With the pitch taking spin, the hosts will be glad of the slender first innings lead they established yesterday and will be even more pleased if their four remaining wickets can eek out a further sixty or seventy runs this morning. But there is no doubt that the tension within this top of the table contest is increasing. Day two's proceedings closed on a slightly sour note when umpire John Holder had to simmer things down between the Essex skipper Ronnie Irani and Surrey's Martin Bicknell.

Irani has not been high on the Brown Caps' Christmas card list ever since a floodlit 45-over game between Essex and Surrey, at Chelmsford, late in 2004 was called-off because of a damp outfield; which suited the home side's predicament at the time. Relations between the two became even more strained when, last summer, Irani changed his tune completely and talked the umpires into allowing a five-over thrash to go ahead in driving rain when the teams met again at Chelmsford, in the Twenty20 Cup.

The trigger yesterday came when left-arm spinner Tim Phillips got one to rear off a length. James Foster took the ball on the rise, but was convinced that it had caught the shoulder of Azhar Mahmood's bat. Andy Flower, who was fielding close the wicket, concurred. Then, shortly after the fall of Mark Butcher's wicket, Irani started placing himself in the batsman's line of sight at mid-off. In one over from Ryan ten Doeschate, every time the bowler ran in Irani suddenly had a lot to say for himself. It was juvenile, but Bicknell bit.

On a less controversial note it took Ian Salisbury just three balls to draw a line underneath Essex's first innings, trapping Tony Palladino leg before to record his first five-wicket haul since June 2001. Scott Newman and Jonathan Batty then put on a massive 194 runs in 42 overs for the first wicket - their fourth three-figure alliance in this summer's County Championship. The stand was unique in that it became the first hundred-plus union for Surrey at Whitgift School not involving Mark Ramprakash, who has had a hand in all of the other six.

Newman perished within touching distance of what would have been his first championship hundred for almost a year. The left-hander faced 124 balls and struck 13 fours and a pulled six off ten Doeschate in the 28th over. Batty went four balls later when Phillips moved Andre Adams up to short fine leg and the Surrey wicketkeeper-cum-opener obligingly top edged an attempted sweep. For his part, it was Batty's fourth championship half-century of the season.

With two new batsmen at the crease events became becalmed, which was not helped by Adams and Phillips operating in tandem for fifteen overs. A bowling change broke the monotony and in the first over of Palladino's second spell, Mark Ramprakash departed to a stinging catch at point.

After the downfall of Rikki Clarke, Butcher shared in two fifty partnerships. The first with James Benning, who, as usual, played in the affirmative; the second was with Azhar, who ended the day unbeaten on 42. Butcher, who made 71 from 154 deliveries, went in the 96th over when he repeated what he had done to James Middlebrook shortly after reaching his fifty off 83 balls. This time, however, Foster whipped off the bails before the Surrey skipper to reclaim his ground.

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