Surrey openers fall on curtailed day

Surrey 59 for 2 (Ramprakash 19*, Batty 19*) v Nottinghamshire
Scorecard

Only 30 overs were possible at a drizzly Trent Bridge, but Nottinghamshire's bowler's made the most of the helpful conditions after winning the toss and putting Surrey into bat.

Scott Newman had a new opening partner in the Australian-born Stewart Walters, playing his first Championship match of the season, but began poorly when, in the second over of the match, Pattinson made a ball lift from the pitch and from the splice of his bat to third slip. Graeme Swann took a comfortable catch.

Newman made an edgy start, but played two memorable strokes for four, a pull and a cover drive. When he had 18 he slashed at a wide ball from Pattinson and was caught behind. He stood his ground for several seconds before returning slowly to the pavilion, and could yet be in trouble for dissent. Surrey were now 25 for 2.

At the other end was Mark Ramprakash, who began confidently, driving Charlie Shreck through extra cover for a classic four, but when Newman departed he and Jonathan Batty suddenly shut up shop almost entirely for several overs. They put on 21 runs in the best part of an hour against good bowling, but were just showing signs of asserting themselves when the rain came, at 45 for 2 scored at almost exactly two an over.

After a break of almost five hours, play restarted at five o'clock, but almost immediately the light deteriorated; 24 minutes later, it became too bad, the players left the field and a light drizzle started. In just over seven overs, the two batsmen maintained the overall scoring rate with 14 more runs, for which they had to fight quite hard - and that was that for the day.