MICK Newell has warned his Notts players to guard against complacency as they look to close out an important victory against Surrey in their quest for the County Championship title.

After two days at the Oval, the visitors were in a hugely commanding position, having rattled up 420-5, in reply to the hosts' 267 all out, to lead by 153 runs.

Instrumental in establishing that advantage were Mark Wagh (141) and Samit Patel (135), who put on a magnificent 242 for the third wicket.

But while delighted with the work his team have done so far, director of cricket Newell is urging them to maintain focus.

On a pitch that is good for batting and against a Surrey side under no pressure now their relegation to Division Two has been confirmed, he recognises there is still plenty of hard work to do.

"I'm pleased with the way we batted and the pace we scored at because that has opened up the game and given us the opportunity to win it," said Newell.

"But there are still two days to go and a lot of cricket to be played. We have to take advantage and push on.

"We would like to add a minimum of another 100 runs to go 250 ahead and then look to bowl them out.

"But that means we have a bit more batting to do if we are to do that – and plenty more bowling.

"It is hard to say how Surrey will react in their last innings of the season and obviously we hope they would fold pretty quickly.

"But you just don't know and you can't see someone like Mark Ramprakash giving his wicket away very easily.

"It is a pretty good pitch, so we should expect to have to work hard."

Both Wagh and Patel scored their second centuries of the season, after coming together with the total on 110-2.

The former Warwickshire man got to three figures first from 148 balls with 14 fours and one six. Number four Patel followed soon after from just 89 balls that included 11 boundaries and no less than four maximums.

For Wagh there was the added satisfaction in becoming the first Notts player to reach 1,000 runs for the season shortly before his dismissal.

Newell said: "They are two different players. Samit likes to completely dominate and is more aggressive while Mark is a more classical player.

"Mark has had two excellent seasons for us in four-day cricket and just what we were looking for.

"He is starting to convert fifties into hundreds, just as he did at the end of last season."

Early in the day, Notts had finished off the Surrey tail in quick time, as the last two wickets fell for the addition of just 14 runs to the overnight 253-8.

First Mark Ealham dismissed Murtaza Hussain and then Andre Adams finished things off by ousting Shoaib Akhtar, who fell into his stumps after he was hit by a bouncer.

It gave the New Zealander superb figures of 4-40 off 23.3 overs and took his tally for the season to 26 at an average of just 18.46 each.