Surrey's newly appointed vice-captain Rikki Clarke spared his side's blushes against a Derbyshire side seeking to register their first championship victory at the Oval for forty years. Not since 1990 have the Brown Caps lost in the opening round of County Championship matches. Clarke, who toured the West Indies with England A during the winter, looked determined it should stay that way, earning the draw with a mature 130 that will have caught the eye of the England management.

The all-important first session of the day saw Alistair Brown brilliantly caught at deep mid-off in the twelfth over - thanks to Travis Birt's two-handed effort at full stretch to his left - and the Surrey skipper Mark Butcher present an easy catch to slip two overs later, also off the bowling of Ant Botha. At that stage the home side held a lead of just 62. But then Clarke took the helm, in partnership with Azhar Mahmood, steering Surrey toward calmer waters by combining for 125 in 31 overs for the sixth wicket.

Clarke, who was lucky not to be caught behind for seven off Welch, when David Pipe, the wicketkeeper was operating up to the stumps, reached his fifty off 76 balls in the fourth over after lunch. He posted it with the most fiercely struck of all his straight driven boundaries yesterday. Just before the break he had been particularly dismissive of Ian Hunter, whose first four overs with the new ball went for 33 runs.

Mahmood contributed just 27 to the hundred partnership, only for him to then straight drive Botha for his third six. Four overs later, however, the re-introduction of Graeme Welch soon had the Pakistan international shuffling across the crease attempting to the work through mid-wicket for an 81-ball 46. Ian Salisbury came and went, caught at second slip's left, then Jimmy Ormond, playing everything with a dead bat until safety was assured, took Surrey's second innings total past the 400-mark for the first time against their less illustrious opponents.

By then Derbyshire had spent almost seven sessions in the field, not that it showed when Steffan Jones got one to rear off a good length and strike Rikki Clarke on the right hand. Clarke was also on 88 when he edged Jones at a catchable height in-between the keeper and slip for four, thus taking the 24-year-old all-rounder into the nineties. Clarke duly completed the eighth hundred of his first-class career, which took him 152 balls and included 15 fours and a six, immediately after the tea.

Thereafter the match petered out, though not before Birt undid Clarke, with one that shot through from short of a length, to claim his maiden first-class wicket. The players shook hands at 5.20pm with Surrey on 476 for eight, just as guests were arriving at the Oval to attend a wedding that had been booked long before it was announced this fixture was being switched from Derby.

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