County Championship: Ollie Rayner takes six to spin Middlesex in front
Last updated on .From the section Counties
| Specsavers County Championship Division One, Kia Oval |
| Surrey v Middlesex, day three |
| Middlesex 395: Gubbins 91, Malan 58, Robson 53; T Curran 4-113 |
| Surrey 242 & 98-0: Burns 57* |
| Middlesex lead by 55 runs |
| Middlesex 5 pts, Surrey 4 pts |
| Match scorecard |
Ollie Rayner took six wickets to put Middlesex in control against Surrey at The Oval, despite Ben Foakes' painstaking half-century.
Rayner (6-79) took his tally against Surrey to 32 wickets as the visitors were bowled out for 242 and forced to follow-on.
Foakes made a gritty unbeaten 59 but was unable to stop the tail falling to Rayner's off-breaks.
Surrey made a strong start to their second innings and were 98-0 at stumps.
Tom Curran fell early in the morning session but a 62-run partnership between Foakes and Gareth Batty (38) raised Surrey's hopes before Rayner trapped Batty lbw.
Foakes' half-century was painstaking, coming from 207 balls and containing just one boundary, but he was unable to marshal the tail.
Ravi Rampaul made a five-ball duck as Surrey were dismissed 154 runs short of Middlesex's total, but they made a steady reply when asked to follow-on.
Rory Burns (57 not out) brought up his half-century from 124 deliveries, with Arun Harinath remaining watchful at the other end.
Surrey batsman Ben Foakes told BBC Radio London:
"Today was about trying to get ourselves back into the game and trying not to have a collapse. We tried to make it difficult for them, which I think we did.
"It was quite tough mentally to stay in that bubble and block the ball. This is the sort of situation where you needed to do that, so I'm pretty pleased to put the lads in a position where we have a chance.
"If we had gone three or four down tonight we would have been really struggling, so they have put us in a perfect position."
