Somerset 691 for 8 (Abell 284*, Lammonby 239, Pretorius 72*, Lomror 4-196) lead Surrey 422 by 269 runs

The pair set a new club record for the fourth wicket with a stand of 334, both making career-best scores, as their side responded to Surrey’s first-innings total of 422 with a massive 691 for 8, their highest ever total against Surrey, to lead by 269.

Unbeaten on 103 overnight, Lammonby was eventually dismissed for 229 off 359 balls, with 28 fours and four sixes, while Abell, who began on 63, contributed an unbeaten 284 from 385 deliveries, hitting 29 fours and seven sixes. All that in a day when results elsewhere confirmed Somerset, who have never won the title, as runners-up for the seventh time this century whatever the outcome of this game.

Deprived of spinners Rahul Chahar and Dan Lawrence by a back problem and England call-up respectively, Surrey did not help themselves with some shoddy fielding when play got underway with Somerset 222 for 3. Lammonby, on 106, was dropped by Rory Burns at slip off Chahar’s replacement Ralphie Albert and later Abell was given a life on 87 when Adam Thomas spilled a straightforward chance at short cover off Mahipal Lomror.

That was all the fortune the Somerset pair needed to pile on the runs after the second new ball was taken at 267 for 3. A boundary through backward point off Reece Topley took Lammonby past his previous highest first-class score of 133, made against Warwickshire at Edgbaston last season.

Abell went to his fourth Championship hundred of the summer, clipping a Lomror full toss through mid-wicket for his 13th four. He had faced 194 balls and rarely looked in any bother.

Lammonby lofted two sixes over wide long-on off Lomror and at lunch Somerset were 353 for 3, Lammonby having progressed to 180, while Abell was unbeaten on 114.

The afternoon session saw Lammonby go to his maiden double-century with a single off Albert, having faced 337 deliveries and struck 23 fours and two sixes. With 110 overs bowled, Somerset had gleaned three batting points and Surrey just one with the ball.

Abell brought up the triple-century stand with a six before the next landmark was reached, his partnership with Lammonby exceeding the Somerset fourth-wicket record of 313, set by Abell himself and James Rew against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge last season. Lammonby celebrated with thee fours in a Dan Worrall over before the seamer took revenge, pinning the left-hander lbw with a full delivery to make the score 431 for 4. So ended a partnership with Abell packed with textbook shots from both players.

Rew could make only a single before electing to reverse sweep Lomror and directing the ball straight to Burns at slip. At 440 for 5, Somerset led by 18 runs. Forty were added before tea was taken, Abell having moved to 166, ten more than his previous best score, compiled at Trent Bridge in the then-record stand with Rew.

Archie Vaughan made 26 in a stand of 63 with Abell before being caught behind attempting to sweep Lomror and Craig Overton quickly holed out to mid-off to give the left-arm spinner a fourth wicket. By then Somerset were past 500 and 89 in front.

Abell’s maiden double hundred was reached with a single to leg off Thomas. He had faced 338 balls in crowning a prolific season that has featured the best form of his career.

Lewis Gregory fell cheaply, but the torment for Surrey was far from over as Abell and Migael Pretorius went on all-out attack, putting together a 150-stand for the ninth wicket off just 105 balls, with Pretorius striking a 52-ball fifty and Abell blasting four successive sixes off Albert.