County Championship: Alviro Petersen ton puts Lancashire in control against Surrey

Alviro Petersen's century against Surrey was his 40th in first-class cricket

Alviro Petersen made a century as Lancashire took control against Surrey on the second day at Old Trafford.

Resuming on 16-0 in reply to Surrey's 191, Tom Smith (59), making his first Championship appearance since the start of last season, shared a first-wicket stand of 99 with Haseeb Hameed (44).

The hosts then lost Smith, Luke Procter and Hameed for only 16 runs.

But Petersen's 105 from 108 balls and Steven Croft's 42 helped them to 342-9 at the close, a lead of 151.

Simon Kerrigan and Kyle Jarvis guided Lancashire through to stumps, leaving them eight runs shy of a fourth batting point after 108 overs.

Tom Curran and fit-again Stuart Meaker, also making his first appearance of the season after a groin injury, took three wickets each to prevent Lancashire, who were 99-0 and then 263-3, building an even more substantial advantage.

The morning session belonged to openers Hameed and Smith, who missed the majority of last season to have surgery on a serious back injury.

Having lost the top three in quick succession, Petersen then struck 17 fours and one six in his 139-minute knock to leave the hosts in command.

Lancashire's Alviro Petersen:

"It is a good day all round. It was set up by the openers, Tommy and Has. It's always nice to get a good opening partnership and then you can build from there, which I think we've done.

"The more we go past them, it's almost like every run counts as double. Ideally we would have liked to have been six or seven wickets down and still be batting for another session. But we know we're in a good position.

"I'm really happy with the hundred I've scored. I do feel in decent form, but it's important to build on it. Every game is different, every day is different. Every situation is different."

Surrey's Stuart Meaker:

"It's pretty tough going. We have probably had the lesser of the conditions to bowl in, but we've stuck at it pretty well.

"We did well to keep them in check. I was pretty pleased with the Petersen wicket. I didn't quite get it right with that spell with the new ball. It was a good opportunity for me.

"I'm over the moon to be back. It's been a long time coming. I've worked very hard on getting back fit, and it's a great feeling."