Oval sunshine may soon depart for Davies

Surrey 354 for 6 (Burns 88, Sangakkara 67, Davies 59, Sibley 56) lead Lancashire 287 (Clark 56, S Curran 4-61) by 83 runs
Scorecard

Where Steven Davies plays his cricket next season is unknown. He is out of contract at Surrey, and, retaining England ambitions, wants to regain the gloves. Thanks to the emergence of Ben Foakes, he will not get to do that at Surrey anytime soon, but several counties, including Somerset, would give much for a keeper of his batting prowess.

On this sweltering day at The Oval - much of a hearty crowd spent the day moving to avoid the sun, inverting a county cricket tradition of fans congregating under any rays of sunshine, real or imaged - Surrey had cause to thank that, for now, Davies remains all theirs.

His pristine late cut, gliding the ball precisely through backward point, must register as one of the most delightful shots in the county game. A threaded drive through point off Simon Kerrigan, in between two men placed to stop just such a shot was followed, in the next over, by a sumptuous flick through midwicket off Arron Lilley; the outcome of both deliveries belied a lack of discernible effort from the batsman as they raced across the boundary. Each was a triumph of timing and grace over power.

It says everything of Davies that, in this form, he was not the lesser stylist in his partnership with Kumar Sangakkara. The most notable contrast between the two was in intent: Davies' fine half-century arrived in 96 balls, while Sangakkara's took just 47. Their partnership of 77 in 17.5 overs - a product of sharp running as well as clean hitting - imbued new impetus into Surrey's innings until Sangakkara scythed Nathan Buck to gully, where he was neatly taken by Haseeb Hameed.

Davies, though, seemed hell-bent on returning the following morning, leaving the ball judiciously in between caressing the ball through the offside. He had made 59 fine runs when, to his evident consternation, a slog sweep picked out midwicket in the last throes of the day. It embodied a season in which he has provided wondrous shot-making, and yet is still averaging under 40 in Championship cricket.

His disappointment at squandering a chance to make a match-defining innings was shared by several in the Surrey dressing room: not just Sangakkara, but also the openers Rory Burns and Dominic Sibley. Batting with great diligence and an austere mood out of sync with the sunshine, they extended their overnight partnership to 160 before both fell in consecutive overs to a zesty spell from Kyle Jarvis: Sibley played on; Burns cut aberrantly outside offstump, just when he appeared set on a second century, and 1,000 runs, in the Championship summer.

The upshot is that, while Surrey have a dominant position, it is not quite the impregnable one they had threatened to build. For that Lancashire's perseverance should be lauded. If their attack lacks an incisive streak, they are not short of tenacity. And, with two spinners in their ranks, they might feel that a final day target of 250 or so could imperil Surrey. Should either county have a positive result to toast, it will effectively ensure that they do not return to Division Two in 2017.

Three years and three days after his only Test match was ruined by Shane Watson at this same ground, Simon Kerrigan again recorded figures of 0 for 53; this time, though, off 20 overs rather than eight. Sangakkara had briefly revived these memories, by driving Kerrigan through long-off for four, and then sauntering down the wicket and flicking him over long-on for six, in consecutive balls, but this was mostly a day of steadfast accumulation, not high-summer madness.