County Championship: Steven Davies century boosts Surrey hopes

Davies reached his highest score in the Championship this season.

Steven Davies hit a superb unbeaten 147 against Leicestershire as Surrey finished on 403-8 to keep their bid for promotion from County Championship Division Two firmly on track.

The visitors started slowly, losing opener Zafar Ansari for a duck and Tillakaratne Dilshan for eight.

But Davies and Vikram Solanki (93) shared a fourth-wicket stand of 135 to turn the match around.

Solanki fell to paceman Rob Taylor but Davies saw Surrey through to stumps.

Davies, who hit his highest score in the Championship this season, managed 22 fours for his 147, and reached his century from just 114 balls.

It was another day of toil for bottom-of-the-table Leicestershire, whose bowlers shared the wickets around.

Surrey director of cricket Graham Ford:

"Being put into bat in a situation where conditions suited the seam bowlers with swing and seam movement, our boys stayed pretty positive.

"Anything that was loose we pounced on. Vikram played extremely well initially and we've been fantastic all day.

"Batting well in the first innings is really important and you need someone to get you a really good score and Steven has done a fantastic job."