Hampshire 55 for 1 (Gubbins 23*, Worrall 1-14) trail Surrey 253 (Sibley 100*, Wheal 4-65) by 198 runs
It was just after 5pm at the Kia Oval, with Surrey nine down, having spent a gorgeous day at the Kia Oval scrapping against Hampshire, that the probable past and potential future of English Test cricket locked horns.
Words were spoken. Bouncers bowled. Attempts to guide a boundary over third missed three times. Sonny Baker, just two weeks into his County Championship career, was fed up. He'd bowled well all day, each delivery at 85mph or above vindicating the ECB development contract handed to the 22-year-old in February. But with just one wicket to show for it, this was all a bit of a tease.
Baker's first wicket of this match was not Dom Sibley - a caught and bowled of Matthew Fisher instead - but it should have been. A brilliant three-over burst of short stuff had produced a rib-high fend from Sibley, on 54, which Toby Albert grassed at short leg. It would have given Albert a hand in four of the top six dismissals, having taken three smart grabs in the cordon.
Two players bred in very different eras, with very different priorities, were now engaged in their own mini-session, with a Surrey innings there to finish off for good. And Sibley, the sole survivor, with a say on just how good.
The 29-year old, 22 Test caps from a bygone age, has remained undimmed throughout his professional life. So it was no surprise that the sight of eight wickets falling at the other end elicited nothing other than the assumption of responsibility for what joy there was left to prise of Surrey's homecoming in pursuit of a fourth straight County Championship title. And after engaging with Baker as the sun began setting towards Vauxhall, he set about his duty once more.
A single was taken off the end of that over, digging out a well-guided yorker for a scampered single to midwicket. Baker took his cap in frustration, with little more he could have done. Sibley then smeared Brad Wheal over midwicket for six - the shorter side - before more diligent strike hogging to shield No.11 Dan Worrall. A loose wristy carve through backward point gave him a leg up to 97. Then more creeping before eventually pocketing the single that took him to a 23rd first-class century.
The ovation was loud, those of the 5,639 through the gates on Friday that remained making themselves heard. Sibley skipped into a punch of the air, before removing his helmet and laying down his bat to face the dressing room and point one finger to the sky, and another to his temple.
He need not have re-equipped himself. Just two deliveries later, Worrall was caught brilliantly at midwicket by Mark Stoneman to hand Wheal figures of 4 for 65 from 19.3 overs. Off Sibley went, 100* from 217 deliveries, the sixth time he has carried his bat in Championship cricket. Only Geoffrey Boycott (8) has done so more times since the Second World War.
That it was the third against Hampshire - in 2017 and 2019 for Warwickshire - could have ramped up their disdain for him. But the bigger picture of dismissing the hosts for 253 inside 78 overs did them just fine.
By stumps, Hampshire had chipped off 55, for the loss of just Fletcha Middleton. And beyond a few optimistic gasps, it was a relatively trouble free 16-over session. For all the positivity of a sun-soaked day in south London, not much of it belonged to those who call this home.
That Wheal's pace - allied with impressive command of length - and Kyle Abbott's enduring class made a mess of Surrey's international calibre top-half is nothing out of the ordinary. But Ollie Pope's twitch outside off stump, Dan Lawrence's cavalier driving and Ben Foakes' misjudgement, playing on when focussing on consolidation, were familiar failings that put Surrey behind the game after the first session.
Even Jamie Smith, the most productive outside of Sibley with 39, was found wanting, although his issue was being too respectful. Wheal's short ball outside off deserved to be smoked, but Smith's attempt to place rather than slap it into the stands at backward point counts as a misjudgement. Baker, lurking at deep backward point, pulled off a brilliant initial catch, before relaying to himself once he had confirmed his footing inside the boundary.
It is easy and probably even a tad reductive to say these batters should have copied Sibley's approach. By his own admission before the summer, Sibley's tag as a blocker is not quite one he has to overcome. Rather, it is a "stigma" he is trying to break.
The irony here is Sibley's latest epic was a mix of speeds and shots - successful or otherwise. And even his own willingless to expand his game, which included a one-off appearance for Khulna Tigers in the Bangladesh Premier League in January, is set against a constant assessment of the situation in front of him.
His two sixes among the 11 boundaries illustrate this perfectly. The first, off Liam Dawson, was an attempt to to jolt the left-arm spinner out of a groove. The second, off Wheal, with the onus on quick runs in the final stand. As it happens, he struck more than Chennai Super Kings managed in their Friday IPL blowout against Kolkata Knight Riders.
Having escaped with a draw from Chelmsford last week, Surrey find themselves second best once more, albeit with plenty of time to twist this game back around. As worthy as the Hampshire bowlers were for their rewards on day one, the defending champions will be a little alarmed that their stutter has carried into the second round.
