James Faulkner made a superb century on his Championship debut for Lancashire as he led a recovery for the visitors, who reached 342/8 at close of play.
Faulkner made a career-best 121 sharing 183 runs for the seventh-wicket partnership with Jordan Clark (63) after Lancashire had stumbled to 108/6 and their partnership ensured that the Red Rose avoided the follow-on in reply to Surrey's first-innings total of 448.
Bad light forced play to be delayed by half an hour this morning, but to the surprise of both sets of supporters, it was the Surrey batsmen who emerged from the pavilion. With the 110-over mark already gone, Surrey couldn't earn anymore bonus points and the overcast conditions would have been perfect to test the Lancashire line-up.
Overnight debutant Ben Foakes finished unbeaten on 63, but Surrey lost their final two wickets for the addition of 13 runs in the morning session in a baffling spell which added nothing to the game. Lancashire made inroads with the first ball of the day, as the leading wicket-taker in the country, Kyle Jarvis (4-118), forced Stuart Meaker to play-on for 13.
Surrey's decision to bat on may have been plausible if they were aiming to boost their total into one that would be sufficient for an innings victory, but when Foakes started to turn down singles, that theory was also thrown out of contention.
The home side were then all out when Matt Dunn edged behind to Alex Davies off Tom Bailey (3-101), but Surrey were to enjoy a large spell of the day, reducing their promotion rivals to 108/6 in the afternoon session.
Karl Brown was the first Lancashire batsman to fall when he edged the ball to Jason Roy at third slip, the Lancashire opener attempted to leave the ball but the delivery from Tom Curran flew off his bat and Roy took a smart catch at 8/1.
Both of Lancashire's openers were back in the pavilion and the home side lost two wickets for the addition of just one run as Paul Horton edged behind to Ben Foakes off Dunn (3-59), giving the home side the perfect start to their reply with the ball.
Bad light became an issue once more and an early lunch was called with Lancashire on 29/2 and their South-African duo of Alviro Petersen and Ashwell Prince together at the crease. Their partnership worth 258 runs at Southport gave the visiting crowd the faith that they would be the ones to restore parity between the two sides, but neither batsmen went on to make a telling contribution as Surrey continued to take wickets at regular intervals.
Prince was judged lbw to Curran on 20 and Surrey were understandably happy with the dismissal of the leading run-scorer in the second division with the score at 55/3. Steven Croft (21) appeared to be going well at the start of his innings, but the Lancashire skipper had not yet succumbed to the temptation of Zafar Ansari's flight, which was to prove his undoing when he mistimed a lofted drive to Kevin Pietersen at wide mid-off.
Lancashire's top-order collapse continued as Petersen top-edged a hook shot to Foakes off Stuart Meaker (2-81), leaving the visitors in a desolate position at 102/5. Another recognisably dependable batsman this season has been Davies but he joined his teammates by falling cheaply, adding just one before he was given out caught behind off Meaker, who claimed his second wicket in six balls to leave Lancashire writhing on 108/6.
In such an important game, Lancashire had stumbled with the bat in reply to Surrey's impressive total, but this was where the hosts' dominance came to a halt as Faulkner and Clark shared a brilliant partnership to guide the Red Rose away from danger.
Both batsmen registered career-best scores and achieved their first half-centuries in a Lancashire shirt, although Faulkner proved why he is a world-class talent and an all-round threat. The Australian went on to reach his half-century in 61 balls with five boundaries and he enjoyed the opportunity to hit the old ball to the fence as the Surrey bowlers shared Lancashire's frustration when Roy and Davies had been at the wicket yesterday.
Clark followed suit with his maiden first-class fifty, surpassing his previous best score of 44 against Gloucestershire earlier this season, reaching this milestone in a patient 113 deliveries. Clark could be accused of being pigeonholed as a one-day player in his short career, but the 24-year-old all-round proved himself to be an able batsman under tense circumstances as he continued his form with the ball into his innings.
Conditions were easing and the sun even came through for most of the evening session, by which time Lancashire had restored a certain amount of balance to proceedings; the ground was also a lot quieter after the 5,000 schoolchildren had vacated the stands.
Faulkner and Clark continued to find the boundary with relative ease to prolong Surrey's frustration in a game that may very well decide which of these two teams is at the top of the table at the end of the season and when Lancashire managed to avoid the follow-on, a crucial target had been eliminated thanks to this impressive partnership.
Faulkner raced his way towards a maiden first-class century, hitting Dunn for back-to-back fours to take him into the nineties and the Australian all-rounder scampered through for a quick single to take him to this milestone in 141 balls with 11 fours. Lancashire have certainly acquired an incredibly talented cricketer, one who is renowned for his one-day exploits, but with plenty to prove to the Australian selectors, Lancashire are hoping they can benefit from his raw talent.
Surrey had grown sick and tired of the lack of chances in this partnership and when the new ball became available they grabbed the opportunity to break their determined stand. With the fifth delivery of the new ball, Dunn struck a vital blow when he bowled Clark for 63, a superb effort from the Cumbrian under such difficult circumstances.
Faulkner's innings became one of belligerence as he attempted to throw the kitchen sink at almost every delivery that came his way, a tactic that resulted in his departure when he was bowled by Dunn with the score at 312/8.
Tom Bailey (21*) and Kyle Jarvis (13*) then added an unbeaten partnership worth 30 runs as Lancashire approached another batting point before close of play, returning to the pavilion at 342/8.
Well said that man !
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