Surrey's Brown back in form

County Championship D1, The Oval, day two (stumps):
Gloucestershire 368 v Surrey 419-5

Match scorecard

Brown and Batty both hit centuries

Alistair Brown scored his first century in almost two years as Surrey battled out of early peril for a first innings lead over Gloucestershire at The Oval.

Skipper Jonathan Batty also contributed 106 to a fifth-wicket stand of 243 after opener Scott Newman's 73.

Brown was unbeaten on 131 when bad light stopped play, with his side 419-5 - a first innings lead of 51.

Gloucestershire spinner Ian Fisher dismissed Newman and Batty but conceded 114 runs in his first 24 overs.

Brown's last trip into three figures came against Leicestershire in the last match of the 2002 season.

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Surrey: S A Newman, J N Batty (Capt, Wkt), M R Ramprakash, R Clarke, A D Brown, A J Hollioake, M P Bicknell, I D K Salisbury, T J Murtagh, J Ormond, N D Doshi.

Gloucestershire: C M Spearman, W P C Weston, M G N Windows, C G Taylor (Capt), A P R Gidman, Shoaib Malik, S J Adshead (Wkt), I D Fisher, J Lewis, J M M Averis, Shabbir Ahmed.