Surrey had no answer for Andrew Flintoff yesterday. He struck the season’s fastest century in the championship then topped things off by taking the wickets of Alistair Brown and Alec Stewart to make it a thoroughly awful day at the office for the home side, who still need 64 runs to avoid the follow-on.

The England all-rounder blasted 137 off 106 balls, including 20 fours and three sixes. It was his first championship hundred against Surrey and went some way towards making up for the ducks he recorded in his first and third first-class innings against the Oval outfit. Alex Tudor accounted for him on both occasions, but this time it was Tudor’s turn to suffer. His five overs after lunch went for 41 runs.

If anyone doubted Flintoff’s match-winning potential he demonstrated it yesterday. Somewhat more positive than in the corresponding fixture last season, when the Lancashire tyro took an hour to get off the mark, he reached his half-century in 43 deliveries and needed only 32 more to post three figures.

With seventeen wickets falling in the day where does one start? After winning the toss and electing to bat Lancashire lost Alec Swann after fifty minutes, trying to beat the arm of Ian Ward. Mark Chilton was caught and bowled off Ian Salisbury’s first delivery and just before lunch David Byas shouldered arms to an in-swinging ball from Alex Tudor.

Resuming on 108 for three the visitors soon lost Stuart Law, caught at gully, and if Andrew Flintoff had been held in more or less the same position by Ward it would have put a very different complexion on proceedings. But, in league with the in form again Graham Lloyd, 63 runs were added in just 23 minutes for the fifth wicket.

After Lloyd had nicked a wide delivery to the keeper, Warren Hegg went in similar fashion off to give Azhar Mahmood his only costly scalp. Another 63 runs were put on for Lancashire’s seventh wicket - this time in 51 minutes - before Glen Chapple and then John Wood provided Stewart with his second and third victims behind the timbers.

Kyle Hogg could only fence Martin Bicknell to third slip, but all the while Flintoff was running amuck. Of his three sixes, two were pulled off Azhar and the other went straight back over Salisbury’s head. The 24-year-old took 29 off eight balls to go to his century and was last out on the stroke of tea trying to force the pace yet again.

Surrey’s reply started reasonably well, with Ian Ward and Mark Butcher surviving the first six overs; but then in the space of 15 balls Chapple accounted for Butcher - caught at slip by that man Flintoff - Mark Ramprakash and Graham Thorpe.

Ward and Brown consolidated before Swann’s throw, which found the left-hander stranded out of his ground, precipitated a second collapse. Alistair Brown, caught at point, went in the same over in which Alec Stewart also fell, for a duck, and the wicket of Azhar Mahmood soon followed.

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