Drizzle spoils Surrey party

County Championship D1, The Oval, day three (close): Leicestershire 200 & 32-2; Surrey 560-8 declared

Match scorecard

Ramprakash shows off his excellent technique

Friday should all have been about Surrey consigning Leicestershire to one of their heaviest defeats ever after the home team obtained a stranglehold after the first two days.

But in the event only five overs of play were possible in the late afternoon, in which time Virender Sehwag advanced his and his team's score from 14 to 32 with a brief flurry of boundaries.

On Thursday, Mark Ramprakash (152) and Ian Salisbury were the centurions for Surrey, while Alec Stewart and Ali Brown both contributed with rapid 70s.

Adam Hollioake blitzed 41 from just 24 balls of carnage as nine bowlers were tried in what was a poor contest of cricket.

More bad weather is forecast for Saturday, though if Surrey can get in around 30 overs they may still be able to force a win - it would be their second on the trot.

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Surrey: M A Butcher, I J Ward, M R Ramprakash, A J Stewart (Wkt), A D Brown, A J Hollioake (Capt), R Clarke, Azhar Mahmood, M P Bicknell, Saqlain Mushtaq, I D K Salisbury.

Leicestershire: T R Ward, V Sehwag, D L Maddy, B J Hodge, D I Stevens, P A Nixon (Wkt), J N Snape, P A J DeFreitas (Capt), D D Masters, D S Brignull, D E Malcolm.