Burns and Sibley set up strong day for Surrey

Surrey consolidated their stronghold over Lancashire with a confident batting display on the second day at The Oval, as four of their batsmen made half centuries.

Rory Burns led the way with 88, sharing a dominant partnership for the opening wicket with Dominic Sibley (56) worth 160 runs, before Sri Lankan legend Kumar Sangakkara (67) and Steve Davies helped Surrey to post an overnight lead of 67 runs, reaching stumps at 354/6.

Lancashire toiled away in the unrelenting heat in south London, failing to take a single wicket in the morning session, as Burns and Sibley took charge. Kyle Jarvis (2-61) then directed the Red Rose comeback with two quick wickets after lunch to account for both Surrey openers, before Sangakkara and Davies (59) added 77 runs in a confident partnership to restore their dominance in the match.

Having bowled Lancashire out for 287 the previous evening, Surrey’s openers put Lancashire through a tiring morning session, with Burns advancing to his eighth half-century of the Championship campaign to lead the hosts to a hugely successful start to the day. Burns, who reached 1,000 first-class runs yesterday, capitalised on Rob Jones’ drop in the evening session on the first day, as he and Sibley enjoyed tucking into Lancashire’s bowlers on the hottest day of the year.

Burns kicked on from his overnight score of 33 to reach fifty in 80 deliveries, with the Surrey openers sharing a hundred-partnership in precisely 30 overs. Sibley followed suit with a half-century of his own in 127 balls and by the time lunch arrived Lancashire had bowled 100 overs in Championship cricket without taking a wicket, including the second innings against Yorkshire last week.

Jarvis spearheaded Lancashire’s resurgence after lunch, reducing Surrey from 150/0 to 163/2 with two wickets in the space of four balls to account for both of the openers in the space of two overs. The Zimbabwean forced Sibley to edge onto his stumps for 56 in the seventh over of the session, before forcing Burns to drive and edge behind to Steven Croft in his next over.

Having gone 641 balls without taking a wicket in red-ball cricket, Lancashire had taken two wickets in the space of ten balls, but all this did was bring Sri Lanka legend Sanagakkra to the crease with ideal batting conditions to suit his masterful technique. The 38-year-old veteran showed his class early on with back-to-back boundaries off Nathan Buck, with his next boundary-four taking Surrey to the first of four batting points.

Arun Harinath (21) added 45 runs with Sangakkara before he was trapped lbw by Arron Lilley (2-76), but Surrey refused to relent from their positive approach, as Sangakkara and Davies dominated Lancashire’s spinners to add 77 runs inside 18 overs.

The highly-experienced Sangakkara took a shine to Lilley when he clobbered the first of two sixes on his way to a 47-ball fifty, with his second maximum coming when he lofted Simon Kerrigan down the ground and into the stands. As a result of the Sri Lankan’s aggressive approach to the spinners, he and Davies shared a fifty-partnership in just 56 deliveries, helping Surrey to reach tea on 274/3.

Sangakkara seemed destined to reach three figures for the second time in three matches against Lancashire – having scored 118 at the back end of last season at Old Trafford – but Buck (1-56) persisted after the interval to remove the dangerman for 67 in the fourth over of the evening session.

Haseeb Hameed held on to a sharp catch after Sangakkara caressed Buck into the gully, but Surrey ended the second day of this match by advancing into the lead, with Davies going on to reach the fourth fifty of the innings. He did so in 96 deliveries, with his patience complementing Sangakkara in a hugely successfully partnership.

Luke Procter (1-30) extracted the second breakthrough after tea by trapping the in-form Ben Foakes lbw for 14 to leave the hosts on 317/5, with Davies following for 59 when he pulled a half-tracker from Lilley straight to Kerrigan at mid-wicket to hand Lancashire a valuable second bowling point at the end of the 106th over.

The Curran brothers – Sam and Tom (0*) – guided Surrey to stumps without any further scares, with the younger sibling unbeaten on 28 with five boundaries to his name, as the hosts reached close of play on 354/6 with a first-innings lead of 67 runs.