Ali Brown and Mark Butcher scored centuries as Surrey piled on the runs against Leicestershire at Grace Road.

Ian Ward and Jon Batty put on 61 for the first wicket after Surrey won the toss and elected to bat.

But both openers fell in quick succession, trapped lbw by Matt Whiley and Darren Maddy.

Whiley then removed Mark Ramprakash for a duck as Leicestershire crawled their way back into the match.

But Brown, with his third championship century of the season, and England batsman Butcher snatched the initiative back for Surrey with a fourth-wicket stand of 211.

Brown hammered 21 boundaries in a 170-ball 116 and Butcher hit two sixes and 14 fours making 104.

Maddy returned to the Leicestershire attack to dismiss Brown, but his demise only brought Adam Hollioake to the crease.

The Surrey captain proceeded to maul the Leicestershire bowlers and put on 57 with Butcher.

Darren Maddy took his third wicket when Butcher holed out to Burns, but Hollioake smashed a six and 13 fours in a 74-ball 80, putting on 77 with Rikki Clarke.

Foxes captain Iain Sutcliffe turned to part-time bowler Trevor Ward, and he rewarded his skipper by dismissing Hollioake with Burns again taking the catch.

Clarke remained undefeated on 52 by the close as Surrey amassed 454-6 on the first day.

Leicestershire: T R Ward, I J Sutcliffe (Capt), D L Maddy, M Kaif D I Stevens, R J Cunliffe, N D Burns (Wkt), J O Grove P A J DeFreitas, M J A Whiley, D E Malcolm.

Surrey: I J Ward, J N Batty (Wkt), M R Ramprakash, M A Butcher A D Brown, A J Hollioake (Capt), R Clarke, A J Tudor, J Ormond Mushtaq Ahmed, M P Bicknell.

Umpires: M J Harris and A A Jones

Surrey won toss and decided to bat