On a tentative opening day at Wantage Road, Alistair Brown's third first-class century of the season - the 42nd of his career - put Surrey in control after the visitors had won the toss on a dry-looking surface. Azhar Mahmood and Mohammad Akram then reduced Northamptonshire to 43 for three to put the hosts well and truly on the back foot shortly before stumps.

But, for a couple of sessions, the Brown Caps settled for crease occupation while Northants opted for damage limitation. Events then took a turn as the last five Surrey wickets went down for just 55 runs, starting with the loss of Azhar on the stroke of tea. On a pitch that was showing signs of deterioration, it was no surprise when Rob White and Usman Afzaal responded by throwing the bat at anything loose after the early departure of Bilal Shafayat, who was undone in the first over of Northamptonshire's reply by one that skidded on.

The further loss of White and Ganguly to balls from Azhar which also seemed to misbehave, made it a very good day for the visitors, who chose to leave out James Benning and Martin Bicknell, the latter in favour of Neil Saker, from their squad of thirteen.

It must have done little for the batsmen's confidence when the second ball of the day, to Scott Newman, reared off a length. That was closely followed by Jonathan Batty being caught behind off a short delivery which appeared to dip on him. Three overs later Mark Ramprakash recorded his first boundary with an edge that sped in-between first and second slip before Newman, on the end of another rising delivery, failed to drop his hands in time.

Ramprakash was then joined by Mark Butcher, who survived a convincing leg before shout when on 6. The former Middlesex man played some uncharacteristic shots on his way to a 71-ball half-century, which he reached by charging down the pitch to Jason Brown and hitting him straight down the ground for his ninth four. But, in the very next over, Ramprakash threw the bat again and was caught behind off Matt Nicholson.

That brought Alistair Brown to the crease. Before yesterday, Brown had struck four championship hundreds in his previous seven innings against Northamptonshire. Sharing in two partnerships of note, he continued his excellent run against the Wantage Road outfit. Brown's most productive alliance was with Rikki Clarke. The pair added 83 in nineteen overs, but neither looked totally secure.

After Butcher had chopped on in the first over after lunch, Clarke hit two leg-side fours off Charl Pietersen. Jason Brown's first over after the break saw him hoisted for two sixes, firstly by his namesake, who hit him into the sightscreen at the Pavilion End, and then Rikki Clarke, who came down the pitch and cleared the boundary with ease.

In the 47th over, Clarke superbly cut the off-spinner off his stumps to notch up Surrey's first bonus point. But seven overs later the Brown Caps' vice-captain lost his off peg to Sourav Ganguly. Alistair Brown reached his fifty off 80 balls with an on driven four off the former India skipper, but after a period of sedateness he rapidly ran out of partners.

Azhar, who lifted Ganguly over the mid-wicket to bring up the 250, lofted a catch to extra cover. Ian Salisbury was immediately run out when he failed, initially, to respond to Brown's call for a single to mid-wicket, from where David Sales scored a direct hit at the wicketkeeper's end. Akram was leg before walking across his stumps. So, with Brown in the eighties, it was left to Saker to hold firm while his senior partner went past three figures in 169 deliveries.

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