Surrey reach 363/3 at the close of play at Cardiff

The attraction of watching two legendary batsmen in world cricket, plus sunny weather and free entry on the opening day of the contest all meant that there was a crowd in excess of 1,500 at the SWALEC Stadium this morning as Glamorgan, currently lying at the top of the Division Two table met Surrey who boasted Kumar Sangakkara, the fifth highest run scorer in Test history and Kevin Pietersen who is bidding to regain a place in the England set-up.

Glamorgan named an unchanged line-up whilst Surrey made a late change with Chris Tremlett being replaced by Jade Dernbach. The visitors won the toss and duly batted first with Rory Burns and Zafar Ansari facing the bowling of Graham Wagg and Andy Carter, with Glamorgan's new ball pairing delivering four maidens in the opening eight overs. Wagg who completed career-best figures last summer at The Oval against Surrey also extracted some lift from the surface whilst Carter bowled a nagging line outside off-stump, with Ansari edging a delivery just in front of third slip with the ball speeding away to the boundary ropes.

Rory Burns struck a more controlled four in the eleventh over when Craig Meschede entered the fray with the opener leg-glancing the all-rounder. Ansari then off-drove Meschede for a firmly struck boundary. Burns followed suit next over besides pulling a short delivery to fine-leg before Ansari welcomed David Lloyd into the attack by despatching him for a pair of fours through the covers.

Burns celebrated the 50 coming up in the 19^th over by driving Meschede for fours through backward point and extra cover, as well as nurdling Lloyd to the vacant ropes at third man. He then greeted the return of Wagg at the River End by flicking him to square-leg for another four, before Ansari punched Cosker through extra cover and mid-on for four when the evergreen left-arm spinner joined the attack at the Cathedral Road End shortly before lunch.

The century stand came up as Burns cover drove Wagg before completing a 92-ball fifty, but in the final over of the session, Burns edged Wagg into Wallace's gloves and as the players walked off, Will Bragg was also presented with his Glamorgan cap.

The visitors had reached 104/1 at lunch with Zafar Ansari three short of another typically patient fifty whilst in the final over of the morning session he had been joined by Kumar Sangakkara, one of the star attractions in the Surrey line-up. Andy Carter and Graham Wagg resumed the bowling duties as the Sri Lankan batting maestro began with a trio of singles .

With the total on 111, Ansari departed leg before to Carter who trapped the opener with a full length delivery and at three minutes to two o'clock, the crowd had their wish when the other star name appeared as Kevin Pietersen made his way to the middle. The former England batsman began with a pair of singles before languidly clipping Carter through mid-wicket and extra cover for a pair of fours. His third boundary though was less assured as he top-edged a pull against Wagg with the ball sailing safely into no-man's land at long-leg.

Dean Cosker then returned to the fray with Pietersen's response being to straight drive the left-arm spinner for four. But Craig Meschede also returned at the River End and with the final ball of his comeback over, he induced an outside edge from Pietersen's bat which Colin Ingram safely pouched at first slip as Glamorgan secured their first bonus point in the 45^th over with Surrey on 150/3.

Steven Davies announced his arrival with a pair of fours against Cosker, the first through extra cover and the second to the boards at mid-wicket before getting a thick outside edge to a drive against Meschede with the ball just of of Cosker's grasp at second slip. Sangakkara then unfurled a delightfully wristy stroke as he despatched Cosker off the back foot through extra cover for another sublime boundary. Davies also pulled a long-hop from the veteran for four before square-driving Meschede to the ropes at point.

Cosker then switched to the River End and was cover driven by Davies for four before Surrey secured their first batting point as Sangakkara square-cut Lloyd to the ropes. In the penultimate over before the interval, Lloyd also found the edge of Davies' bat but the ball bisected slip and keeper and sped away for four. Later in the over Sangakkara completed his fifty from 83 deliveries as he unfurled a cover drive - his 7th boundary.

The afternoon session had seen some high-quality strokeplay from Kumar Sangakkara and Steve Davies who had added 77 without too many alarms following Kevin Pietersen's departure for 19. Davies had enjoyed one moment of good fortune when he edged David Lloyd through the slip cordon and he celebrated after the interval by completing his fifty from 87 balls.

Sangakkara began his evening's work by pulling Wagg for four and then driving Cosker twice in an over inside-out through extra cover as Surrey reached the 250-mark and another batting point in the 71^st over. The single by Sangakkara against Cosker also brought up the century stand in 26 overs, with the Sri Lankan then depositing the spinner over the River Stand for six before punching Meschede through the covers for four.

Davies then took a leaf out of his colleague's book by playing a silky-smooth cover drive as Glamorgan rang the bowling changes ahead of the new ball, with both Surrey batsmen leg-glancing Lloyd for four, whilst Davies also drilled Cosker through extra cover for four. The new ball was duly taken after 80 overs but the light briefly got a bit gloomy as the visitors reached 300, another batting point and a 150-run stand as Sangakkara leg-glanced Wagg for two.

Davies then struck Carter for successive fours through the off-side before Sangakkara pulled the left-armer for four, followed by a cover driven four against Carter as he completed a chanceless 162-ball hundred and his 51^st in all first-class cricket. Davies also added to his boundary tally by on-driving Wagg as he moved into the nineties as the sunshine broke back through the cloud cover.

The left-hander continued to accumulate watchfully before reaching his century by steering Lloyd through backward point - his 154^th delivery and fifteenth boundary - and shortly afterwards the 350-mark was reached as the pair completed a double-century stand after a shade over three hours together. Their efforts also took them in the final over to Surrey's best fourth wicket stand against the Welsh county, set by Graham Thorpe and David Ward who added 211 at Neath in 1992.