RICKY Ponting marked his Surrey debut with an unbeaten century against Derbyshire on the third day of their LV County Championship match at the County Ground.
At the close, the former Australia captain had moved on to 120 not out, with Arun Harinath adding a career-best 154 from a Surrey total of 362-4, trailing by 90.
There was very little to encourage Derbyshire as they looked for a strong bowling performance to follow their first innings 452 and it did not help them that several of their players felt unwell.
Wayne Madsen, Tim Groenewald, Mark Turner and Mark Footitt were among those who complained of "light-headedness", according to head coach Karl Krikken. Umpire Nigel Cowley also had to leave the field for 20 minutes.
Though they bowled well in the morning as Surrey resumed at 35-1, Derbyshire had to wait until the final over before lunch for their first wicket of the day.
Off the second ball of the last over before the interval, Vikram Solanki turned a Wes Durston ball down the leg side but it hit the thigh of wicketkeeper Richard Johnson and looped up for short leg Billy Godleman to take a good diving catch. He made 35.
Harinath reached his century off 224 balls by hitting Durston for six over long on. He also hit 13 fours and he added eight more before he was bowled trying to pull a ball from David Wainwright that kept low.
He and Ponting put on 180 for the third wicket.
Three overs later, Ponting completed the 81st first-class century of his wonderful career, reaching it off 149 balls with 13 fours, and though Zander de Bruyn was bowled by Wainwright before the close for 11, it was a long, tough day for Derbyshire.
