Dom Sibley leads Surrey’s ominous reply as Kent falter

Surrey 185 for 1 (Sibley 87*, Burns 69) trail Kent 244 (Steel 3-34) by 59 runs

Dom Sibley hit an unbeaten 87 as Surrey dominated Kent on day two of their Vitality County Championship derby at Canterbury, reaching 185 for one at stumps in reply to Kent’s 244 all out.

Cameron Steel and Tom Lawes both took three wickets apiece as Surrey limited Kent to 244 and although night-watcher George Garrett outshone his batting partners with a career-best 48, any hopes that might look competitive vanished as Sibley and Rory Burns put on 147 for the opening wicket.

Garrett eventually got Burns for 69, but Sibley and Dan Lawrence batted through to stumps, at which point Surrey were just 59 behind.

It was so cold at the Spitfire Ground that even the Nackington Road Grumblers abandoned their usual seats and took refuge in the more sheltered Cowdrey Stand. Garrett’s unexpected resistance aside, there was plenty for them to grumble about.

Kent were 111 for three overnight and Kemar Roach had Jack Leaning plumb lbw to the third delivery of the morning, removing him for 30.

Garrett pulled Lawes for successive fours as he overtook his previous highest first-class score of 24, but the remaining specialist batters all squandered promising starts.

Joe Denly was bowled for 32 when he chased a wide one from Steel and played on and Harry Finch hit two impressive boundaries as he steered Kent to 192 for five at lunch but he was caught for nine in the slips by Sibley off Jordan Clark soon after the resumption.

Garrett fell two short of his half-century when he edged Steel behind and Steel then had Matt Parkinson stumped by Ben Foakes for a duck. Kent’s last recognised batter went when Foakes then sprang to his right to catch Joey Evison off Lawes for 30.

Jas Singh also made his highest first-class score, but when he was lbw to Lawes for 15 Kent were still six short of a batting point.

Surrey’s response rapidly began to look ominous. Kent created few chances and when Sibley nicked Arafat Bhuiyan he was put down by Finch.

Burns flicked Matt Parkinson for a single to reach 50 and compared to last season, when he took 578 minutes to make 140 at this venue, Sibley was batting like Virat Kohli, reaching his half-century from 86 balls with a single off Arafat.

Burns fell to Garrett when Zak Crawley took a smart slip catch, but it was an isolated moment of hope for the home fans during a protracted evening session.

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