Ally Brown's schooldays

Alistair Brown continued to batter Leicestershire at Oakham School and went on to a career best 295 n.o.. Surrey were already in a formidable position in scoring 505 which they enhanced by cutting down their hosts to 134-9 at the close with another 222 runs needed to save the follow-on.

Brown hammered a six and 32 fours in his 517 minutes at the crease. Saqlain Mushtaq, whose 66 was his championship best, added 141 runs with Brown for the last wicket. However he was bowled by Vince Wells with his partner five runs adrift of a triple-century.

Then Brown caught two batsmen at slip to help Alex Tudor and Martin Bicknell, with three wickets, rout the Leicestershire early-order batting. The home county went in to tea at 51-7 in under 16 overs. The batsmen were undone primarily by sharp slip catching and the needless running out of Ben Smith. Even they were refreshed somewhat by the interval with Phil DeFreitas (38) and Neil Burns adding 55 runs. Yet they were in disarray again before the close and could only hope that the weather could stop the seemingly unstoppable Surrey.