A thrilling last day is in prospect at the Oval, where Surrey need a further 249 runs with all their second innings wickets in hand to beat Nottinghamshire and take a giant step towards a fourth successive County Championship title.
Captain Rory Burns led the charge with 41 not out as the champions reached 66 for no wicket in just 16 overs after setting off in search of 315 for victory on a third day shortened by bad weather.
Dom Sibley is unbeaten on 18 and the two redoubtable Surrey openers steadied home nerves after they had first bowled out Notts for a second innings 256 by taking their last two wickets for 37 runs in 10 overs.
Matt Fisher took the first Notts wicket to fall on the day to finish with 6-73, and an outstanding match analysis of 11-134, while Gus Atkinson grabbed the other.
With both teams picking up just three bowling bonus points so far from what has been a low-scoring contest, Surrey remain just one point ahead of Notts at the top of the Division One table – meaning the 16 points on offer for a win assume critical importance in deciding the likely destiny of the title with only one round of matches to come next week.
Surrey’s target is a stiff one, given that the ball has moved around for the quicker bowlers throughout the game, but there were signs on both the second evening and on a truncated day three that batting was becoming just a little bit more comfortable.
Notts, indeed, may live to rue Liam Patterson-White’s dropped catch at first slip when Burns, on 18, edged Josh Tongue low to his left in the England Test paceman’s first over.
Other than that chance, however, both Burns and Sibley looked in good order as they gave their team a solid base from which to build their run chase before more bad light ruled out any resumption following an early tea.
The light and drizzle had earlier prevented a start until 1.10pm, and Brett Hutton in particular batted with controlled aggression to go from his 23 not out overnight to an unbeaten 42 from 43 balls.
Tongue, who resumed on 14, had just played a lovely on drive for four off Fisher when, on 22, he drove again and edged a catch behind.
Dillon Pennington stayed for a while as 15 more runs were added for the final wicket, before Atkinson produced a perfect yorker to hit the base of the number 11’s off stump.
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