GUILDFORD

(Day two of four; Surrey won toss)

Surrey 220 (S A Newman 113, B W Harmison 4 for 27). Durham 259 for 5 (W R Smith 126 not out, P Mustard 62 not out, J Ormond 3 for 73).

Lunch

James Ormond, the former England fast bowler, broke a fourth wicket stand of 52 between Will Smith and Dale Benkenstein to keep Surrey on top on a rainy morning at the Guildford Festival.

Rain stopped play after only 12 minutes, in which time Durham, 44 for three overnight, added 14 off 3.5 overs, but they were playing again 68 minutes later.

It was soon raining again but the umpires allowed play to continue and Ormond, playing his first match since May because of family reasons, picked up his third wicket of the innings when Benkenstein was caught behind as he tried to drive.

Tea

Smith went past fifty off 89 balls with eight fours as he continued to hold the Durham innings together but Ben Harmison found it a desperate struggle to score runs.

Six not out at lunch, he needed 32 balls afterwards to find another single and he had made only nine off 57 balls when Murtaza Hussain got one to turn and lift and have him caught at slip via the wicketkeeper’s gloves.

Phil Mustard was much more positive and with Smith going on to complete his second championship century of the season in 246 minutes off 215 balls with 13 fours Durham reached tea only 18 runs behind with five wickets in hand.

Close

Mustard had been living dangerously, sweeping first Chris Schofield and then Murtaza Hussain just short of deep backward square leg, but he looked much more assured when he swept Murtaza for four to put Durham in the lead.

The new ball was taken soon afterwards but Smith’s concentration never wavered, Mustard twice pulled Ormond violently for four and Surrey seemed happy to leave the field when bad light ended play.

By then Smith had been batting more than five fours for his 126 off 269 balls including 15 fours, Mustard had hit 62 off 134 balls and they had shared an unbroken stand of 131 to put Durham 39 ahead