Yorkshire 133 for 7 (Wharton 45*, Worrall 3-24, Fisher 2-42) vs Surrey

Surrey are used to spending September fighting for the title, but this year things are different. Champions for three seasons in a row from 2022-24, they have won just once in the Championship this summer and headed into the final month of the season only three points ahead of ninth-placed Leicestershire. There is no denying it: they are in a relegation scrap.

Worrall was unplayable at the Kia Oval during Surrey’s title-winning years, taking 90 wickets at 17.12 across 17 home games. He has been a peripheral figure this season due to calf and knee injuries, but was at his best against Yorkshire: he returned figures of 3 for 24 from 17 overs as Surrey’s four-man seam attack thrived after winning an important toss on a murky day.

James Wharton and Matthew Revis battled hard to add 91 for the fourth wicket in 37.2 overs, spanning the tea interval, but both fell to Tom Lawes before reaching 50. Revis chipped to midwicket and Wharton skewed to second slip, and Worrall had Jonny Bairstow and George Hill caught in the cordon shortly after each of Lawes’s wickets.

Surrey’s only win in the Championship this season came on May 4, when it would have seemed unthinkable that they would go on a six-match winless streak. But they find themselves in danger after a bleak season, in which injuries, availability, lifeless home pitches and poor form have left them looking anxiously over their shoulders.

New overseas recruit Auqib Nabi’s first day as a Surrey player ended wicketless, but he still played a part in an impressive bowling performance. Fisher identified a short period after tea, in which Yorkshire managed three scoring shots in 34 balls against Nabi and Lawes, as the day’s turning point.

“The pressure just kept ramping up,” he said. “You could feel it out there: something was going to happen. That’s what we’ve been speaking about and we capitalised on that, staying patient for long enough, and we got the rewards in the end… I think that could be the best day we’ve put together as a group [this season].”

“I’m gutted and disappointed. You dream of playing for England,” Fisher said. “There’s only one Test left now and having seven [seam] bowlers in the squad, you don’t need that, so I understand it, but I’ll just keep trying to put in the hard yards for Surrey. The games come thick and fast, so you try and roll with that rhythm but you also try to keep your body in a good spot.”

Fisher said that Marcus North, the England selector, had been clear in his communication with him, and said that he is working closely with ECB pace-bowling lead Troy Cooley to become “the best swing bowler that I can”.

He added: “I’ve had setbacks before and it’s not really a setback, but I am gutted. I felt like I did alright when I played here [against New Zealand] at The Oval and it’s been really nice to be around it again, but you’ve just got to keep trying to bowl well… I’m really proud of what the guys are doing and hopefully at some point, I might be back in it.”

Surrey’s seamers beat the bat so often on the opening day that Fisher agreed with a suggestion that the scoreboard did not quite reflect their dominance, but will be wary that Yorkshire’s attack could be dangerous on this pitch. They also face the prospect of a fourth-innings run chase against Kuldeep Yadav, though a strong first-innings effort tomorrow would put them well ahead.