Jake Ball said he was ‘happy to get a wicket and to get his bowling boots off’ at the end of the third day between Notts and Surrey at The Kia Oval.

The England international took one for 49 from 20 overs as Surrey pushed on to 402 for six before declaring.

Notts replied with 77 for one, before bad light brought the action to a premature end, 14 overs early.

Although Surrey reached their full complement of batting points, they were made to work hard for them.

“One thing we said at the start of the game was that last week we were disappointed at leaking a few too many runs,” said Ball.

“So, we had real emphasis at trying to bowl dots and trying to maidens and create pressure. I thought we did that really well today.”

Ball dismissed Ollie Pope with the new ball, soon after the right-hander had reached three figures

“I was pretty pleased with that one,” said the 28-year old. “It’s not been the best season for me, personally, wicket-wise, but it was nice to finish with that one.

“There were a couple that bounced a bit more than the others today and that was just one that hit quite high on the bat. Luckily Ben (Compton) took the catch, which was nice.”

Ball said if there had been any negotiations setting up a last-day run-chase he hadn’t been made aware of them.

“I don’t know. I’ve been staying out of the way and putting my feet up. I don’t see any reason why we couldn’t but it’s one of those end of season ones. We just want to finish this match as positively as we can.”

The pace man said he was just about ready to draw a line under the campaign. “Certainly, I’ll take the learning from this year. Personally, I’ve learnt a lot this year about myself, probably more than in the previous six or seven years.

“It’s been a tough one and it’s the tough ones that you learn from,” he reflected. “Hopefully next year we can come back a lot stronger. We’ve shown glimpses this year of what we can do, it’s all about doing it for longer and doing it more often.”

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