Surrey take control thanks to Batty

Kent 235 for 7 (van Jaarsveld 95*) trail Surrey 397 (Batty 136*) by 162 runs
Scorecard

Jonathan Batty chose not to show off his range of strokes at The Oval, but his Surrey team-mates more than picked up the slack. Riding on Batty's unbeaten 136, his first hundred of the season, Surrey crawled to 397 and from there it was all wickets, mostly in a flurry of lbws.

Kent struggled to get a decent partnership going: just when it appeared one was forming, a wicket would fall, and that left Martin van Jaarsveld to play the hosts by himself. He held up Kent superbly with an unbeaten 95 but a lack of support meant Kent were always playing catch-up. They reached 235 for 7, adding 50 in the last half hour, but remain 12 runs from avoiding the follow-on.

The day started their way, with Robbie Joseph removing Ali Brown and Abdul Razzaq in quick succession. But it wasn't so easy to dislodge Batty. Resisting anything fancy, Batty carried on as he had on the first day, gnawing away. There was no flamboyance, no crude hits, hardly a chance. Playing well within himself, he inched along towards three figures, relying on singles and the odd caressed boundary.

A 49-run stand for the seventh wicket was snapped when Chris Schofield (16) pushed forward at one from James Tredwell, which sneaked by and had him stumped. Batty plugged away and his only moment of aggression came when he pushed the ball to midwicket, jogged down, took off his helmet, and punched his bat towards the dressing room. It took him 239 balls to reach the hundred, his second against Kent.

Saqlain Mushtaq played a few pleasing shots during his 35-ball 23, adding 56 with Batty, before falling to Tredwell. Jade Dernbach skied one to give Tredwell his third, Pedro Collins went lbw second ball, and Batty was left unbeaten on a career-best 136.

Joe Denly began positively for Kent, driving five boundaries his sprightly 26, but was caught at square leg miscuing a pull off Dernbach. Tredwell survived a close leg-before shout first ball against Collins and was given out next delivery, his bat not coming down in time to one that straightened off a length.

Robert Key, stuck on 7 for a long time, broke out of his shell with two drives for four, and followed up with a couple more as he eased into the twenties. But he too flattered to deceive, falling lbw against Razzaq; it was the bowler's first wicket for Surrey on Championship debut, and he looked up to the skies in relief.

From 67 for 3 Kent needed to rebuild against Surrey's spin twins, Saqlain and Schofield. Darren Stevens welcomed Saqlain with a confident drive past extra-cover, cracked a short one past cover for four more, but proceeded to pop a catch to short leg.

Justin Kemp was on his way soon after tea, another lbw victim to Saqlain, who followed up two flighted deliveries with a quicker one on middle and leg. Kemp, trying to play towards leg, was beaten as the ball straightened. Geraint Jones then had one waft too many at Razzaq, only adding to the mire.

Left with the task of batting out the day, van Jaarsveld raised his fifty off 70 balls, but with 30 minutes left in the day Usman Afzaal took a sharp catch at silly point off Yasir Arafat. The umpire raised his finger almost immediately, but Arafat stood his ground and he may yet be fined for dissent.

Jaarsveld continued to play his shots and was especially impressive against spin and Kent have some batting remaining with Ryan McLaren unbeaten on 24. Rain is forecast for Wednesday, so day three is crucial for Surrey's hopes.