County Championship: Surrey and Nottinghamshire face final-day drama

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Dom SibleyImage source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Dom Sibley has scored 566 runs in this summer's Championship, with one hundred and three 50s

LV= County Championship Division One, Kia Oval (day three)

Surrey 355 & 200-5: Sibley 83, Latham 60; Harrison 2-67

Nottinghamshire 399: Young 145, Hameed 67, James 50; Abbott 3-85

Surrey (5 pts) lead Nottinghamshire (6 pts) by 156 with five wickets standing

Ben Foakes gave the England selectors another reminder of his stunning glovework on an otherwise mixed day for recent national team discards in Division One leaders Surrey's County Championship clash with Nottinghamshire.

Foakes showed breathtaking skill to remove Nottinghamshire centurion Will Young for a magnificent 145 at the Oval, but the visitors, helped by 50 from all-rounder Lyndon James, reached 399 all out, a lead of 44.

Rory Burns bagged a pair when Surrey batted again, but Dominic Sibley, another of the former England openers cast aside in the Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum era, showed glimpses of fluency which belied his reputation as being too stodgy for Bazball.

The right-hander, dropped on 75, eventually made 83, sharing a second-wicket stand of 141 with Tom Latham, who made 60, but the loss of late wickets left the hosts 200-5, a lead of 156.

Most of Nottinghamshire's early batting impetus came from Tuesday's nightwatchman Brett Hutton, who plundered five boundaries before edging Jordan Clark to Latham at second slip.

Young, having resumed on 106 not out, forged on and when the hosts tried an England style short ball barrage courtesy of Jamie Overton, the New Zealand Test batter pulled him fiercely for four before sending the next delivery sailing over the ropes.

Something special was needed to remove him and it was Foakes who provided the necessary inspiration.

Foakes has found himself ruthlessly cast aside, his unparalleled glovework dismissed as secondary in favour of Jonny Bairstow's belligerent batting.

The clamour for Foakes to return has grown ever louder amid Bairstow's woes behind the stumps in the Ashes to date, eight catches having been grassed and a stumping missed with few runs to counterbalance such spills and fumbles.

Foakes' response was spell-binding. With Will Jacks called into the attack, Young opted to reverse sweep his first ball.

With Young's bat in his eyeline, Foakes brilliantly held on to the top edge and had the presence of mind to stump the Kiwi, who had overbalanced playing the shot, just in case his brilliant catch had escaped notice.

The result was the rare sight of a batter being sent on his way by both umpires simultaneously.

James pushed on to add a half-century to his career-best six for 74 in Surrey's first innings, sharing a stand of 64 with Calvin Harrison.

Sean Abbott removed James and Dane Paterson in successive balls as the visitors finished one shy of 400.

Burns fell lbw to Hutton for the second time in the match, the ball destined to pluck out middle stump had the skipper's pad not interrupted its progress.

Thereafter though Nottinghamshire's attack, shorn of Jake Ball's services, toiled for a time as Sibley and Latham looked untroubled.

Sibley unfurled a trio of off/cover drives in reaching 33 in his first 35 balls. Latham was less expansive, but the pair raised the century stand soon after tea before Sibley won the race to 50 helped by eight fours.

Latham soon followed courtesy of six boundaries but was strangled out down the leg side off Paterson and Jamie Smith missed out with the hosts exactly 100 ahead.

Sibley did not make the most of his reprieve, slog sweeping Matthew Montgomery into the hands of Paterson on the deep midwicket fence, and Foakes was caught behind in the death throes of the day to leave Nottinghamshire in the game ahead of the final day.

Report supplied by ECB Reporters' Network.

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