Dom Sibley scores slowest hundred in County history as Surrey chase down second highest total ever

Surrey and England Test cricketer Dom Sibley scored a record-breaking century to help his side chase a 501-run target in their County Championship fixture against Kent.

Surrey's successful 501-run chase is now the second highest in the competition behind Middlesex's 502-run chase against Nottinghamshire in 1925. During the second innings, Sibley scored the competition's slowest-ever century, bringing it up in 368 deliveries.

Batting first, Kent scored 301, headlined by Jordan Cox's 133, followed by half-centuries from Joey Evison and Wes Agar. Surrey's batting unit collapsed in their first innings as only captain Rory Burns managed a double-figure score among the top seven batters. Sean Abbott top-scored with 34 and shared a 48-run stand with Jordan Clark as they were bowled out for 145.

Kent returned with another strong batting performance as Tawanda Muyeye, Daniel Bell-Drummond, and Hamidullah Qadri struck half-centuries, with Matt Quinn chipping in with a 22-ball 37 to finish with 344, setting a target of 501 for Surrey.

While Burns departed on the second ball of the second innings, Tom Latham stayed with Sibley to stitch an 87-run partnership. Jamie Smith followed it up with an enterprising 77-ball 114 and added 139 runs with Sibley.

Keeper-batter Ben Foakes struck the third ton of the innings, scoring 124 off 211 balls. Left-arm seamer Arshdeep Singh took his second wicket by dismissing Will Jacks for a 25-ball 19, but Jordan Clark stayed until the end with Sibley, who was unbeaten on 140 off 415 balls as Surrey won by five wickets.

Dom Sibley last played for England in August 2021

Dom Sibley. (Image Credits: Getty)

Dom Sibley's international Test career has been on pause since his disappointing performance in the Lord's Test against India in August 2021. He ended with figures of 11 and 0.

The 27-year-old made his Test debut in November 2019 against New Zealand at Mount Maunganui and struck the first of his two Test centuries against South Africa in Cape Town two months later.

In seven matches in the County Championship Division One this season, the right-hander has scored 448 runs at 49.77. While England currently have a settled opening pair in Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett, it remains to be seen if the 27-year-old can mount a comeback in the near future.