Roy and Davies help Surrey before rain

Jason Roy and Steven Davies achieved a mammoth partnership worth 236 runs for the fifth-wicket stand, as Surrey reached 435/8 before bad light and eventually rain curtailed the second day of their LV= County Championship match against Lancashire at The Oval.

Roy made a career-best 143, as he and Davies (86) frustrated Lancashire after their good progress on the first day. The duo made the most of a typically flat Oval wicket as the Red Rose attack conceded 144 runs in the morning session without any reward.

But with the second over of the new ball, Kyle Jarvis (3-117) tempted Roy to flash at a wide delivery and edge to Ashwell Prince at gully with the score at 310/5. Three overs later, Davies was also back in the pavilion, edging to Paul Horton at first slip off Tom Bailey (2-89), before debutant Ben Foakes made an unbeaten 60 as Surrey's tail rallied to keep the runs flowing.

Lancashire had made good progress after inserting the home side, reducing their hosts to 75/4 after rain accounted for all of the morning and a good portion of the afternoon session. But the rate at which Roy and Davies added runs was damaging to their chances, with Roy alone adding 111 runs in the morning session to take him to a sixth first-class century.

The pair continued their good progress, reaching the hundred partnership in 110 balls, showing positive intent from the very first over of the day. Roy in particular showed his intent, hitting Jarvis for successive boundaries as he won the race to a half-century, reaching this milestone in 80 balls with eight fours.

Davies - who reached 5,000 first-class runs in another superb innings this season - went on to reach fifty in even less time, having been deprived of the strike for long spells by his buoyant batting partner. The left-handed batsman took just 68 deliveries to reach the 45th fifty of his first-class career, but Davies was to be out-shined by his partner, who was racing his way towards three figures in a flash.

Davies edges to Horton at first slip as he falls for 86.

Roy enjoyed the benefits of a relatively unforgiving wicket, hitting Simon Kerrigan for 17 runs in one over, knocking the left-arm spinner for two straight sixes in quick succession. An innings of milestones for Roy contained not only a career-best score, but the registering of 3,000 first-class runs as he and Davies achieved a partnership worth more than 150.

In next to no time Roy found himself celebrating a 114-ball century, one which contained 15 fours as well as the two sixes he thumped off Kerrigan, a quite brilliant innings from the 24-year-old batsman, who is renowned for his one-day exploits.

A brief delay for rain forced the players to leave the field for a handful of minutes, but no overs were lost due to the stoppage. When the players returned, Roy and Davies continued their dominance at the crease, reaching the the two-hundred partnership just before lunch.

Roy was the first Surrey player to score a century before lunch in over 15 years and he carried on his aggressive innings after lunch as he reached a new career-best score. Lancashire plodded along, waiting for the new ball to become available and until it arrived the visitors were subjected to a typically unfriendly wicket for seam and indeed spin bowlers.

The Red Rose made good use of the new ball yesterday, removing the likes of Kevin Pietersen and Kumar Sangakkara, and they repeated their success, removing Roy with the ninth ball of the new ball's tenure.

A wild swipe outside the off-stump from Roy found its way to Prince at gully to give Jarvis another wicket for his ever-growing tally this season and the new ball continued to pay dividends for Lancashire as Davies was on his way 20 balls later, this time to Bailey as Horton took his third catch at first slip after hanging on to edges from Ansari and Pietersen on Day One.

Jordan Clark was the pick of the Lancashire attack claiming 3-74.

The loss of both Roy and Davies for the addition of eight runs was exactly what Lancashire needed after they had added 236 runs for the fifth wicket, but captain Gareth Batty and debutant Foakes added another useful partnership worth 78 runs to steady the innings.

Foakes shared the mentality of Roy and Davies as he too played with positive intent and the former Essex youngster made a big impression on debut, reaching fifty in 73 balls with eight fours. Batty was similarly willing to play his shots and a combination of pull strokes and drives through the covers were sublime to watch, unless you were the Lancashire fielder who had to run to the fence to collect the ball, of course.

The loss of Batty and Curran in quick succession, who both fell to Jordan Clark, represented a good effort from the Lancashire seam attack, as they claimed two wickets for the addition of 12 runs to restore a touch of balance to proceedings. Clark has been really impressive this season, grabbing his opportunity to play first-team cricket with both hands.

When he claimed the wicket of Sangakkara on the first day, the Cumbrian all-rounder must have been thrilled to remove such an esteemed batsman and he finished the day as the pick of Lancashire's bowlers with figures of 3 for 74.

Batty was first to go, falling lbw to Clark with the score at 396/7, before Curran made a brief contribution, helping Surrey to reach their final batting point in the 103rd over. Clark continued to steam into the crease and strangled an edge down the leg side, as Alex Davies took a superb diving catch with one hand to remove Curran for six.

Foakes and Meaker (13*) added 27 runs for the ninth-wicket partnership either side of tea, but bad light forced the players to return to the pavilion. Conditions continued to deteriorate and light drizzle developed into steady rain before play was called off shortly after 5.30.