County Championship: England duo lead Surrey fightback against Somerset

Ben Foakes' half-century followed scores of 132 not out and 45 in his two previous innings

England pair Ben Foakes and Ollie Pope led Surrey's fightback after a career-best 150 not out by Tom Abell for Somerset on day two at The Oval.

The visitors added 54 to their overnight 283-6 before skipper Abell finally ran out of partners.

Surrey lost early wickets, but Foakes and Pope put on 80 before the latter fell for 47 to a quite brilliant boundary catch by Tom Banton.

Foakes followed for 63 as Surrey reached stumps on 204-5, 133 behind.

Having failed to earn any batting points in their first two matches, Somerset claimed a third when they passed 300 for the loss of Josh Davey, who was caught at third slip off Jordan Clark (3-66) after adding 59 with Abell.

But their last three wickets went down for 12 runs with Abell, who made his previous best of 135 six years ago, facing 298 balls in his unbeaten innings, hitting 22 fours.

Surrey were 48-3 in reply, with Rory Burns among the batsmen dismissed, caught behind for 12 from a fine delivery by Craig Overton, who took 13 wickets in Somerset's defeat by Essex last week.

But Pope again looked in good touch before Overton picked up his second wicket when Banton dived full length on the boundary to take a one-handed catch from a top edge.

Foakes had been dropped on two by Banton off Davey and made the most of his escape by reaching a half-century from 113 balls.

He departed when he edged Peter Siddle - playing his 200th first-class game - to second slip, but Sam Curran was 44 not out at the close.

Surrey's Ollie Pope told BBC Radio London:

"It was a fantastic catch by Tom Banton but to be honest it wasn't a very good shot from me and I was disappointed to get out. I didn't hit it as I wanted to and was not in control, so I deserved to get out to that shot.

"Ben Foakes and Sam Curran have both batted very well. And I felt I batted well. It's feeling good. I've put in a lot of hard work over the last few months so feel in good touch."

Somerset's Peter Siddle:

"The only disappointment for us was letting Foakes off early in his innings, particularly as he went on to get what he did, but overall we are pretty pleased.

"I don't think we're in a bad position. The first hour will be crucial for us. All our bowlers gave it a good crack and there's a bit in it for us. We've also got 337 on the board after a great innings by the skipper."