Olly Stone played the last of his five Tests for England in September 2024
Rothesay County Championship, Division One, The Kia Oval, Kennington (day two)
Nottinghamshire 184 & 147-3: Slater 37, Clarke 37*; Worrall 2-18
Surrey 162: Thomas 48, Burns 44; Stone 6-44
Notts (3pts) lead Surrey (3pts) by 169 runs with seven second-innings wickets remaining
Outstanding fast bowling by Olly Stone, who took 6-44, put champions Nottinghamshire in control after two days against Surrey at the Kia Oval.
Surrey lost their last eight wickets for 87 to be dismissed for 162, a first innings deficit of 22.
It was some comeback by Notts who had been 104-8 on day one and they strengthened their position in a lengthy evening session of 45 overs, reaching stumps on 147-3 – a lead of 169.
Pitches atThe Oval tend to become easier to bat on days three and four and Surrey won't feel they are out of this game if they make early inroads on Saturday.
But in what has been a high-quality tussle between the last two winners of the County Championship it is Nottinghamshire, who held a five-point lead at the top coming into this match, with the advantage, thanks principally to the outstanding Stone.
The 32-year-old, who made the last of his five Test appearances on this ground less than two years ago, bowled a consistently hard length in three spells from the Vauxhall End, challenging both edges of the bat regularly and troubling the batters with occasional steepling bounce.
For the first hour or so, Surrey seemed to be building a position of strength after the early loss of nightwatchman Matthew Fisher, lbw when Brett Hutton swung one into his pads.
Rory Burns timed the ball nicely when he took successive boundaries off Hutton, including a lovely drive down the ground, as he and Adam Thomas carefully negotiated the new ball.
Thomas had some fortune along the way. He was put down by wicketkeeper Kyle Verreynne on 21 and by Freddie McCann at second slip on 29, both off the luckless Hutton.
Their stand had swelled to 59 when Burns loosely upper-cut Stone to deep backward point and Stone and his team grabbed the initiative.