After their early exit from the Twenty20 Cup, Surrey, and one of their players in particular, had been eyeing this important four-day match for some time. Mark Ramprakash was again unable to shake the monkey of his 100th hundred off his back, but on a very dry pitch likely to turn ’big’ later on, his side enjoyed the better of an attritional first day, laying the basis for a decent first innings total.

The two counties are currently propping up the first division, small though the points differential may be, and this is a game Surrey, in bottom place, badly need to win. It was a good thing their batsmen shook themselves out of Twenty20 mode, for on a slow surface where the ball did not really come on to the bat, a diligent approach was required against disciplined bowling. The most freeflowing innings of the day came from Usman Afzaal, yet even he needed 102 balls to reach his fifty. Jon Batty batted nearly five hours for his dogged but valuable unbeaten 70.

Both captains knew the significance of the toss, not least because Kent had one bowler, Martin Saggers, who got only one hour’s sleep last night after rushing back to Whitstable for the birth of his second child. He just missed it. A weary Saggers almost removed Ramprakash in his first over when a bottom-edged pull flashed perilously close to the wicket.

After Scott Newman miscued a pull to mid-on off Robbie Joseph, Ramprakash announced himself regally, cover-driving his second ball for four. Although he gave a difficult chance to point off Joseph when 23, Ramprakash could not have applied himself more keenly. Kent bowled rigidly down the corridor of uncertainty at him, but he would not be drawn outside off stump. Anything straight, he worked skilfully through the onside. Eventually, however, Ryan McLaren obtained just enough movement off a good length to find his edge, Geraint Jones clinging on to a fine one-handed diving catch. Ramprakash’s 48 spanned 134 balls.

Surrey: First Innings

S A Newman c Key b Joseph 9

M N W Spriegel b McLaren 17

*M R Ramprakash c Jones b McLaren 48

†J N Batty not out 70

U Afzaal c Jones b Arafat 57

A D Brown not out 11

Extras (b 12, lb 7, w 12, nb 8) 39

Total (4 wkts, 97 overs) 251

Abdul Razzaq, C P Schofield, Saqlain Mushtaq, J W Dernbach and P T Collins to bat.

Fall of wickets: 1-22, 2-62, 3-126, 4-229.

Bowling: Arafat 18-5-54-1; Joseph 23-8-59-1; McLaren 13-5-27-2; Saggers 19-8-44-0; Tredwell 21-6-39-0; Stevens 3-0-9-0.

Kent: J L Denly, *R W T Key, J C Tredwell, M van Jaarsveld, D I Stevens, J M Kemp, † G O Jones, R McLaren, Yasir Arafat, R H Joseph, M J Saggers.

Umpires: R J Bailey and J H Evans.