Craftsman Ansari delivers timely nudge

Milton can hardly have composed Paradise Lost with more care than that exhibited by Zafar Ansari when he is playing a four-day innings. While the other members of Surrey's top order are dashing off their attractive sonnets or villanelles, their opening batsman is sweating blood over his blank verse, accumulating the runs that so often hold an innings together.

That attention to the details of batsmanship was very evident in Ansari's innings of 99 against Lancashire on the first day of this game. Having opted to bat first, Surrey skipper Gareth Batty knew that his openers would receive a probing examination in cloudy conditions from an attack which included James Anderson, who was playing his first county match of the season. He was probably depending on Ansari to produce his normal obdurate stuff; Ansari did not let him down.

Indeed, it was the opener's 277-minute exercise in concentration which was largely responsible for Surrey ending a rather miserable, rain-dampened day on 262 for 4, which is a perfectly healthy position for the Division Two leaders to occupy after 83.2 overs in which they could have lost all their wickets in half the time.

But Ansari will not be there on the second morning to oversee Surrey's attempt to build a daunting first-innings total. His effort on Monday may have included all the frequently overlooked craftsmanship of batting - the soft hands, the careful leaves, the skilful rectitude in defence - but it was not faultless. On 33 he was badly dropped at second slip by Steven Croft off Tom Bailey. On 43 he may even have been a trifle lucky not to be given out leg before to Simon Kerrigan's first ball of the day, but Jeff Evans was the umpire who had to make the decision; and on the evidence offered at Taunton last week and Old Trafford today, Dracula may be more willing to give blood than Evans is to grant an lbw. But Evans was the man in the best position to make the call and we had all better respect the fact.

Having escaped at least once, though, it seemed that Ansari would proceed to his second century of the season. But it was not to be. On 99 and with the second new ball imminent, he received a full toss from Croft which he could have placed anywhere in the off side. However, the diligent poet mucked up his rhymes and drove the ball at about waist height wide to Anderson's left. The England bowler dived and took the catch.

Ansari paused a moment, tucked his bat under his arm and ambled off the field. He has now scored 771 runs as an opening bat and taken 44 wickets with his left-arm spin in the County Championship. These are comparatively rare combined skills and they are ones which the England selectors apparently have their eyes on. With the England squads for the series against Pakistan to be announced this week, these could yet be a very big few days in Ansari's career.

"He was very frustrating to bowl at and he rode his luck with the new ball," said Anderson of his current opponent and possible future colleague. "He knuckled down and did a good job. He got through the tough periods and managed to make a good score."

Asked whether Ansari might slot into an England squad, Anderson responded: "I don't see why not. What we're missing at the moment is someone who turns the ball away from the bat and he's had a good year. We'll wait and see what happens."

Certainly on Monday, none of Ansari's colleagues could match his application. Rory Burns made a good 50 in an opening stand of 89 before his attempted cut only under-edged the ball onto his stumps; Kumar Sangakkara made just 9 before he fell to Anderson for the eighth time in a first-class match when he edged a ball that was pushed cleverly across him to Croft at slip; then Ben Foakes made a pleasant 45 before his limp cut to Arron Lilley only gave slip Alviro Petersen a simple catch.

Lancashire, though, will have wanted more than four wickets on this drear Mancunian Monday. However, they are nothing like out of things. A game which may well decide the destiny of the Second Division title is still very much in the hazard and that is something to relish at the end of a day when the incipience of autumn could not be avoided.