Surrey continued to dominate play at Headingley yesterday but Steven Kirby provided some crumbs of comfort for Yorkshire before they were left in utter despair again as openers Matthew Wood and Scott Richardson were out off the last eight balls of the day without a run being registered.

Wood bagged a pair when Martin Bicknell found the edge of his defensive bat and Alex Tudor shattered Richardson's stumps with one which kept low.

The red-haired Kirby had kept plugging away in his own enthusiastic style and he was rewarded with a five wicket haul as Surrey ploughed on to 510 and a massive first innings lead of 370.

It was Surrey's highest ever score in Yorkshire, overtaking the 465 which they made at Bradford Park Avenue in 1934.

Kirby has now taken five or more Championship wickets in only 11 matches since joining Yorkshire so dramatically in the middle of last season when he was drafted in to replace Matthew Hoggard who had been called up by England.

His third victim yesterday was Nadeem Shahid who became Kirby's 50th first class dismissal for his adopted county.

Yorkshire generally bowled much better than on the first day but they were unable to worry the Surrey batsmen, most of whom timed their strokes as if it were midsummer rather than late April.

Alec Stewart led the assault with another display which told England that he has not given up on a distinguished Test career. He experienced mixed fortunes, surviving a chance to Chris Taylor on two but later missing out on his century when trying to reach three figures with a boundary.

The ball, sent down by Gary Fellows, was cracked off the meat of the bat to Wood at point and Stewart departed for 96 from 115 deliveries with 15 crisp fours.

Yorkshire sensed they were in for a long day in the field as Mark Butcher and Ian Ward advanced their first wicket stand from 115 to 161 before one fell after the other, Ward being bowled off an inside edge by Chris Silverwood for 70 and Butcher slashing Kirby's first ball to second slip after compiling 83.

It was the biggest stand of the innings but not the best because Mark Ramprakash and Stewart then combined in a third wicket partnership of 137 in 32 overs which was packed with superb ground strokes.

The pair had hurried the score on to 309 by 2.50pm when Ramprakash glanced Kirby too finely and was caught down the legside to give Yorkshire a belated first bonus point of the season. Ramprakash had received 108 balls and struck seven fours and a six.

After Stewart had gone, Nadeem Shahid (45) and Azhar Mahmood (64 not out) both contributed further to Yorkshire's misery as Surrey decided against any declaration.

The dismissal of last man James Ormond left Yorkshire with only two overs to face but it was sufficient time for them to be struck by a double disaster.