Since making 177 against Sussex at The Oval in the opening game of 2002, Alistair Brown had needed a championship century against Lancashire to complete his county set. Yesterday, in the 27th first-class innings of his career against the Red Rose outfit, he finally notched up the one he had been searching for.

Having come in with Surrey at 58 for four, after it had been their choice to bat, his unbeaten 144 took on ever-increasing significance – not least because the pitch took spin before lunch. The visitors are unlikely to score maximum batting points from their current position, nevertheless if they can post a total in excess of four hundred it will put them firmly in front in a contest that both sides are desperate to win.

At 187 balls, the 35th hundred of Brown’s first-class career was one of his more laborious. But after making a modest start to the 2004 campaign, the 34-year-old right-hander has now notched up three centuries and two half-centuries in his last ten visits to the crease.

Had they enjoyed a better start, Surrey’s grip would be even stronger. Glen Chapple accounted for Richard Clinton in the fifth over of the day with a ball that cannoned into the stumps off an inside edge. Sajid Mahmood went for thirteen off his first, but bowling wicket to wicket nipped out Butcher with a touch of extra pace and bounce, then claimed the scalp of Mark Ramprakash, who was walking in the direction of the pavilion before umpire John Steele had begun raising his finger.

Gary Keedy, who came on in the fifteenth over and enjoyed appreciable turn on a grey coloured surface, trapped Scott Newman, who did well to curb his attacking instincts before playing back. Jonathan Batty – who looked as if he had gone a couple rounds with Mahmood’s Olympic silver medal-winning cousin – could have been caught on eight, but otherwise gave Alistair Brown steadfast support.

Even though the Surrey skipper made just 36, his alliance with Brown, worth 119 in forty overs, guided his side to safer waters. Batty eventually lost concentration when Carl Hooper served up a friendly long hop, which was slapped straight to Chapple at square leg.

Azhar Mahmood and Martin Bicknell batted as well as the conditions permitted, but had it not been for Tim Murtagh it is unlikely the visitors would have negotiated the entire final session without any further losses. Lancashire’s first objective this morning will be to break Surrey’s eighth wicket stand, which is now worth 121, but much will depend on how they come to terms with a wicket of their own making.

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