Batting coach Smith praises ton-up Keogh

Keogh was comfortably the main man with the bat for the County on Tuesday, with his 123 from 180 balls lifting his team's first innings total to 339 all out - backing up Emilio Gay's opening day 145.

Support was minimal to say the least, with Ricardo Vasconcelos’s 18 the best of the rest, but Keogh's knock ensured Northants were in the game, and they then produced a disciplined bowling performance as Surrey closed on 224 for five in reply.

They recovered from 46 for three and 80 for four, mainly thanks to a stubborn 97 not out from 201 balls from South African veteran Hashim Amla.

The match is evenly poised going into day three on Wednesday, but Smith was keen to praise the effort of Keogh, who scored his 14th first-class century.

"We probably gave them back a little bit of leeway this morning," admitted Smith.

"It would have been nice to have batted a bit long and had got a few more runs on the board to take us up to that 350 to 400 mark at least.

"But Keogh is like a fine wine.

"The real highlight of his innings was how calm he was when he went in during that small wobble which isn't easy when you are playing against top-of-the-table teams - they aren't going to give you any loose deliveries."

On the County's performance with the ball, that saw Jack White the highlight with two for 34 from 16 overs, Smith was also a happy man.

"We have bowled brilliantly this afternoon and hit some great areas, and if it wasn't for the class of Hashim Amla I think we might have seen a couple more wickets on that board," he said.

"It is pretty even at the moment at the moment and if you look at the old adage of adding two wickets on it it could swing dramatically in our favour.

"But if we struggle to take wickets early tomorrow then Surrey could move ahead of us."

There was also a wicket apiece for Ben Sanderson, who trapped Rory Burns lbw early on, Luke Procter and Keogh.

Day is due to start at 10.30am on Wednesday.