There is a chart on the wall of our dressing room which depicts a stairway leading up into the clouds. Each stair represents ten championship points.

At the top of the stairs is the glory of a championship victory. After each match we fill in the requisite number of points and so we are constantly reminded of the ultimate goal of the season.

It also serves as a reality check. For it shows us just how far we have to go and how much work we have to put in to reach the top. This thought occurred to me when filling in our first 12 points after our three frustrating days at The Oval.

We can take a whole host of positives from last weekend's game, however.

Chris Adams was quoted in the press as saying we 'bossed the bosses'.

Indeed we totally dominated the three days available to us. All the batsmen scored runs in one way or another. Ian Ward was frustrated not to have scored a hundred against his former employers but was no doubt relieved that he was showing such good early season form.

The captain was his usual combative self and thoroughly deserved his century. Everyone was pleased that the tail again contributed so well to the total.

No one has forgotten how they were a vital aspect of last year's success. Jason Lewry's batting style was once described as being 'more akin to a golfer on the first tee', but he has a fine eye and if you hit a cricket ball as hard as he does it doesn't matter if it slices or fades for there are no woods.

As for the bowlers, they stuck to the game plan and let no one down.

Mushtaq would have liked to have had more luck but it was a tremendous honour to be on the pitch when he took his 1,000th first class wicket. He must have taken an average of 50 wickets a year for 20 years running - just imagine that!

The Oval has been an intimidating place to play cricket for visiting teams.

The atmosphere of the vast arena and the regal attitude of the 'brown hatters' secreted an aura of invincibility in recent years.

But this year felt different. For starters, in a physical sense, the ground is less threatening. The whole of the Vauxhall End of the ground is being redeveloped. The sprawling, open terraces that provided scantily in the way of ambience have been demolished. A stylish new stand will be ready by the Test match later in the summer but, for now, builders work in hard hats and diggers dig.

It lends an agricultural air to proceedings. The new stand will also incorporate some 15 metres of The Oval's immense outfield and the decreased playing area now feels much more intimate and friendly.

Surrey's team is changing too. They have a new coach who makes them do the kind of energetic warm up drills that other counties have been subjected to for some years. They still have a team packed with international players but there are one or two unfamiliar names creeping in.

I'm sure the likes of Tim Murtagh and James Benning are stars in the making but it makes a change to see the latter player walking out to the wicket at the fall of the second wicket, as opposed to a Graham Thorpe or a Mark Butcher.

We came away with the impression that if their batsmen are put under pressure, as they were throughout our match, they are unsure of how to respond.

It was only thanks to one of their other new players, Scott Newman (who batted with skill and maturity), that they escaped with a draw.