Dom Sibley posted his first half-century of the campaign as Surrey fought back after losing early wickets in their Rothesay County Championship clash against Essex at the Kia Oval.

Opener Sibley shared a 105 partnership with Ollie Pope, who looked in good touch for 69 – his third consecutive 50-plus score for Surrey after losing his England Test spot during the winter – until presenting Jamie Porter with a routine return catch.

Their efforts enabled the home side, who were looking unsteady at 29 for two in reply to Essex’s 409, to close at 192 for three – still 217 behind – with Sibley batting through the last two sessions for a gritty undefeated 74.

Noah Thain’s career-best 64 had earlier propelled Essex above 400 before off-spinner Dan Lawrence wrapped up the innings with three for 14 – including two wickets in as many balls – against his former county.

Thain, who resumed in the morning on 33, did well to fend away an early snorter from Gus Atkinson that reared up off the surface and generally looked comfortable against the short ball as he and Simon Harmer extended their overnight partnership to 75.

With Thain advancing to his fourth first-class 50, a series of crunching cover drives from Harmer helped to ensure a third batting bonus point was safely stowed away well before the cut-off.

Sean Abbott eventually made the breakthrough as Harmer walked across his stumps to fall lbw for 41, but Shane Snater immediately went on the offensive, pulling the Australian for six and adding two boundaries in his next over.

However, the introduction of Lawrence proved inspirational. The off-spinner’s first delivery was obligingly swept by Thain into the hands of square leg and Sam Cook sliced the next to slip, where Rory Burns leapt to his right for a stunning one-handed catch.

Although Porter swung and missed at the hat-trick ball, Lawrence wrapped up the innings in his next over by having Snater caught at slip, which left Surrey with a brief pre-lunch spell to negotiate.

Burns failed to do so, caught behind nibbling outside off stump at Porter – who beat the bat a number of times along with the equally immaculate Cook as the Essex duo kept their hosts under a tight rein either side of the interval.

Surrey could squeeze only six runs out of the first six overs of the afternoon session and endured another setback as Jamie Smith departed cheaply, edging behind in Snater’s opening burst.

But Pope settled in, withstanding an attritional period before starting to play more freely as he drove Harmer’s first ball to the cover fence and overtook Sibley with another boundary, cut with precision off Thain.

Porter’s miserly figures were slightly dented by a couple of straight drives from Sibley, but it was Pope who continued to look the more fluent of the pair and he progressed to 50 shortly after tea, steering Cook through the covers for four.

Looking nicely poised to convert that half-century into a ton, Pope had just advanced the third-wicket partnership beyond three figures when he fell to a soft dismissal, patting an innocuous Porter delivery back into the bowler’s hands.

Lawrence kept the scoreboard ticking over in the closing stages, shortening the deficit while the shadows lengthened and dispatching Snater for successive fours to reach 38 at stumps.