Having been reduced to 112 for five, which put them barely halfway towards avoiding the follow-on, Lancashire were in danger, yet again, of showing a worrying lack of application for a team of such immense quality. But then out strode Glen Chapple and in partnership with Chris Schofield the home side were gradually placed back on course. As well as Nayan Doshi varied his flight and angle of attack, it took two superb deliveries from Martin Bicknell to perform the kind of surgery Surrey were looking for when the game started to drift away from them.

Schofield and Chapple added a spirited 114 in 24 overs for the Lancastrians’ sixth wicket. Chapple opened his account with a cut four off Doshi, but in the period leading up to tea Schofield assumed the mantle of senior partner by taking the attack to Azhar Mahmood and twice lapping the young slow left-armer for firmly struck boundaries.

After the break, however, Chapple came into his own after being allowed to play himself back in against Jimmy Ormond’s innocuous off-spin. Wonderful drives through the covers off Bicknell and Doshi preceded the 30-year-old all-rounder’s half-century, which was posted in just 69 deliveries. Chapple continued to get after Doshi, but three overs later it was as though Bicknell said to himself: “Right, I’ve had enough of this.”

The veteran seamer reached into his tool box and pulled out a superb leg-cutter to account for Chapple and, next ball, got one to nip back in-between bat and pad to pluck out Dominic Cork’s off stump. Thereafter, with Schofield requiring a runner to carry forward the counter-attack, the home side could not afford to take the same risks against Doshi in an effort to throw him off his stride and as a result fell well short on first innings.

Jonathan Batty, who claimed six dismissals, had a hand in each of Lancashire’s last three wickets. Eight overs after reaching fifty off 88 balls, Schofield was easily stumped. Warren Hegg was caught off one that turned square and after Sajid Mahmood had lofted Doshi over long-on for six Azhar, in his last appearance of the season for Surrey, had him caught an inch off the turf.

Earlier, Surrey struggled, adding a just 23 more to their overnight total. Tim Murtagh fell into the trap set for him at short extra cover in the third over of proceedings. Nine overs later the first boundary of the day brought up Alistair Brown’s 150, which he reached off 287 balls. But then a deviating delivery ended Brown’s marathon effort and gave Sajid Mahmood championship best figures. Doshi cracked Mahmood for four through the off side, but perished in the next over when he attempted a similar stroke, succeeding only in lofting it to the man at long-off.

Lancashire also found life with the bat to be difficult. Mark Chilton was plumb lbw to Bicknell and Iain Sutcliffe went to a superb catch, which was taken just beneath the batsmen’s nose by Richard Clinton diving in from short-leg. Mal Loye and Stuart Law added 72 in 22 overs for the third wicket before Doshi accounted for Law and Hooper in the space of three balls. Loye departed seven overs later when a toe-crushing yorker removed his leg stump.

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