Ward ton sets Surrey up

County Championship D1, The Oval, day three (close): Surrey 480 & 233-3 dec v Sussex 307 & 12-0

Match scorecard

Ward hit his second century of the season

Ian Ward hit his second century of the season as Surrey set Sussex a daunting target of 407 at The Oval.

But home skipper Adam Hollioake was left to fret on his decision to bat again rather than enforcing the follow-on as rain and bad light cut into the evening session.

Ward kept the tempo high in an innings of 135 that came off just 166 deliveries, with 18 fours and a six.

The left-hander shared an opening stand of 137 with Jon Batty before the wicket-keeper was bowled by Mushtaq Ahmed for 56 shortly before tea.

But, after several weather-enforced delays, Hollioake declared on 233-3 to make sure of being able to bowl at the visitors on the third evening.

And just 23 balls were possible after that, Sussex reaching 12-0, before bad light intervened.

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Surrey: I J Ward, J N Batty (Wkt), M R Ramprakash, G P Thorpe, A D Brown, A J Hollioake (Capt), Azhar Mahmood, M P Bicknell, I D K Salisbury, Saqlain Mushtaq, J Ormond.

Sussex: R R Montgomerie, M W Goodwin, C J Adams (Capt), T R Ambrose, R S C Martin-Jenkins, M H Yardy, M J Prior (Wkt), K J Innes, Mushtaq Ahmed, R J Kirtley, B V Taylor.