Late wickets put Surrey back in charge at Durham

Spinners Dan Lawrence (left) and Sai Kishore took three of the five Durham wickets

Rothesay County Championship Division One, Banks Homes Riverside, Chester-le-Street (day two)

Durham 153 & 222-5: Gay 99; Kishore 2-36

Surrey 322: Lawrence 88, Clark 82; Raine 5-72

Durham (3 pts) lead Surrey (5 pts) by 53 runs

Match scorecard

Three wickets in the final session helped put Surrey back in charge at the halfway point of their County Championship game at Durham.

The champions, seeking a fourth consecutive title, had added 140 runs in the morning session to be bowled out for 322 with Dan Lawrence making 88 and Jordan Clark last man out for 82 as Ben Raine claimed 5-72 with the ball.

That gave Surrey a 169-run lead, but that had been wiped out for the loss of only two home wickets with Emilio Gay hitting a stylish 99.

But he went one shy of his hundred before Ollie Robinson (25) and Colin Ackermann for 43 also departed before the close to leave Durham 222-5, just 53 runs ahead.

Resuming on 68 and with Surrey on 182-5, Lawrence had added 20 to his overnight score and looked set for three figures until he hit a leg-stump half-volley from South Africa seamer Codi Yusuf straight to short midwicket.

But Clark found good support from Cameron Steel as they brought up their 50-partnership in just 57 balls and it was a surprise when Raine broke through by trapping Steel in his crease for 28.

Tom Lawes struck a couple of lovely fours until he was bowled by a beauty from Raine for eight, while Sai Kishore was caught down the legside to give Callum Parkinson a second wicket.

That left the score 304-9 as last man Dan Worrall strode out with Clark on 68. The all-rounder had reached his half-century off 52 balls and he struck some lusty blows, including two massive sixes.

But Clark was out to a slower ball full toss from Raine which he hit straight to Bas de Leede at long-off to give the bowler his best figures of the summer.

Surrey's strength in recent years has been in bowling first with 20 of their 27 wins across the last four seasons coming this way.

With a one-point lead at the top at the start of this week's round of matches, they made a fine start after lunch, as Clark had Durham captain Alex Lees lbw for 20, coming round the wicket.

However, the pitch was playing nicely as Gay and Ben McKinney put on 73 for the second wicket until 20-year-old McKinney tried to go big off Kishore and was well caught by Lawrence diving forward at long on for 24.

Gay had stylishly moved to 97 off 96 balls after tea, hitting 11 fours and a six, and seemed certain to score a fourth hundred of the season, but Surrey tied him down until he clipped Sam Curran to midwicket to fall one short with the score 173-3.

Robinson tried to be positive, but that was his undoing as he tried to hit against the left-arm spin of India's Kishore and skied a catch to long-off.

And Surrey took a real stranglehold as Ackermann went to a bat-pad catch off Lawrence to leave the hosts 219-5.

Night-watchman Codi Yusuf got through to the close, but Durham, looking over their shoulders in eighth place, have it all to do on day three to avoid defeat.

It could have been even better for Surrey but for three dropped catches, which cost 110 runs, but they will still be confident of heading south with a fourth win of the season.