Surrey 292-2 (87.3 overs)
Sussex 358-9 declared (83.2 overs)
Surrey (4 points) trail Sussex (3 points) by 66 runs with 8 wickets remaining
Dom Sibley, the rock of dependability at the top of Surrey’s batting order, scored his sixth first-class hundred since the start of last season as Sussex struggled to keep themselves in the Rothesay County Championship match at the Kia Oval.
When rain arrived to lop off the final 16.3 overs of the second day’s allocation, Sibley was unbeaten on 116 in Surrey’s 292-2 after having faced 268 balls across six hours of dutiful accumulation.
With Rory Burns hitting 77 and Ryan Patel a fluent 67 from 82 balls, the pair sharing in stands of 148 and 109 respectively with Sibley, it left Surrey within touching distance of Sussex’s first innings 358-9 declared and with an opportunity to push on to a potentially match-winning lead on day three.
Sibley, 30, had few moments of worry and having also scored 100 in Surrey’s previous Championship fixture against Essex is not only building his case for an England recall five years after his last Test but also is within just nine of completing 10,000 career first-class runs.
Sussex will be sore about the two catches they dropped with the total 168 and then 287. First, Patel was reprieved on 11 when keeper John Simpson somehow allowed what looked to be a regulation edge slip through his gloves.
And Ollie Pope, also when 11, was put down at third slip off Ollie Robinson in the fifth over of a second new ball taken with Surrey on 265-2. At stumps, Pope was 14 not out.
Surrey began day two on 19 for no wicket, Sibley and Burns having fought hard to survive 10 overs against the new ball at the tail end of a memorable opening day dominated by the centuries made from No 9 and No 10 by Jack Carson and Robinson.
At first, it was again the Sussex frontline seamers who tried to prise Sibley and Burns apart – with Sibley leg-glancing Fynn Hudson-Prentice for four from the very first ball of the day to set the tone for what was to come.
Sibley, on 42, edged Robinson just short of the slip cordon but otherwise the Surrey openers had made it with few alarms to 79 before Carson’s off spin was introduced for the 30th over.
Burns’s response was a series of reverse swept fours which helped him to accelerate to his first Championship half-century of the season. But he then required treatment after being hit a nasty blow on the hand by Tom Clark’s fourth ball.
Clark then beat both Burns and Sibley in a pacy three-over burst before lunch, taken with Surrey on 120 for no wicket and, immediately after the interval, it was Henry Crocombe who bowled perhaps the outstanding spell of the day.
Working up a consistent pace of 85mph to 88mph, Crocombe hit Burns another painful blow on his right hand – which meant another on-field treatment delay – and also beat Surrey’s captain several times.
Finally, in the 49th over of the innings, Crocombe got his reward when Burns chopped on a push-drive at another ball delivered from around the wicket. Burns had battled 149 balls for his invaluable contribution to his side’s ambition to bat just once in this game.
Sussex’s chance to put added pressure on Surrey in the wake of Burns’s dismissal, however, was lost when Simpson spilled Patel’s edge off Clark and soon the second wicket pair were busy building their own century stand.
Patel went to 50 with a cracking pulled four off Crocombe and a Sibley leg glance took him into the 90s.
And although Patel skied Carson to mid off looking to push on before the second new ball, it was no surprise that Sibley merely kept on doing what he does best in the anchor role.
Sussex head coach Paul Farbrace said: “It’s been a long tough frustrating day for us.
“I don’t think it was ever going to be a 150 all out day for them but I think we’ve bowled a yard short today and we also dropped two catches. And when you drop catches you don’t help yourself.
“What I will say is that Rory Burns and Dom Sibley both batted superbly against the new ball, both last night and then again this morning, and they showed their real skill and class.
“Today was our toughest day of the season so far but the pitch has got slightly easier and we have to work hard now to find ways back into the game.
“There is still a little bit in it for the bowlers but, overall, it’s proving to be a good cricket pitch.”
