County Championship: Ollie Pope hits century for Surrey against Yorkshire

Ollie Pope is averaging 70 with the bat for Surrey this season

Ollie Pope hit his 15th first-class century to keep Surrey's County Championship title chase on course after they had initially looked to be struggling against Yorkshire's seamers.

Despite bad light ruling out the last 22.4 scheduled overs at The Micky Stewart Oval, Surrey reached 292-6 by stumps with Jordan Clark unbeaten on 55, with a six and seven fours. It was quite a recovery after being 136-5 in mid-afternoon having been put in.

Pope hit two sixes and 16 fours in a brilliant 136 from 131 balls and 10 of his first-class hundreds have now come at The Oval - renamed for this match in honour of Surrey great Stewart's 90th birthday. Pope also averages just under 90 on this ground.

Leading second-placed Hampshire by eight points going into the penultimate round of Division One games, Surrey needed Pope's vivid strokeplay against a Yorkshire seam attack in which Steven Patterson stood out with 4-52 from 18 overs and Ben Coad also demanded respect with 2-30.

Both Ben Mike, who conceded 86 runs from his 12.2 overs, and Jordan Thompson with 0-54 from 12 were too guilty of inconsistent line and length - although that is not to take anything away from Pope and Clark.

Their sixth-wicket stand of 142 in 27 overs shaped the day, and possibly the course of the match, after Patterson had taken two wickets in three balls to dismiss Ben Foakes and Cameron Steel and leave Surrey up against it.

Pope's fifty came up in 57 balls, with seven fours, and England's Test number three went from 90 to 100 with a remarkable flipped six over third man off Thompson and then a lashed reverse-sweep for four off Dom Bess.

He also uppercut Mike for six over third man, his last scoring shot before Patterson squeezed one between bat and pad and into leg stump as he aimed to whip a straight ball through mid-wicket.

On a well-grassed surface, Surrey lost Rory Burns without scoring in the fifth over, edging a good ball angled across him from Coad to first slip.

Ryan Patel and Hashim Amla steadied the ship with a second-wicket stand worth 49 and both played with skill and resolve in tricky seam-friendly conditions.

Left-hander Patel, however, took three successive fours off Mike, the all-rounder signed from Leicestershire and making his Yorkshire debut, to go into the 30s - the first gloriously driven through extra cover but the next two guided to third man off a thickish edge to confirm batting was still not straightforward.

Amla, having battled to 14 from 53 balls, dabbed uncertainly at a ball pitching just outside off stump from Patterson and edged to third slip but Pope whipped his second ball for four and soon taking three boundaries off Thompson.

It was a surprise when Patel, on 41 with seven fours, tentatively edged Coad to first slip from what proved to be the last ball before lunch, leaving Surrey 82-3 at the interval.

Foakes made 19, helping Pope to add a further 54 for the fourth wicket, but Surrey then slipped to 136-5 as both Foakes and Steel fell in three balls to Patterson. Foakes nicked behind, playing defensively, and Steel departed for a duck after poking in ugly fashion at his second ball and steering a simple catch to Tom Kohler-Cadmore at first slip.

Report supplied by the ECB Reporters' Network.