Surrey are firmly in command of the LV County Championship game with Sussex after a successful second day with both the bat and the ball at the Brit Oval.

Reaching his century very early on in the day Jonathan Batty – not out overnight on 96 – brought the ground to its feet before he succumbed to an interesting LBW decision handed to West Indian seamer Corey Collymore.

The dismissal brought Usman Afzaal to the crease who looked uncharacteristically scratchy at the other end whilst Ramprakash continued to devastatingly slam the Sussex attack around the ground. One tip-toed square cut off Robin Martin-Jenkins particularly showed the sign of a genius at the absolute height of his powers.

Ramprakash continued his onslaught all morning, eventually holing out in the deep trying to hit Ollie Rayner out of the ground shortly before lunch. Whether Martin-Jenkins found any consolation in taking the catch is unsure, because the ease with Ramprakash was scoring off him earlier could have destroyed the career of a lesser man.

James Benning, relishing a chance to get involved in a four day game, was next to the crease and looked assured, scoring freely in partnership with the newly in touch Afzaal until being caught by Chris Hopkinson at short leg off the bowling of Surrey old boy Rory Hamilton-Brown. The youngster then had Matthew Nicholson caught behind for a second ball duck.

Alex Tudor – on loan from Essex – landed some lusty blows, including a big six, in his quick fire 30 but the Surrey tail went down in the afternoon session, ending the first innings on 455 all out.

Jade Dernbach then put Sussex firmly on the back foot, firstly bowling Chris Nash with a full ball that beat him for pace and forced the opener to inside edge onto his leg stump and then getting Michael Thornely caught behind as he tentatively pushed a fine edge through to Jonathan Batty behind the stumps.

Stand in skipper Michael Yardy and Murray Goodwin occupied the crease until the end of the day, but with the pitch starting to show signs of turn for both Saqlain Mushtaq and Murtaza Hussain, the Surrey bowlers will be optimistic that tomorrow can be the fifth consecutive good day for Alan Butcher’s side.

Ball by ball commentary for day three can - as ever - be accessed at www.surreycricket.com courtesy of BBC London and highlights of the play from day will shortly be available at Surrey TV.

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