LV COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP DIVISION TWO, Whitgift School:
CLOSE OF PLAY, DAY ONE: Surrey 415-6 v Worcestershire
Surrey 5pts, Worcs 2pts
Match scorecard

Hamilton-Brown hit 20 fours in his 130-ball 125

Rory Hamilton-Brown and Steve Davies both hit their first centuries for Surrey to give their side the upper hand on day one against Worcestershire.

After winning the toss, Surrey lost opener Stewart Walters in the first over and later slipped to 108-4.

But captain Hamilton-Brown (125), who was dropped while on just one, combined with Davies to turn the tide.

The wicketkeeper ended unbeaten on 119 while Gareth Batty added 47 as Surrey closed on 415-6.

Hamilton-Brown has seen his side lose their opening two County Championship fixtures and things did not look like improving when Walters edged the fourth ball of the day from Alan Richardson to slip.

Arun Harinath and Mark Ramprakash added 82 for the second wicket but Surrey were wobbling again when Ramprakash was trapped lbw and Usman Afzaal was caught at gully in the same Imran Arif over.

Hamilton-Brown arrived at the crease and had a huge slice of luck when Daryl Mitchell put down a straightforward chance at second slip off the bowling of Richard Jones.

This would prove a costly miss for Worcestershire as Hamilton-Brown launched a counter-attack, reaching 50 from 56 balls and needing only 40 more to complete his second first-class century.

Davies joined his captain for a fourth-wicket stand of 177 and, when Hamilton-Brown fell to Jack Shantry, the keeper and fellow former Worcestershire man Batty added a further 78 for the sixth wicket.

Worcestershire director of cricket Steve Rhodes told BBC Hereford and Worcester:
"We lost a little bit of our discipline that we have showed in previous games and we have paid the price.

"But I was very pleased to see Steve Davies do so well as he batted exceptionally well and made life exceptionally difficult for our bowlers. He thoroughly deserved a very good hundred.

"For me, out of the two hundreds today Steve's was a proper hundred as it was a case of hitting the bad balls and he did it very well."

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