Just like the Whitgift schoolboy who opened his A-level results yesterday morning to proudly report to his friends that he had attained straight As, it was Surrey who had all the answers in their latest County Championship clash, with Nottinghamshire.

Resuming at 488 for eight, the home side added a further 205 before Saqlain was caught down the leg side on the stroke of lunch. County record ninth and tenth wicket stands for this fixture pushed their total up to a mammoth 693 – the Oval outfit’s best of the summer and the 12th highest in the club’s 158-year history.

Ian Salisbury and Saqlain Mushtaq both made half-centuries. For the Pakistan international it was his third in as many innings, but at the other end Mark Ramprakash simply picked up where he left off on Wednesday evening.

The former Middlesex man struck a career best 279 not out – the highest first-class score so far this summer – and in the process became this season’s leading first-class run-scorer with 1370 runs at an average of 85.62.

The ninth double-hundred of Ramprakash’s career and his first against Nottinghamshire was not without blemish, however. He gave one chance – not bad in eight-and-a-half hours at the crease – when he was put down at first slip by Pietersen off the bowling of Greg Smith in the fifth over of the day. Two overs later the 33-year-old’s double century arrived off 311 balls.

The 129-run ninth-wicket stand between him and Ian Salisbury was ended when the latter top-edged a cut off Paul Franks down to the third-man boundary, where Smith took a good catch. Salisbury, whose fifty came at exactly a run a ball and included a straight six off MacGill, made 65.

Eight overs later Mark Ramprakash raised his 250, in 372 deliveries, with a six off Stuart MacGill, who ended the morning with the sorry looking return of 35-3-196-1.

Saqlain batted with more responsibility than usual, but that did not discourage him from biffing two sixes before wafting at Greg Smith to leave his partner undefeated after facing 400 balls. Ramprakash’s innings, which included four sixes and 40 fours, set a new record for the fixture, passing the Darren Bicknell’s 235 not out, for Surrey, back in 1994.

Unfortunately Bicknell was unable to reproduce that kind of form when the visitors went into the final two sessions of the day facing a follow target of 544. But he was not alone in being undone by his younger brother, Martin, who kicked off the 40th five-wicket haul of his career with a spell of three for six in 21 balls.

After five overs Notts were 11 for two. Before he could get off the mark Guy Welton gave Thorpe catching practice at third slip, and Usman Afzaal was well taken by Azhar Mahmood at second slip. The visitors were then reduced to 20 for 3 when one Bicknell accounted for the other – Darren making 14 before being wrapped on the left pad.

After being greeted by three slips, two gullies and a short leg, Kevin Pietersen and Russell Warren restored a modicum of pride with a 113-run stand in 25 overs for Nottinghamshire’s fourth wicket.

Pietersen, who passed fifty for the eighth time in his last 11 outings, swept Saqlain Mushtaq for two fours and a six in successive balls before tea and immediately afterwards repeated the shot for four. The next time he tried it, however, he only succeeded in ballooning an easy catch to short fine-leg.

The 49th over of the innings saw the surprise re-introduction of Martin Bicknell, who seemed to have been given licence to bowl flat out for three or four overs. In no time at all Chris Cairns (bowled off stump) and Chris Read (caught in front of first slip) were back in the Portakabin that doubled up as the Notts’ dressing room.

Russell Warren fell leg before in the day’s penultimate over for a courageous 76 in 189 deliveries, and four balls later Paul Franks was taken at slip off the bowling of Saqlain.

With two full days to go and Nottinghamshire still 469 runs behind with just two first innings wickets remaining, the Croydon locals have already got one eye on Crystal Palace’s first home game of the season.

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