Seam bowlers have become used to having it all their own way at Trent Brudge. So, with Surrey's Matthew Spriegel and Chris Jordan following up Usman Afzaal's dazzling innings of 89 with maiden first-class fifties, it was perhaps unsurprising that the Nottinghamshire bowlers, Charlie Shreck in particular, looked somewhat frustrated as the second day drew to a close. Earlier, upon dismissing Mark Ramprakash for 42, Darren Pattinson almost certainly landed himself in hot water by going up to the Brown Caps' skipper and laughing in his face.

The bottom line is that Surrey - who not only became the first side to clock up three batting points at Trent Bridge this season, but also the first, obviously, to collect four - are well placed, even with just two days to go.

Twenty-six overs were possible before rain resulted in lunch being taken early, during which time the visitors lost Jonathan Batty, who was bowled by Pattinson in the fourth over of proceedings when the Victorian got one to nip back markedly and pluck out Batty's off stump.

Three overs later Ramprakash was lucky to survive a skied catch to backward point, from where Andre Adams, running back, got a hand to the ball but managed instead to deflect it over the rope for four. It proved to be the Surrey skipper's only boundary of the morning session.

Afzaal, who made his name at Trent Bridge, played with relative ease, reaching his half-century off 61 balls with a cut four off Pattinson just before the rain set in. In one Pattinson over, the 31-year-old left-hander hit two fours through cover point off the back foot. In Shreck's seventh of the morning, Afzaal flicked him to the backward square leg boundary, before pulling the Cornishman fiercely through mid-wicket. Had his straight drive not cuffed the mound of sawdust at the Radcliffe Road End, Afzaal might well have had a third four in as many balls.

The fourth wicket stand was just ten overs old when Afzaal overtook his partner courtesy of a cover driven boundary off Adams. When Afzaal came down the pitch and launched Mark Ealham over mid-wicket for four five overs later, the alliance was worth fifty; of which Afzaal's contribution was 39.

Between lunch and tea, the visitors added nearly a hundred runs to their total. In the third over after the break Ramprakash despatched a wide ball from Pattinson to the cover boundary, but the next delivery caught the leading edge and was caught low down at cover by Graeme Swann. As much as the bowler's reaction to Ramprakash's ninth first-class innings without a fifty was unseemly, it underlined the value opponents attach to his scalp. The former Middlesex man had laboured for 166 balls for his 42.

Spriegel seemed to benefit from facing an old ball, but, again, the going was measured. Afzaal and Spriegel put on 79 in thirty overs for the Brown Caps' sixth wicket. The 21-year-old drove Ealham through extra cover in the 62nd over, but had to wait more than an hour for his next boundary, which came when he swept Swann through square leg.

After the hosts took the new ball Afzaal hit three successive leg-side fours off Shreck, but in the 89th over the former Notts and Northants man lost his off stump trying to play across the line to the same bowler. His first championship innings against his old county was worth 89 off 128 balls and it included twelve boundaries.

Resuming after tea on 233-5, Spriegel was soon snapped up at short leg off Swann, though not before progressing to his maiden first-class half-century in 146 deliveries. Chris Jordan then increased his stock even further by making an entertaining 57 not out.

The Barbadian took two fours off Ealham in the 105th over. He also cut the veteran all-rounder through cover and drove him straight up the ground for four before giving his only chance, on 27, when Ealham, at gully, got a hand to Jordan's cut off Adams.

After Matt Nicholson departed to a catch at long-on in the 116th over, Saqlain Mushtaq joined the fray and seven overs later launched Adams over long-on for six. In the next over Jordan went to fifty, off 66 balls, with a hooked four off Shreck. But Shreck came in for even more punishment. In the final over of the day he looked particularly narked when Saqlain backed away and launched him through extra cover for four. That left the tall Cornishman, who had taken 28 championship wickets before this match, nursing figures of 30-7-108-1.

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