Surrey chase down record 501 target to beat Kent in County Championship as Dom Sibley scores marathon century
Dom Sibley, Jamie Smith and Ben Foakes score centuries as Surrey complete club-record chase to beat Kent at Canterbury; the only occasion on which a higher target has been reached in the County Championship was in 1925, when Middlesex chased down 502 to beat Nottinghamshire
Wednesday 14 June 2023 20:22, UK
Surrey recorded the County Championship's highest run chase in 98 years as they scored 501 to beat Kent by five wickets at Canterbury.
Dom Sibley scored the competition's slowest ever century as he steered the visitors to the eighth-highest first-class chase on record and second highest in championship history.
They missed matching the championship record by one run, with Middlesex chasing 502 to beat Nottinghamshire by four wickets at Trent Bridge in 1925.
- Scorecard: Surrey's record chase of 501 vs Kent
- The Ashes: Meet the England men's squad
- The Ashes 2023: Full schedules and how to watch on Sky Sports
What threatened to be a pulsating final day instead turned into a one-sided procession as Sibley and Ben Foakes batted mercilessly, eclipsing Surrey's previous highest chase of 410, made at this venue in 2002.
Foakes made 124, while Sibley finished on 140 from 415 balls after reaching his century in 511 minutes and 368 deliveries.
And Sibley saw the job through as he eased Surrey home with Jordan Clark after a magnificent feat of concentration and endurance.
Three days of momentum swings, luck, individual brilliance and human error had left the match almost perfectly poised at the start of day four, with Kent needing seven wickets and Surrey 238 runs.
The final day, however, offered almost none of the drama of the previous three.
Needing under three an over, the reigning champions homed in on the target slowly and carefully.
The morning session was almost ideal for Surrey. Foakes and Sibley saw off the new ball and scored predominantly in singles, at one point going 10 overs without a boundary. Foakes survived an lbw appeal from Wes Agar but they were otherwise unthreatened.
Kent were convinced Hamid Qadri had Foakes, on 73, caught behind, but the wicketkeeper survived.
Sibley finally reached three figures when he drove Joey Evison for four, beating the previous record for the slowest ton - understood to be Jason Gallian's 453-minute century for Lancashire against Derbyshire at Blackpool in 1994.
Foakes took two from Jack Leaning in the next over to bring up a relatively quickfire hundred from 198 deliveries.
With the target now under 100, Surrey slightly upped the aggression. The 130th over went for 20 but Foakes was caught by Matt Quinn on the boundary off Joe Denly, ending a partnership of 207.
It was 452-4 at tea and the smattering of Surrey fans by the Old Dover Road entrance were savouring every minute.
Will Jacks was out for 19, caught by Agar off Arshdeep Singh, but by then just 40 more runs were needed.
Clark sealed the win with a single off Denly and Surrey exited the field to a fully deserved ovation from home and away fans alike.
Essex close out dominant win
Elsewhere, Sam Cook, Simon Harmer and Jamie Porter helped Essex record a 196-run victory over Somerset.
Fast bowler Cook grabbed two wickets in two deliveries with the new ball before Harmer took two more to claim match figures of eight for 178 and Porter rounded off the tail.
Somerset needed to bat out 151 overs, or reach 466 to win, but they were eventually bowled out for 269 with two sessions to spare.
Lancashire made short work of scoring the 92 runs they required to clinch a six-wicket victory against Hampshire in just over an hour's play on day four.
An unbeaten 64 by Red Rose captain Dane Vilas steered his side to a first championship win of the season before lunch.
Joe Clarke turned his first red-ball century for 21 months into a maiden double-hundred as Nottinghamshire denied Warwickshire victory.
Thanks to Clarke's unbeaten 229, spanning eight hours and 38 minutes, Notts clawed back a deficit of 416 on first innings after following on.
Worcestershire fall agonisingly short of beating Sussex
In Division Two, Worcestershire fell agonisingly short of their target of 386 in a tense draw with Sussex.
All four results were possible with two deliveries of the match remaining, before Joe Leach needed five off the final ball but a swing and a miss left the visitors stranded on 381 for eight.
Chris Wright and Callum Parkinson took four wickets apiece as Leicestershire dismissed Gloucestershire for 202.
That left the Foxes needing 221 to win and they got home for the loss of five wickets with Rehan Ahmed hitting a rapid 71 and Colin Ackermann making 78 not out.
Yorkshire celebrated a championship victory for the first time in 14 months as they knocked off 65 to beat Derbyshire by three wickets.
Shan Masood's unbeaten 95 off 112 deliveries and a run-a-ball 41 not out from Dom Bess saw the visitors home after Dawid Malan had fallen to the first ball of the day.
Chris Cooke (134 not out) and Timm van der Gugten (52 not out) batted Glamorgan to a draw at Durham with an unbroken stand of 153.
