Kent falters as Dom Sibley leads Surrey's menacing reply

Dom Sibley hit an unbeaten 87 as Surrey dominated Kent on the second day of their Vitality County Championship derby at Canterbury, reaching 185 for one at stumps in reply to Kent's 244 all out.

Cameron Steel and Tom Lawes took three wickets apiece as Surrey restricted Kent to 244, and although nightwatchman George Garrett outshined his batting partners with a career-best 48, any hopes of a competitive total were dashed when Sibley and Rory Burns put on 147 for the first wicket.

Garrett eventually had Burns caught behind for 69, but Sibley and Dan Lawrence batted through to stumps to leave Surrey just 59 all out.

The Spitfire Ground was so cold that even the Nackington Road Grumblers abandoned their usual seats for the sheltered Cowdrey Stand. Apart from Garrett's unexpected resistance, there was plenty for them to grumble about.

Kent were 111 for three overnight and Kemar Roach removed Jack Leaning lbw for 30 off the morning's third delivery.

Garrett pulled Lawes for successive fours as he surpassed his previous highest first-class score of 24, but the remaining specialist batsmen all squandered promising starts.

Joe Denly was bowled for 32, chasing a wide one from Steel and playing on, and Harry Finch hit two impressive boundaries to take Kent to 192 for five at lunch, but was caught at slip by Sibley off Jordan Clark soon after the resumption.

Garrett fell two short of his half-century when he was edged behind by Steel and Steel then had Matt Parkinson stumped by Ben Foakes for a duck. Kent's last recognised batsman went when Foakes then jumped to his right to trap Joey Evison off Lawes for 30.

Jas Singh also scored his highest first-class score, but by the time of his dismissal to Lawes for 15, Kent were still six wickets down.

Surrey's reply quickly began to look ominous. Kent's chances were few and far between and when Sibley had Arafat Bhuiyan caught behind, he was bowled by Finch.

Burns flicked Matt Parkinson for a single to reach 50 and compared to last season, when it took him 578 minutes to make 140 at this ground, Sibley was batting like Virat Kohli and reached his half-century off 86 balls with a single off Arafat.

Burns fell to Garrett when Zak Crawley took a smart catch at slip, but it was an isolated moment of hope for the home fans in a long evening session.