Hosein seven caps Footitt six

A dream debut from wicketkeeper Harvey Hosein and a six-wicket burst from Mark Footitt put Derbyshire on top on the opening day of their Championship match against Surrey at The Oval.

Surrey lost seven wickets for 58 runs after lunch and were only able to scrap their way to 181 all out through a battling 70 from captain Gary Wilson. It was a poor effort in their final Division Two match of the season and, at the close, Derbyshire were just 17 behind at 164 for 5 in their reply.

After a frustrating first session for Derbyshire, the country's leading wicket-taker Footitt tore through the Surrey top order on his way to 6 for 69 and 18-year-old Hosein marked his first-class bow with seven catches. That tally is the most ever by a keeper on his Championship debut and he is the youngest ever to have six or more dismissals on his debut. Only Bob Taylor, who did it twice, had previously taken seven catches in an innings for Derbyshire.

It looked as if it may be a frustrating day for Derbyshire in the morning after winning the toss, as they beat the edge numerous times without finding the edge until Wayne White came into the attack to have both openers, Zafar Ansari and Rory Burns, caught behind.

If they felt that was scant reward for their efforts at lunch, Derbyshire were soon feeling happier as Footitt struck with the sixth ball after the interval, helped by a loose cut to point from Steven Davies, and then had Vikram Solanki caught behind to make it 75 for 4. Jason Roy soon followed and when Arun Harinath was lbw, Footitt had his 70th Championship wicket of the season and Surrey were in freefall. Worse still, Gareth Batty went first ball to a flying catch down the leg side by Hosein to make the score 109 for 7.

Footitt's sixth wicket and Hosein's sixth catch came when Stuart Meaker was dismissed at 117 for 8 and though Jade Dernbach's response was to throw the bat wildly at everything, the outcome was inevitable and he was bowled by White with the total at 130.

But Wilson was not about to abandon the cause and put on 51 for the final wicket with Tim Linley, who hung around stoutly for 1 not out. Wilson finally fell to a short ball from Ben Cotton, also on his first-class debut, as Hosein safely gathered his seventh catch. The Surrey captain's 70 came off only 80 balls with 10 fours and a six.

Surrey were made to wait until the 16th over for their breakthrough before Meaker ended an opening stand of 62 by having Billy Godleman caught at third slip for 28 and opening partner Ben Slater followed three overs later, lbw to Linley for 34.

Linley then bowled Cheteshwar Pujara, who played no shot and went for 16, and had Wes Durston caught at second slip before Meaker dismissed Alex Hughes with a fine catch at third slip from Davies. Wayne Madsen survived a tough slip chance on 25 but made it to the close on 48 not out and it will be Hosein who will be with him when Derbyshire look to press on to a first-innings advantage.