County championship (day 3 of 4) at The Oval:
Warwickshire 329 (D L Maddy 134, D W Steyn 51, N C Saker 4-98) v Surrey 226-1 (J N Batty 82 no, S A Newman 73)

A flat pitch and fine batting frustrated Warwickshire on the third day of their championship match here but the visitors will not be displeased with their performance.

The scorecard might not suggest it but Warwickshire bowled pretty well. The truth is that they batted poorly on the second morning and scored at least 100 fewer than was required on a very comfortable batting surface. The bowlers have been almost faultless.

Pick of the crop has been Dale Steyn. The South African produced two long spells of controlled pace bowling during another rain-truncated day, producing pace, bounce and swing and capturing the only wicket to fall.

He also proved his commitment. His first spell of the day — a nine-over marathon that dwarfed any other this season — was full of fire but he came back for another six overs just after lunch and always threatened.

Up until this performance, Steyn has tended to be content to pitch the ball full and swing it. Here, however, he also tried the more hostile route and produced some vicious bouncers, one of which crashed into Scott Newman's helmet with the batsman halfway through his hook shot.

Darren Maddy, sensing a key moment in the match, persisted with his trump card but, despite some playing and missing and a couple of good leg-before decisions, the breakthrough just would not come.

The spell only underlined Warwickshire's need for Steyn. Though his colleagues persisted manfully there is little in this pitch for any of them and only Steyn's extra pace looked dangerous.

Paul Harris will arrive, as planned, at the start of June but will not necessarily be registered immediately. Subject to agreement from Cricket South Africa — far from a certainty — Steyn should be able to remain until June 20.

Naqaash Tahir also performed well. He moved the ball both ways and delivered very few loose deliveries and, on another day, will bowl less well and take several wickets.

Surrey deserve credit for their batting. Newman (130 balls, 12 fours and a six) took some time to recover from the bang on his helmet but produced some scintillating drives through cover. Heath Streak, who struggles with his line to the left-handers, was also punished for slipping down the leg side.

Jonathan Batty (208 balls, nine fours and a six) proceeded with much more caution. His 50 occupied 150 deliveries and he was generally content to wait for the over-pitched delivery, though he did skip down the pitch to loft Alex Loudon for six when spin was belatedly introduced in the 62nd over.

Batty also enjoyed a couple of moments of fortune. Had Jimmy Anyon hit the only stump he had to aim at, Batty may have been run out from the first ball of the day. Streak missed another run-out chance from cover when the batsman had 30.

Maddy put down the only other chance of the day. Batty's attempted cut off the deserving Steyn flew fast and high to second slip where the captain got two hands to the ball but could not cling on.

It was perhaps relevant that England's new assistant coach Andy Flower was again present. Both wicketkeepers in this match, Tim Ambrose and Batty, are in the frame for England selection and neither will have done themselves any harm. If it is decided that Ambrose remains too green — he has yet to play a full season of first-class cricket — England could do much worse than 33-year-old Batty. He misses very few chances as wicketkeeper and is one of the few candidates who could bat in the top six.

The 27-year-old Newman is rarely talked about as an England contender but he certainly has the ability. This innings perhaps demonstrated his strengths and his weaknesses, however, as he produced several glorious strokes — a pulled six off Anyon was especially dismissive — but fell to an unworthy shot; a horribly loose drive that almost knocked him off his feet and resulted in an edge to Ambrose.

The spell of play that followed was riveting. Steyn v Mark Ramprakash was a battle of the highest quality, the fast bowler demanding respect and the batsman taking every opportunity to score. It also reminded all those who question the quality of county cricket that they are talking through their hats.

Anyon looked disgusted with himself whenever Ramprakash punched a back-foot drive through the covers, or pulled in front of square, but this is a batsman of the highest class on a fine pitch. The young bowler has nothing to reproach himself for by coming off second best. England could do a lot worse.

This game will almost certainly end in a draw. Even in the unlikely event that Surrey forego the pursuit of bonus points to try to achieve victory, the weather forecast is grim.