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Surrey rally in final session to end day two on 250-8 against Kent

OXFORD, ENGLAND - APRIL 12: Kevin Pietersen of Surrey celebrates his century with team mate Gary Wilson during day one of the friendly match between Oxford
Image: Gary Wilson: Helped rally Surrey against Kent

Surrey rallied in the final session to end day two on 250-8 in their LV= County Championship Division Two clash with Kent at Beckenham.

Despite scoring a modest 282 in their first innings, Kent seemed to be in the ascendancy as they reduced their visitors to 170-7 before Gary Wilson (42) and Gareth Batty (36no) staged a counter-attack before bad light forced the teams off at 5.10pm.

Matt Coles (3-58) and all-rounder Darren Stevens (3-47) were the stars of the day with the ball - the former removing both openers cheaply and the latter claiming the prized wicket of Kumar Sangakkara (10) when the legendary Sri Lankan skied the ball to mid-off.

Dominic Sibley and Steven Davies were the architects of a mid-order revival as they put on 76 for the fifth wicket and Wilson and Batty continued the fightback to put Surrey within 33 runs of a first-innings lead.

Wilson said: "It was pretty attritional at times today, but I think honours are fairly even going into the third day. It's the type of pitch on which you never really feel you are in, and the new ball has been important throughout the game.

"It was really important that we got up near their score and hopefully we might even get a small lead tomorrow. Three or four of us have got to 40-odd without going on, and that's the sort of pitch it is."

At Southport, Alviro Petersen and Ashwell Prince shared Lancashire's highest-ever third-wicket stand as they put on 258 to help the hosts reach 348-4 in response to Derbyshire's 370.

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Tom Taylor's 3-87 counted for little as the South African pair dominated the visiting bowling attack, both hitting centuries before Petersen departed for 113 - Prince seeing the day out and reaching stumps unbeaten on 156.

Petersen said afterwards: "With them getting over 300 runs we were under pressure. Ashwell and I knew we had to get a few partnerships together. We communicated, we knew which bowlers to put under pressure and which areas to score in.

"We have played a lot of cricket together and we understand each other. It all came together and, more importantly, it puts the team in a good position.

"Ashwell is playing good cricket. It is his last season and sometimes that means there is no pressure on you and you can just go out and express yourself. He is like a good red wine, the older he gets the better he gets!"

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