Surrey head into the final day knowing they have some work to do after a morning collapse saw Durham take the advantage on day three. Durham closed on 76 for two in their second innings, a lead of 117 after Surrey were all out for 183 before lunch.

In the first over of the morning Graham Onions bowled Usman Afzaal for one as the left-hander looked to drive through the off-side and got an inside edge onto his stumps. Then a horrible moment for Chris Jordan when Ali Brown called for a single, hesitated and Jordan was run out by 22 yards for nought. Surrey 125 for six became 134 for seven when Matthew Nicholson was LBW to Neil Killeen for four as he played round his front pad. Brown then decided attack was the best form of defence and he took the score past 150 with a pull of Onions into the pavilion. James Ormond helped Brown take the score to 160, but then Killeen tempted Ormond into a drive which found the outside edge of his bat and Michael Di Venuto took a sharp catch at second slip. Saqlain Mushtaq joined Brown and was greeted with a barrage of short deliveries from Stephen Harmison. There was a worrying moment for Surrey when Harmison struck Saqlain on the bottom hand with a rising delivery, but after treatment from the physiotherapist, Jon Hockey, Saqlain continued to support Brown. There was a game of cat and mouse between Brown and the Durham bowlers as the Surrey batsman tried to keep the strike. But with the score on 177 Saqlain attempted to pull Mark Davies over mid-wicket, got a thin edge and was caught by Phil Mustard for eight. Pedro Collins got off the mark with a boundary to third-man off Davies, but Brown was the last to go as he helped Harmison down to third-man where Killeen took a tumbling catch as Surrey were all out for 183. Brown’s 38 contained five boundaries and one six.

Durham had a handy lead of 41. Di Venuto and Mark Stoneman had 20 minutes to bat before lunch and Surrey knew they had to take quick wickets. Di Venuto was almost run out for the second time in the game, when a direct hit from sub fielder James Benning saw Di Venuto get the benefit of the doubt. After that scare Di Venuto pulled Collins to the square-leg boundary for four and Durham reached lunch 18 without loss.

After lunch Ormond immediately made the breakthrough when he trapped Di Venuto LBW for 14. Stoneman had managed to tuck five boundaries of his legs on his way to 23, but the introduction of Saqlain into the attack quickly brought his downfall as he was trapped LBW playing on the back foot. Kyle Coetzer and Neil McKenzie both looked solid against the Surrey bowling as they put on 23 for the third wicket before rain came once again to the Riverside at 2:45 pm.

No further play was possible on day three, leaving Durham 117 runs ahead. Surrey know on the final day they will have to take quick wickets to harbour any hope of forcing a victory.

Watch all the action from a rain-affected third day on Surrey TV.

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