Ramprakash stuns Notts

County Championship D1, Whitgift School, day one (stumps): Surrey 488-8 v Nottinghamshire

Match scorecard

Ramprakash took 179 balls over his sixth century of the season

Mark Ramprakash struck his highest Championship score of the season as Surrey forced Nottinghamshire to toil on the opening day at Whitgift School.

The former England batsman was 191 not out at stumps, and late wickets for the hosts gave Surrey's bowlers hope as they reached 488-8

The Championship leaders brushed off early trouble from Divsion One's bottom side when openers Jon Batty and Ian Ward fell early on.

Ramprakash reached three figures off 179 balls, hitting 18 fours, and shared a 241-run partnership for the third wicket with Graham Thorpe.

Thorpe fell one short of his own century, the only wicket to fall in the afternoon when he was caught behind off stand-in Notts captain Chris Cairns.

And even though Paul Franks cut into the lower order with the wickets of Ali Brown and Adam Hollioake in successive deliveries, the hosts still gained maximum bonus points.

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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), R Clarke, Azhar Mahmood M P Bicknell, I D K Salisbury, Saqlain Mushtaq.

Nottinghamshire: D J Bicknell, G E Welton, U Afzaal, R J Warren K P Pietersen, C L Cairns (Capt), C M W Read (Wkt), P J Franks G J Smith, S C G MacGill, C E Shreck.