Centuries from Mark Butcher and Alistair Brown, plus useful contributions from Adam Hollioake and Rikki Clarke, saw Surrey take charge on the first day at Leicester. With honours fairly even at lunch, the visitors edged ahead and then disappeared into the distance by scoring 205 runs in the session between lunch and tea, which was dominated by a fourth-wicket partnership of 211 in 37 overs between Mark Butcher and Alistair Brown.

Leicestershire have been on the wrong end of Butcher and Brown before of course. In 1999, when the England number three last played at Grace Road, he scored a career best 259. The following season, when the Oval outfit were entertained at Oakham School, Alistair Brown filled his boots by hitting an unbeaten 295, which also ranks as his highest ever.

At one stage the Surrey pair took seven boundaries off eight balls from Devon Malcolm. The first, struck by Mark Butcher could have been caught if a much taller man had been posted at second slip, but all the others were the result of authentic strokeplay. Darren Maddy replaced Malcolm at the Pavilion End, only to see his first over back yield 17 runs.

With Leicestershire missing Carl Crowe, who was struck down with a stomach bug, Mohammed Kaif was the first of three ‘trialist’ off-spinners to be called upon, yet only until he too was hit out of the attack. The second of Brown’s sixes off the Indian, who is making his first and last championship appearance of the season as a Foxes player, had enough distance on it to clear the Charles Palmer Stand.

Not surprisingly, Alistair Brown was the first to reach his hundred - his third of the season - off 91 balls. But before his partner could join him on three figures for the first time this year for Surrey the 32-year-old maverick was caught off a lazy cover drive. Mark Butcher reached his landmark in 156 deliveries with an off-driven four off Matt Whiley in the second over after tea.

Leicestershire started the final session with their two wicket-takers, but neither could reproduce the swing they enjoyed earlier in proceedings. While Maddy may have owed his second wicket to a lapse in concentration his third was due to some to some unprecedented bounce, which induced an edge from Butcher.

Adam Hollioake then took charge, making what was by his standards an understated 80 off 74 balls. It took him 51 and ten boundaries to reach his half-century whereupon he struck two fours then a six off the first three balls of Jamie Grove’s final over.

With all of his seamers proving less than effective, Iain Sutcliffe, captaining Leicestershire in the absence of Vince Wells, who has an injured groin, spurned the opportunity of taking the new ball. Instead he turned to the spin duo of Trevor Ward and Phillip DeFreitas, more in an effort to improve the Foxes tardy over-rate - or so it seemed until the move resulted in a sixth wicket.

In his third over Ward claimed the wicket of Hollioake, caught behind off a thin outside edge, after which Rikki Clarke and Alex Tudor booked themselves in for breakfast. The seventh wicket pair, both of whom have championship hundreds to their names, will no doubt be hoping Leicestershire’s attack gets out of the wrong side of bed again today.

Earlier the Surrey openers made a cautious start, seeing off the new-ball threat of DeFreitas and Malcolm before bringing up the fifty in the 21st over. However, Ian Ward must have known it was not going to be his day when he was initially put on the scoreboard as batsman number 111. Having survived one convincing shout by Grove, the former England left-hander was leg before to full-pitched delivery from Whiley. In the next over, the 27th, Maddy trapped Jonathan Batty for the same score with one that appeared to swing prodigiously.

Mark Ramprakash, who was averaging 95.60 against Leicestershire before yesterday, then made a duck when Darren Maddy claimed a head-height catch at second slip off Matt Whiley. Whiley, sporting a David Beckham style blond streak as a centre-parting, was perhaps Leicestershire’s most penetrative bowler. But, on occasions, even he was not free from embarrassment, conceding a total of 22 runs in no-balls and wides.

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