It was the Northamptonshire old players’ reunion yesterday and a good time was had by all but none of them made such a meal of it as Usman Afzaal. He returned to Wantage Road to score a monumental 156 not out against the county he left in 2007 and put Surrey in sight of their first championship victory of the season.
Afzaal averaged almost 50 in four seasons with Northamptonshire without ever fulfilling the potential that won him three England caps against Australia in 2001, when he was with Nottinghamshire, and he has not been a shining light with Surrey, either.
He was in his element yesterday, though, making sure that Surrey did not waste the advantage of winning the toss on a seaming pitch by sharing partnerships of 130 with Jonathan Batty and 149 with Ryan Harris, who defied a knee injury to make the highest score of his career.
The pitch had eased in the sun when Surrey resumed on 117 for four and neither the Northamptonshire seamers nor Monty Panesar, who sometimes appeared to be bowling as quickly as they did, could make a breakthrough until David Lucas had Batty caught behind.
Lucas also claimed Chris Schofield but he came in for a mauling from Harris, the Australian all-rounder, who hardly needed a runner as he clubbed 94 off 94 balls with two sixes and 14 fours before falling to David Wigley.
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Afzaal was more sedate, apart from the occasion when he danced down the pitch to launch Panesar on to the grandstand balcony. He looked drained by the close, by which time he had been batting seven hours, five minutes, faced 353 balls and struck a six and 22 fours, but he had savoured the reunion.
Northamptonshire: First Innings 209 (S D Peters 59; A Nel 6 for 36)
Surrey: First Innings
S A Newman c Murphy b Van der Wath 10
M J Brown b Lucas 12
M R Ramprakash b Wigley 17
*M A Butcher c Van der Wath b Wigley 32
U Afzaal not out 156
J N Batty c Murphy b Lucas 48
C P Schofield c Peters b Lucas 15
R J Harris lbw b Wigley 94
Murtaza Hussain not out 17
Extras (b 4, lb 10, w 4, nb 4, p 5) 27
Total (7 wkts) 428
A Nel and J W Dernbach to bat.
Fall of wickets: 1-21, 2-24, 3-73, 4-94, 5-224, 6-244, 7-393.
Bowling: Van der Wath 20-4-69-1; Lucas 22-6-67-3; Wigley 30-4-106-3; Hall 15-5-39-0; Panesar 25-9-66-0; Boje 15-3-43-0; Willey 5-2-19-0.
Umpires: S A Garratt and V A Holder.