With the England squad for the forthcoming one-day international series with Sri Lanka due to be announced later today, and Andrew Flintoff's name unlikely to feature, Surrey's Rikki Clarke gave the England selectors a timely reminder of his all-round talents yesterday by taking four wickets and holding on to four catches to reduce Leicestershire to below par total of 251 on the opening day of their championship visit to the capital.

Darren Robinson, the stand-in Leicestershire captain, won the toss and gave his side a decent start by putting on 63 for the first wicket with John Maunders, before he played on to Clarke in the 24th over. Moments later Clarke pulled a well-struck drive out of the air at gully to account for Maunders, then, on the stroke of lunch, Clarke was in the action once again when Tom New looped a top-edged sweep to leg slip off Nayan Doshi.

After the break HD Ackerman advanced to a 48-ball half-century with an ease that made what followed it quite unexpected. In the 40th over Ackerman cut Clarke to the third man boundary before pulling him through wide mid-on for four. His cover drive off Azhar Mahmood three overs later was a contender for shot of the day, then, after Dinesh Mongia departed to a forceful return catch, the South African drove Martin Bicknell straight up the ground for his twelfth boundary.

But then the visitors proceeded to lose four wickets in five overs for ten runs. Ackerman was leg before to one that Ian Salisbury got to dip on him and three balls later Paul Nixon was found guilty of playing around his front pad. John Sadler drove successive fours off Bicknell, however the veteran all-rounder had the last laugh when Clarke held on to a brilliant catch at gully, low to his left. A sharp bit of work by Jonathan Batty then accounted for David Masters.

Claude Henderson and Stuart Broad gave the visitors' first innings a modicum of respectability by adding sixty in 22 overs for the ninth wicket. Broad was becalmed until Mohammad Akram returned to the attack in the 67th over. Meanwhile, Henderson had taken two boundaries off one over from Doshi and was starting to bat with an ease that suggested that Surrey will have a substantial advantage at the halfway stage.

Rikki Clarke rounded off things by angling balls across Broad and Mohammad Asif to have them caught behind. Clarke's four for 45 were his best figures since taking a career best four for 21 at Leicester in August 2003.

In reply, the hosts lost Scott Newman to the second lbw shout of the third over, bowled by Asif. But thereafter Jonathan Batty and Mark Ramprakash looked ominously untroubled.

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