Liam Patterson-White led a spirited Nottinghamshire fightback to 184 all out after Surrey had reduced the champions to 41 for 5 at the Kia Oval.

Patterson-White, who came in at No. 8, scored 76 not out as the top two teams in last season’s Rothesay County Championship battled hard again for supremacy.

Kyle Verreynne and Brett Hutton both played useful hands with 22 and 19 respectively, as did No. 11 Dillon Pennington with 9, but it was Patterson-White’s counter-attacking innings that kept Notts in this contest. At stumps, Surrey were 13 for 1 in reply.

Notts were 70 for 6 when Patterson-White joined Verreynne but the left-hander hit some lovely shots, including one punched on drive for four off Tom Lawes, who was the pick of Surrey’s attack with 5 for 45.

Patterson-White faced 112 balls, hitting 13 fours as 80 runs were scored for the last two Notts wickets, and then Olly Stone had Dom Sibley caught behind for a second-ball duck as fortunes continued to swing.

Dan Worrall took 2 for 41 and Matt Fisher 2 for 43 but Patterson-White’s effort is potentially already an invaluable one with only 25 points separating Division One leaders Notts and seventh-placed Surrey at the start of what is sure to be a thrilling six-match run-in.

A heavy rain shower cut short the morning session after 86 minutes’ play, but in that time Surrey blew away the Notts top order to leave then staggering at 41 for 5 after Rory Burns had won the toss and opted to bowl on a well-grassed surface.

Openers Haseeb Hameed and Ben Slater fell inside the first three overs, with Ollie Pope taking two fine low catches at second slip as they edged Fisher and Worrall respectively on 5 and 4.

In his third over, Fisher beat Joe Clarke with a magnificent delivery that bounced and left him and then, two balls later, produced another leg-cutter which Clarke (1) edged to Dom Sibley at first slip.

Fisher’s new ball burst of 5-3-7-2 had left Notts reeling at 14 for 3, with Worrall then resting with 1 for 8 from six overs, but the introduction of Lawes brought two further wickets in quick succession.

Jack Haynes did manage one extraordinary square cut for six in Lawes’ first over but, in the young seamer’s second over, Freddie McCann (10) sliced a drive straight to Fisher at backward point.

And Haynes, dropped on 9 by Lawes behind square off Jordan Clark, had reached only 20 when he edged Lawes and Pope took off to his right to hold another fine catch at second slip.

Just four balls were possible following an early lunch before more rain meant another half-hour delay but, in the afternoon, Notts fought hard for survival against Surrey’s relentless four-pronged pace attack.

Ben Martindale, on first-class debut, was beaten on multiple occasions by Worrall and, on 13, edged behind off Clark but Patterson-White then arrived to put on 28 with Verreynne before the latter slashed Lawes to backward point.

When Stone (3) flicked Worrall to mid wicket Notts were 104 for 8 but Hutton hung on to add a vital 56 with Patterson-White either side of tea until he skied an attempted legside hit at Lawes to second slip. Pennington’s resistance ended when he aimed a legside swipe at Lawes and edged behind.

Meanwhile Ryan Patel, who suffered a nasty finger injury attempting to take a catch in the 11th over of Notts’ innings, has been substituted out of Surrey’s team and replaced by Josh Blake.