Anil Kumble captured three important wickets for Surrey to prevent Northamptonshire from raising a big total on the first day of their four-day County Championship match at Kennington Oval.
Kumble, who picked the scalps of Usman Afzaal (13) and Lance Klusener (31) before tea on Wednesday, later broke a defiant 120-run seventh wicket partnership between Bilal Shafayat (91) and Ben Phillips (65).
Philips fell to Kumble's spin, offering a catch to Ian Salisbury, with the team total 303.
Northants were later dismissed for 347 in their first innings.
Apart from Kumble, who claimed three wickets for 83 runs, Salisbury (3/83), Nayan Doshi (2/42) and Mohammed Akram (2/55) were the other major contributors with the ball for Surrey.
At stumps on day one, Surrey were three for no loss.
