Surrey v Yorkshire (County Championship) : Day Two

JACQUES Rudolph was the mainstay of a solid Yorkshire batting response to Surrey's mammoth first innings total in the County Championship clash at the Oval yesterday.

The South African star hit his third LV Division One fifty of the season, and moved to an unbeaten 99 from 162 balls, powering the Tykes to 292 for three.

Rudolph is just one run away from recording his second championship century of the campaign.

Surrey captain Mark Butcher completed a brilliant 289-ball 205 to help his side post 466 for eight declared.

Yorkshire's stand-in skipper Anthony McGrath then set about compiling an entertaining run-aball 54, including eleven boundaries.

Opener Adam Lyth recorded his highest score of 40 in his third first-class match. And fellow lefthander Andrew Gale continued his impressive start to the season by finishing the day not out on 70.

"The last session on the first day we really toiled, and it could have gone a bit belly up," said Mc- Grath. "But I thought we bowled really well to restrict them to 460, and then batted really well in that partnership between Jacques and Gale.

"If we can show the same application tomorrow, then there could still be a game on here."

During the morning session, Tim Bresnan led a much improved visiting bowling effort to halt Surrey's run charge. Although Butcher, the ex-England man, passed 200 with ease, Yorkshire fought back strongly.

Bresnan took two wickets out of three to fall, to slow things down when the total could have spiralled out of control. He finished with 3-102 from 27 overs, while Pakistani overseas bowler Rana Naved-ul-Hasan claimed his first wicket for the county.

Pedro Collins then struck early in Yorkshire's reply, trapping Joe Sayers lbw in the over before lunch. But McGrath soon settled in to score well on both sides of the wicket.

He reached his fifty courtesy of just 16 scoring shots. He was also trapped leg before by West Indian seamer Collins, leaving the score 101 for two, while Lyth was smartly caught at slip by Butcher off Saqlain Mushtaq.

Rudolph and Gale then put on a brilliant unbroken fourth wicket stand of 169 to take their side all the way through the evening session unscathed. Rudolph reached his half-century from 89 balls with five fours, while Gale's came from 87 balls with seven boundaries.

Of Rudolph's nervous night last night, waiting to get his ton, McGrath added: "He won't be too bad. You would rather be 99 not out than nought not out.

"He was trying to get to three figures in that last over of the day, instead of having to come back in the morning. I am sure he will be fine, even though he would have preferred to do it before close.

"He will now be hoping for a nice loosener in the morning to get himself away."

SCORBOARD

Surrey v Yorkshire At The Brit Oval

Overnight: Surrey 396-5 (M A Butcher 189 no, M J Nicholson 103 no).

Surrey First Innings

M A Butcher c A U Rashid b Bresnan 205

M J Nicholson b Bresnan ...133

J Ormond b Naved-ul-Hasan ...10

Saqlain Mushtaq not out ...4

Hussain not out ...3

Extras (b3 lb16 nb16 pens 0) ...35

Total 8 wkts dec (119.4 overs) ..466

Fall: 1-41 2-112 3-113 4-121 5-193 6-425 7- 454 8-458

Bowling: Naved-ul-Hasan 23.4-5-98-1.

Kruis 27-3-98-2.

Hannon-Dalby 15-2-58-1. Bresnan 27-4-102-3.

A U Rashid 18-1-51-0. Mc- Grath 7-0-25-1.

Rudolph 2-0-15-0.

Yorkshire First Innings Close

J J Sayers lbw b Collins ...14

A Lyth c Butcher b Saqlain Mushtaq ....40

A McGrath lbw b Collins ...54

J A Rudolph not out ...99

A W Gale not out ...70

Extras (b3 lb5 w1 nb6 pens 0) ....15

Total 3 wkts (71 overs) ....292

Fall: 1-22 2-101 3-123

To Bat: G L Brophy, A U Rashid, T T Bresnan, Naved-ul-Hasan, G J Kruis, O J Hannon- Dalby.

Bonus Pts: Surrey 5 Yorkshire 2.

Bowling: Collins 16-2-79-2. Ormond 12-0- 58-0. Nicholson 10-1-42-0. Saqlain Mushtaq 23-2-71-1. Hussain 8-0-27-0. Afzaal 2-0-7-0.