Lancashire will have to bat for the next two days if they are to save their opening County Championship match against Surrey at the Oval.

The Red Rose county had a difficult second day of the LV Division One clash, as the hosts racked up a mammoth 537-5 declared thanks to centuries from three former England batsmen.

And despite making a solid start in reply with the bat, reaching 63-1 courtesy of Paul Horton's 33 not out, they will have to fight hard to salvage a draw.

Surrey debutant Usman Afzaal top scored with an unbeaten 134, while Mark Butcher and Mark Ramprakash made 120 and 118 respectively.

"It was another tough old day in freezing conditions, " assessed cricket manager Mike Watkinson at close.

"But I actually thought that we bowled better than we did on the first day. Our plans were good, we hit good areas, but unfortunately we just didn't catch hold of a couple of sharp chances."

Over the first two days, Lancs have dropped no fewer than four catches.

Butcher was actually carpeted early on by Glen Chapple at mid-on. It was a tough, steepling chance that the all-rounder failed to get under, and in doing so, he suffered a back spasm.

Chapple went off the field for treatment, yet still managed to take the first wicket of the day, of Butcher, with his first ball shortly after lunch.

That brought Afzaal to the crease and he brought up his ton off 165 balls, hitting 10 fours.

Three Red Rose bowlers also brought up three figures but unfortunately in the runs against column. Gary Keedy finished with 1-152 from his 37 overs, Oliver Newby 2-112 from 28 and Sajid Mahmood 0-111 from 29.

England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff (1-72) finished the pick of the Lancashire bowling. He bowled 17.3 overs yesterday.

And his 28 in the one innings was more than he has bowled in any single innings since the first Test of the Ashes series in Brisbane in late November, 2006.