Surrey 525 and 13 for 1 lead Nottinghamshire 405 (McCann 154, Hameed 68, Haynes 68, Verreynne 50, Jacks 7-129) by 133 runs.
Nineteen-year-old Freddie McCann, in just his third first-class innings, scored his maiden century, propelling Nottinghamshire to 405 at Trent Bridge. Despite McCann's impressive knock, Surrey's Will Jacks took a career-best seven for 129, leaving Surrey with a 133-run lead as they finished the third day of their Vitality County Championship match at 13 for 1.
However, the day wasn’t without incident. In the afternoon session, Jacks, who is set to play for England in their upcoming series against Australia, fielded a pull shot sharply at short mid-wicket but then threw the ball hard and high toward the wicketkeeper, forcing McCann to take evasive action. Umpires James Middlebrook and Paul Pollard immediately penalised Surrey with five runs under Law 42.3.1 for "throwing the ball at a player in an inappropriate or dangerous manner." The matter has been referred to Surrey for any further disciplinary action.
Half an hour after the incident, McCann became Jacks’s fourth victim, departing for a well-earned 154 after slog-sweeping to long-on. Jack Haynes followed soon after for 68, but Nottinghamshire managed to surpass the follow-on target of 376 with six wickets down, just after tea.
Resuming at 144 for 3, Nottinghamshire lost Joe Clarke early in the morning when he advanced to drive Jacks, only to be stumped for four as the ball spun sharply out of the rough. This marked Jacks’s third success in 11 balls after his breakthroughs the previous evening. Despite the early setback, Haynes and McCann mounted a strong resistance, bringing lunch at 231 for 4.
Their partnership added 154 runs before McCann fell after facing 268 balls, shortly after Haynes had secured his sixth fifty in 15 innings since joining from Worcestershire. Unfortunately, Haynes couldn’t convert his fifty into a bigger score, falling for 68 when a thin leg-side edge was caught behind.
South African wicketkeeper Kyle Verreynne, playing his first county innings for Nottinghamshire, joined Lyndon James to take the score to 369 for 4 by tea. However, after avoiding the follow-on, James was dismissed for 23, slicing a drive to backward point, giving Cam Steel his first wicket.
With bonus points settled at five for Surrey and four for Nottinghamshire, Liam Patterson-White was trapped leg-before, giving Jacks his only six-wicket haul since his success in Rawalpindi during his debut Test against Pakistan in 2022. Jacks, who had bowled just six championship overs this year prior to this match, then dismissed Rob Lord for 10 and bowled Ahmed without scoring, as Nottinghamshire’s last four wickets fell for just 21 runs in 30 balls, leaving Verreynne unbeaten on 50 from 60 balls.
Surrey, with a first-innings lead of 120, faced spin from both ends when they began their second innings. It took just eight balls for Farhan Ahmed to add to his match tally, dismissing Dom Sibley, who clipped a catch to mid-wicket. However, after seven overs, bad light halted play, leaving Surrey’s pursuit of their eighth win in nine games and a third consecutive championship title on pause until the next day.