Mark Butcher rotated his bowlers cleverly yesterday to keep the Warwickshire batsmen on their toes as well as to obtain full value from his attack, which lacked Harbhajan Singh and contained a weary-looking Matt Nicholson. But even though the scorecard suggested that Mortaza Hussain was the main threat, Surrey were indebted to Jimmy Ormond for unlocking the door to possible victory today. The broad shouldered seamer accounted for Jonathan Trott and Alex Loudon during the day's crucial phase between lunch and tea and looked as mobile as at any time this season, suggesting that the Brown Caps would do well to offer him a new contract.

Both of Warwickshire's openers could have been back in the dressing room within the first five overs of their second dig. As it was, Michael Powell was peeling off his pads in the seventh over when he cut a loose ball from Nicholson to point, where Jade Dernbach held on to a stinging catch.

Lunch was reached with no further scares and after the break the home side took full advantage of some ordinary bowling, by collecting 64 off the next eleven overs. Ian Westwood cut Chris Jordan for a maximum and, in the 21st over, reached his fifty with a picked up for six off Dernbach. In the next over, bowled by Nicholson, the left-hander hit fours through cover, past second slip's outstretched left hand and through mid-wicket. Four overs later the 25-year-old cut the tall Australian for three more boundaries.

The hundred partnership for the second wicket arrived in the 28th over when Trott drove Ormond to the cover fence. In the 29th, however, Westwood hit Dernbach in the air to point to bring the curtain down on an entertaining 79 off 90 balls, which contained two sixes and 13 fours.

But it was a change of ball, after 33 overs, which played a part in altering the passage of this contest, with wickets falling in the 36th, 41st and 42nd overs. Trott, pushing forward, was caught behind off Ormond, Tim Ambrose steered Hussain into the hands of leg slip and Loudon, reaching for the ball, was caught at gully.

Jim Troughton - who had to bat at number seven after tweaking his lower back fielding a Dernbach all-run four to deep mid-wicket earlier in the day - gritted his teeth for an hour and a half to make a 76-ball 43 before holing out to deep square leg where Mark Ramprakash held on at the spot where, two balls earlier, a member of the Edgbaston groundstaff had come on to the field of play to remove a fox dropping.

Troughton found useful allies in Ant Botha and Alfonso Thomas, who played second fiddle to the 28-year-old left-hander before perishing to Hussain. Despite bowling at a friendly-looking pace for an off-spinner, Hussain occasionally got the ball to lift and turn and other than when Neil Carter swept him for six into the Eric Hollies Stand in the 75th over, bowled creditably.

Carter went three overs later, gloving a rising delivery from Jordan to the keeper, to be closely followed by James Anyon, who chipped the 18-year-old Barbadian to straight mid-wicket to leave Surrey facing a victory target of 177.

Earlier, the visitors added 29 to their overnight total. Following a delayed start, which resulted in six overs being lost to bad light, the first delivery of the day saw Hussain caught at point off a leading edge when Anyon got one to rear off a length. Twelve overs later, just as it looked as if Ormond and Dernbach would be a thorn in Warwickshire's side, the latter skied a pull to Carter running round from mid-off to give Thomas, the pick of the hosts' attack, a third success.

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