The second day at Cardiff saw the batsmen continue to struggle, but the best on show, Mark Ramprakash, used the occasion to jog past 25,000 first-class career runs. In the final session the former Middlesex man reached the 61 he needed for the milestone and with Surrey trailing by 88 at the close, their hopes of staying in the contest appear to rest on him and any assistance he might receive from Brown and Clarke.

On a surface growing in variable bounce Surrey were made to work hard for their runs, particularly off David Harrison, who conceded just 22 in eleven overs. Simon Jones generated a fair degree of pace, but was punished for anything off radar, while Alex Wharf picked up the wickets of Newman and Batty.

Following an identical delay to the one that affected the start of day one, Glamorgan’s last wicket pair of Wallace and Jones added a further twelve runs in five overs before Mark Wallace was out to the first ball of the sixth over of proceedings. The 23-year-old left-hander perished four runs short of what would have been a notable hundred when he chipped Jimmy Ormond to deep mid-wicket. Wallace had made 96 in 143 minutes, off 127 balls, and struck ten fours as well as three sixes.

Simon Jones immediately went to work from the Cathedral Road End and had Richard Clinton slapping him to gully in the eleventh over. Newman pulled the England paceman for a couple of boundaries before lifting Harrison over the rope in similar fashion then driving him effortlessly straight down the ground. But after helping to put on 41 in 55 minutes for Surrey’s second wicket, the 25-year-old was bowled for 44, trying to work a full toss from Wharf through wide mid-on in the 25th over.

Ramprakash and Thorpe then combined for 33 runs in three quarters of an hour. Graham Thorpe was extremely watchful. Apart from when he cut Wharf for four, the veteran of 98 Tests struggled for 29 deliveries to make any real impression, and perhaps it was out of frustration that he chopped the ball on to his stumps after being way too early on a short one from Darren Thomas.

By this time, however, Ramprakash was well into his stride. He drilled Harrison through mid-off for four and cut Jones to the boundary, before cover driving and backfoot driving last year’s hero of Port-of-Spain through wide mid-on for two further fours.

Mark Ramprakash reached 50 from 96 balls, and, along the way, backfoot drove Thomas through wide mid-on for four prior to dabbing him past the slips to the third man boundary. Three overs from stumps, however, Ramprakash lost a third partner when Jonathan Batty dropped his hands to a rising delivery from Wharf and got the thinnest of thin edges to the keeper.

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