Ben Slater scored his tenth half century of the season as Notts scored 231 in difficult batting conditions on the opening day at The Oval before Dillon Pennington made a late breakthrough.

Slater’s 50 was Notts’ highest score despite Brett Hutton adding a quick-fire 30* late on.

Matt Fisher and Gus Atkinson managed to get the ball moving in the afternoon with the former taking a five-fer before Dillon Pennington took a scalp in the final hour as Surrey ended the day 43/1.

Rory Burns won the toss and invited Notts to bat, in the only fixture where play was possible on a blustery day nationwide.

Haseeb Hameed and Ben Slater saw out the opening nine overs until Hameed faintly nicked the ball into the gloves of Ben Foakes off the bowling of Gus Atkinson for 9, seeing his side 25/1 from the opening ten overs.

Freddie McCann soon got off to a strong start though finding four with a well played cut shot over the slips. He then added back-to-back boundaries off Tom Curran to move Notts over the fifty mark.

The pair then moved to their 50 partnership with the penultimate ball of the morning session, as McCann’s powerful drive reached the rope and saw Notts to 75/1 at lunch.

A slight change in conditions allowed the ball to swing more making it challenging conditions for the Notts top order. It meant McCann could only add six to his total at lunch as he was caught behind to depart for a well-battled 34 off the bowling of Fisher.

Slater remained present though and reached his tenth half-century of the season from 97 balls which included five boundaries. However, he would depart in very similar fashion to McCann three balls later, nicking to Foakes behind the stumps as Notts were 104/3 from 40 overs.

Joe Clarke came to the crease and smashed his first ball to the boundary, but it was clear that conditions were making it challenging for the batters.

Haynes found the boundary with three nice strokes before Atkinson trapped him LBW for 13. He and Clarke added 32 for the fourth wicket partnership in relatively quick fashion and Clarke (29) hit some fine drives until Atkinson found his outside edge with one that moved away late.

It would be the final wicket before a shower brought an early tea early at which Notts were 157/5.

Three quick wickets soon fell in the evening session though as Lyndon James fell for 17 before Patterson-White was caught behind for 8.

Kyle Verreynne was removed by Fisher for 13, another batsman caught behind, but Hutton brought up Notts’ 200 with a huge six as he looked to attack Surrey’s bowlers. Pennington soon followed suit as the pair both hit back-to-back boundaries.

They added 28 for the last wicket before Pennington was trapped LBW with Matt Fisher picking up his five-fer with the final scalp.

In 16 overs with the ball there was encouragement for the visiting attack, with Pennington removing former England international Sibley for 14.

Tom Lawes came in as nightwatchman and was almost caught at short-leg but survived, as Surrey closed 188 in arrears.

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