Surrey dominated Kent on day two of their LV= Insurance County Championship match at Beckenham, posting 671/9 before reducing Kent to 45/1, a deficit of 626.
The Division One leaders broke the world record for the highest score without a batter making a hundred, and equalled the first-class record of seven for the number of players making half-centuries without passing three figures.
Surrey’s batting depth – which has been a mark of their strong start to the season – came to the fore once again, as Colin de Grandhomme became the 12th player to post a 50-plus score in their Championship campaign.
After Ollie Pope and Ryan Patel had made 96 and 76 respectively on day one, Jamie Overton smacked 93 from 92 balls, Ben Foakes made 91, Sam Curran 78, Colin de Grandhomme 66 and Jordan Clark 54 not out.
The hosts meanwhile maintained their 100 per cent record of conceding at least 500 in every first innings so far this season, with Nathan Gilchrist’s 3/121 recording the best bowling figures.
Ben Compton and Daniel Bell-Drummond were the not out batters at stumps on 14 and 7, after Dan Worrall removed England’s Zak Crawley for 17.
Kent went into day two clinging to the hope that early wickets might keep them in the contest and they struck early when Foakes edged Matt Quinn behind.
Surrey responded with a century partnership between Overton, in as a deluxe nightwatchman, and Curran. Overton produced an array of shots and raced past 50 with successive fours off George Linde. When he holed out to Darren Stevens he was dropped near the boundary by Jordan Cox, who seemed to misjudge the flight, and in the same over Curran then passed 50 with a single.
Overton subsequently hit Stevens for a six that cleared the stand and smacked the same bowler’s next delivery for a maximum over the sightscreen, but he was out in the next over, bowled by Linde, seven runs short of what would have been his second first-class century. The dismissal meant Surrey became the first team ever to lose three consecutive batters in the nineties in first-class cricket, following Pope’s departure late on day one.
Surrey were 470/6 at lunch and although Curran was stumped on 78 off Linde, de Grandhomme became the sixth Surrey batter to score a half-century when he took two from Gilchrist.
Will Jacks was out for 20 when he swiped Gilchrist to square leg, where Cox took a low catch, before de Grandhomme was eventually run out by Quinn, but the last wicket duo of Clark and Worrall took Surrey past the previous world record for a score without an individual hundred, the 609 posted by Namibia against Uganda in 2010-11.
Tea was delayed until 4.34pm at which point, with the lingering grains of hope draining away from the home fans, Surrey declared, leaving Worrall unbeaten on 44.
Kent were left with 19 overs to navigate until stumps and lost Crawley, who was caught behind at the start of the 11th over.
