Surrey 83 (White 3-14, Coad 3-22) and 27 for 0 need a further 158 runs to beat Yorkshire 185 (Wharton 45, Lawes 4-36) and 82 (Fisher 6-25)

Dom Bess and Kuldeep Yadav batted through the first 10 overs of the second day unscathed before carnage ensued on a grassy surface that offered significant seam movement under helpful overhead conditions. Yorkshire lost their last three first-innings wickets in quick succession, before the next 20 wickets fell in just 58.5 overs to take the game into its final innings.

Surrey will await the verdict of match referee Phil Whitticase in his post-match report with some anxiety, in the knowledge that under new ECB regulations for this season, a “below average” rating would see them stripped of any points gained. They have only managed three bonus points, but will be out to secure a further 16 on Friday by knocking off a 185-run target.

The Oval’s pitches were very flat at the start of the summer: three of Surrey’s first four home games were high-scoring draws, and they won the other after piling on 622 in their first innings. But their last two have been green-tops, with Nottinghamshire winning a low-scoring game last month. This game could finish in six sessions of play after the first morning was lost to rain.

The change in surfaces has coincided with the absence of Lee Fortis, Surrey’s head groundsman, who has been on leave for the past month. Surrey have declined to comment on Fortis’s absence but have not denied reports that he was involved in a verbal altercation with an ECB employee before a Hundred fixture.

With a 102-run first-innings lead, Yorkshire had the chance to put the game beyond Surrey’s reach. But they could only set a target of 185 as Fisher, who said after the opening day that he was “gutted” to have been left out of England’s squad for next week’s Edgbaston Test, ran through his old team to return career-best figures of 6 for 25.

Sibley and Surrey captain Rory Burns survived 7.4 overs – and a tight lbw shout each – in the gloom before bad light brought an early close, and will resume on the third (and surely final) day with 158 more to win. In total, the first two days saw 377 runs scored for the loss of 30 wickets across 142.1 overs, a wicket every 12.6 runs and every 28.4 balls.

After one win in their first 10 games of the season, Surrey started this round of fixtures just three points above the two relegation spots. Leicestershire are up against it against leaders Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge and with stragglers Hampshire struggling at home to Warwickshire, a win here would significantly boost Surrey’s chances of avoiding the drop.

Their batters have Fisher to thank for the fact that their victory target is below 200. He struck twice in two balls in his second over of Yorkshire’s second innings, with Adam Lyth chipping to mid-off and Sam Whiteman losing his middle stump to bag a pair, and ran through the middle order after tea bowling outswingers to the right-handers at good pace.

After Auqib Nabi bowled James Wharton with an in-ducker, Fisher struck in three successive overs, knocking back Jonny Bairstow’s off stump before having both Matthew Revis and George Hill caught at second slip. He took his sixth wicket when he trapped Kuldeep on the front pad, before Tom Lawes and Worrall polished off the lower order.

Lawes had earlier wrapped up Yorkshire’s first innings, taking the final two wickets to finish with 4 for 36, but Bess’s unbeaten 44 could yet be a vital contribution in the match. He flashed a couple of boundaries past the slips but otherwise played tightly, adding the second-highest partnership of the match with Kuldeep before Nabi made his compatriot his first Surrey wicket.

Bess also took an exceptional one-handed catch at third slip to remove Lawes during Surrey’s implosion with the bat. Ben Coad and Jack White were well supported by Hill and Revis, but Pope’s dismissal – chipping tamely to mid-off – summed up Surrey’s efforts. Worrall insisted that the spectre of relegation was not a factor, and blamed the wild nature of the game.

“Sometimes these games happen,” he said. “They’re very few and far between, but you’ve got some good bowlers on both sides [and] a little bit to work with for the bowlers, of course. When there’s so much pressure on a batting unit to bat in conditions which are favourable for bowlers, sometimes the pressure that mounts on the next guy coming in is also just crazy.”