Tough going for the Durham attack

Despite the bonus of the great Kumar Sangakkara donating his wicket to young Brydon Carse, they were striving in vain for much of an absorbing day as Surrey reached 371 for seven.

It looked like being worse early in the evening session with England's T20 opener Jason Roy bludgeoning his way to 64 in partnership with the classy all-rounder Zafar Ansari. But Durham stuck at it and were rewarded by three wickets in the last ten overs.

Roy is the only right-hander in Surrey's top six and Durham had Ryan Pringle on as early as the 12th over in the hope he might turn his off breaks away from the lefties.

The pitch has been shaved at the ends to help the spinners and when Paul Collingwood decided a toss was necessary he would have been very keen to bat.

He called wrongly and his team were consigned to a day of toil against batsmen threatening to be as permanent as the 130-year-old Oval gas holder, which was recently granted listed status to prevent its demolition.

In fact, rather like the men of Middlesex last week, permanence was what they lacked as they all got a start, only for four of them to self-destruct.

Prior to Roy surrendering, the only joy came from a Ben Stokes snorter which took out Rory Burns' off stump, Sangakkara chopping on for 26, and a double strike just before tea by Chris Rushworth.

Stokes, who steamed in relentlessly, was recalled at that point in the hope of further inroads. But Ansari helped Roy to add 112 before both departed.

When the odds are stacked in the batsmen's favour it doesn't help the game to progress if the umpires are not in a giving mood, and that seemed to be the case with Billy Taylor and Steve O'Shaughnessy.

Taylor, a former Hampshire seamer standing in a Durham game for the first time, turned down an lbw appeal in the third over when Burns, on nought, looked plumb. Rushworth looked aghast.

The score advanced to 39 before Stokes struck, bringing in Sangakkara.

Only the pigeons pecking at deep cover had any chance of cutting off the scorching drive with which he opened his account. But he needed a sharp retraction of the midriff to avoid the next ball from Stokes, which passed just over the stumps.

That was his only discomfort, however, and it was a huge surprise when he tried to run Carse's seventh ball behind point and played on.

Coming in at 91 for two, Steve Davies kept opener Arun Harinath sedate company until lunch then opened up.

Davies is a dasher and in Onions' second over of the afternoon he drove at four balls, missing two and middling the others to the boundary. When Onions did find the edge the ball fell just short of Collingwood at first slip.

Davies could easily have gone early, but made 87 off 100 balls in a stand of 135 before Rushworth's double strike. Aiming to leg, Davies edged to gully, where Keaton Jennings moved smartly to his right to hold a good catch.

Harinath, who drove nicely wide of mid-on, built his innings impressively, adding only one run in the first half hour after lunch when Davies was going strong.

But the 29-year-old Loughborough graduate gave it away on 96, when he tried to pull a ball which wasn't short enough and lobbed a catch to mid-off.

Roy looked capable of some serious damage until he tried to work a shortish ball from Onions to leg and it lobbed off the shoulder for Carse to run ten yards to his right at mid-on and hold the catch.

Ansari also spoilt a good innings of 41 by edging a back-foot waft at Stokes and there was a second catch for Michael Richardson when Carse found Tom Curran's edge three overs from the close.

Neither Pringle nor Scott Borthwick found enough turn to pose problems, although that might change as the shaven ends wear.

One consolation for Durham is that they should also be able to make a good total against a depleted attack. With West Indian Ravi Rampaul joining Mark Footitt on the casualty list, Surrey have brought in South African Mat Pillans for his debut, along with former England Under 19 bowler Matthew Dunn.