Stephen Fleming may be eyeing a new career best and, on the 15th anniversary of Lancashire’s record 863 at the Oval, Nottinghamshire might just have the ammunition to nudge past it, but these must surely have been the least of Surrey’s worries yesterday, when it transpired they had twice breached Law 42.3 – changing the condition of the match ball – on day one.

On Friday, after 35th over of the visitors’ reply – bowled by Mohammad Akram – the umpires noticed that the ball’s quarter seam had been lifted. They warned the Surrey captain Mark Ramprakash before repairing the damage with a bail. The umpires inspected the ball again five overs from the close and gave it the all-clear, but, at stumps, they noticed that the quarter seam had been lifted again to form a wing. The matter was reported to the England and Wales Cricket Board and Nottinghamshire’s not out batsmen were allowed to select a replacement ball from six of similar age prior to the start of play yesterday.

Surrey have chosen, for the time being, to take collective responsibility for the transgression. Just as disappointingly, the club’s response to the most serious case of ball-tampering in county cricket for over a decade was token. No official statement was issued in the form of a press release or in the form of a statement placed on Surrey’s official website, which, late on Saturday evening, had still not acknowledged the incident in its round-up of the second day’s events.

When pressed, Alan Butcher, standing in for head coach Steve Rixon, who is in Australia on compassionate leave, said: “Further to the umpires’ ruling and the alteration of the condition of the ball we will co-operate with any inquiry by the ECB. We are conscious of the need to uphold both the spirit and the letter of the laws of cricket.” Surrey’s captain Mark Ramprakash simply added: “I spoke with the umpires at the close of play on Friday and they informed me of the penalty this morning. We now look forward to the rest of the match.”

Nottinghamshire’s coach Mike Newell said: “I think the umpires got it about right. It’s not something we’ve been involved with before but it’s disappointing.”

Newell was probably not alone in feeling let down. Ramprakash seemed incapable of stirring his Surrey side into action, albeit the pitch had flattened out completely. His tactics were also puzzling at times. The Notts batsmen were often given large areas on the leg-side to exploit, thanks to the docility of the wicket. Martin Bicknell did not come on to bowl until the 30th over of the day, and Jimmy Ormond – easily Surrey’s best bowler – was given a lighter workload than Akram, Bicknell and Doshi.

Nottinghamshire ended proceedings with a commanding lead of 363. Jason Gallian duly posted his fourth hundred against the Ovalites, but, in terms of what occurred on the field of play, it was outshone by Stephen Fleming’s run-a-ball 223 not out and the Notts skipper’s 176-run stand in 25 overs for the fourth-wicket with David Hussey, who seemingly middled everything before driving James Benning one-handed to backward point five overs from the end.

Despite losing 38 overs to rain after lunch, Fleming scored 99 runs in the morning and a further 107 in the solitary afternoon session. The New Zealander hit four straight sixes – three of them off Nayan Doshi - and 27 fours.

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