon, Surrey had sliced through Durham's long tail, Chris Jordan's pace applying the coup de grâce, and the visiting team had lost both openers early to Onions.

Sadly for Durham, though, a useful pitch for seam bowlers did little for Stephen Harmison. Barely one ball an over from him demanded playing with the bat, several going down the leg side, and with a wide being fielded in the slips - like the first ball of the last Ashes series.

By contrast, Onions was fast and moved the ball dangerously back into the left-handers. On the day, he must share the bowling honours with Jordan, whose three late wickets included two in which yorkers ripped out the off stump. He had three wickets for seven yesterday in a little over three overs.

As for the balance of the match, Surrey seemed to have taken it away from Durham when Ramprakash and Butcher were going swimmingly. But when Ramprakash tried to force Onions from the back foot and was well held by Neil McKenzie, the door was ajar, and it was fully open when McKenzie, again featuring at slip, held a fine low catch to get Butcher.

Durham: First Innings (overnight 144-3)
M D Stoneman c Ormond b Collins 59
*D M Benkenstein c Batty b Ormond 67
P Mustard c Newman b Nicholson 22
P J Wiseman c Batty b Jordan 21
G Onions c Batty b Nicholson 8
M Davies b Jordan1
S J Harmison not out 9
N Killeen b Jordan1

Extras (b 1, lb 6, nb 24) 31

Total (74.3 overs) 224

Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-9, 3-13, 4-154, 5-162, 6-185, 7-209, 8-213, 9-218.

Bowling: Collins 25-7-78-3; Nicholson 18-5-43-2; Jordan 11.3-1-32-3; Saqlain 4-0-17-0; Ormond 16-3-47-1.

Surrey: First Innings
S A Newman b Onions11
J N Batty lbw b Onions 5
M R Ramprakash c McKenzie b Onions 31
*M A Butcher c McKenzie b Killeen 65
U Afzaal not out 1

Extras (b 4, lb 3, w 1, nb 2) 10

Total (4 wkts, 46.5 overs) 123

A D Brown, M J Nicholson, C J Jordan, J Ormond, Saqlain Mushtaq and P T Collins to bat.

Fall of wickets: 1-17, 2-18, 3-117, 4-123.

Bowling: S J Harmison 9-3-25-0; Onions 15-5-50-3; Killeen 11.5-3-20-1; Davies 8-3-19-0; Wiseman 3-1-2-0.

Umpires: B Dudleston and B Leadbeater.