Two partnerships, both involving Jon Dakin, saved Leicestershire's blushes after they had declined to 88-6 in mid-afternoon, the first, with Neil Burns, yielding 59 and the second, with Carl Crowe, putting on 92.

There was some early life in the pitch, which had spent the first two days under the covers, and Ed Giddins soon had Iain Sutcliffe lbw with an inswinger before finding Darren Maddy's outside edge with one that left him.

Ben Smith and Aftab Habib brought about a partial recovery that ended when Smith chipped Martin Bicknell tamely to mid off. Bicknell followed up by having Habib and Darren Stevens caught in the gully and Daniel Marsh lbw.

Bicknell's burst of four for five in 11 balls left Leicestershire dismally placed but Burns and Dakin counter-attacked boldly, their 50 partnership containing 11 fours, six of them to Dakin whose first 24 runs came entirely in boundaries.

When Ian Salisbury came on Burns immediately drove a full toss to mid on but Crowe quickly established himself, playing skilfully wide of mid on. Dakin, meanwhile, controlled his aggressive instincts as Leicestershire moved steadily out of trouble.

Giddins returned to have Crowe caught at cover, Dakin caught at mid-wicket hooking, and James Ormond caught behind to finish with 5-48 as Leicestershire were dismissed for 246. Surrey raced to 46 without loss in the seven overs remaining, Nadeem Shahid being missed at slip by Habib when 17.

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