When Surrey were winning three championships in five years recently, a regular facet of their performances was the last five partnerships contributing as much with the bat as the first five. That was the case here yesterday, as near as makes no difference. The undoubted star of the show in the morning was Harbhajan Singh, who equalled his career best and looked on course to become the first Surrey batsman to hit a century before lunch since 1989.

To make matters worse for Gloucestershire they lost their skipper, Chris Taylor, to a dislocated shoulder, sustained in the field yesterday morning, as well as six wickets for precious little; three of them to Rikki Clarke who accounted for Spearman, Windows and Adshed in no time to leave the hosts teetering on the edge of disaster at 83 for five in reply to Surrey’s massive 603. Sadly, the indications are that Taylor will take no further part in this contest.

But with the ball losing its shine the west countrymen, in the shape of Alex Gidman and Ian Fisher, found a means of arresting their side’s decline. To date their partnership for the seventh wicket is worth 81 in eighteen overs; and although the likelihood is that Surrey will go on to win this game, the visitors would be foolish to expect Gloucestershire to simply lie down. Indeed, Surrey will have to make full use of all their bowling options, including the regular sorties from around the wicket, to force a result inside three days.

Requiring 453 just to avoid being asked to follow-on, the normally adhesive Philip Weston went in the seventh over when an inside edge on to the pad only just carried to Azhar Mahmood at third slip. Martin Bicknell’s sixth over was taken for three fours. Craig Spearman reeled off an exquisite drive down the ground, and Matt Windows powered the 36-year-old all-rounder for boundaries either side of the wicket.

Rikki Clarke began with a no-ball and wide, but in his third over Brown, at second slip, claimed a wonderful catch at the third attempt to spell the end for Spearman. Then, after Harbhajan, who was introduced as early as the seventeenth over, had the left-handed James Pearson edging to slip, Clarke penetrated Windows’s defence before having Steve Adshed caught at first slip.

Resuming at 112 for five, Gloucestershire lost just one wicket between tea and the close, when Mark Hardinges was bowled trying to work Jimmy Ormond through mid-on. Gidman brought his fifty up in 107 balls with a four through extra cover off Harbhajan. Late on, the Buckinghamshire-born all-rounder also took advantage of the wayward fare served up in Clarke’s final spell. Fisher was a while establishing himself, but was still there at the stumps, by which time the hosts had reduced Surrey’s advantage to 382.

Earlier, the visitors’ tail had the Gloucestershire fieldsmen chasing leather. Worn down by the hot sun, the home side’s flagging attack were taken for a further 146 in the first session, eighty-four of them from the blade of Harbhajan Singh, who was orthodox for the most part but who brought up the 600 with a six over mid-wicket before throwing his head back and being bowled by Fisher.

Harbhajan replaced Azhar Mahmood in the third over of the day after the Pakistan all-rounder had optimistically called Bicknell through for a quick single to mid-off and was stranded eleven runs short of reaching three figures.

Surrey’s total, their highest ever against Gloucestershire and their best for almost two years, contained seven half-centurions, thus equalling a club record set against Hampshire at Portsmouth in 1908.

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