Ollie Pope smashes 93-ball century to lead Surrey to nine-wicket victory over Hampshire

England Test No 3 Ollie Pope scored a superb century as title holders Surrey brushed aside Hampshire by nine wickets in their county championship match at The Oval.

Pope wrapped up a potentially tricky chase of 243 with successive sixes to finish with 122 not out from just 102 balls – with the last 72 alone coming from just 42, including an audacious scoop over the keeper’s head for six off seamer James Fuller.

At the other end, Dom Sibley – fighting to regain his place as England opener after a double failure for Kent’s Zak Crawley against Warwickshire at Edgbaston – made an undefeated 79 in an unbroken stand of 193 in just 30 overs.

But it was the excellence of Pope that will most excite Test captain and coach Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum at the start of an Ashes summer.

Furious with himself after falling to Mohammad Abbas for 91 in the first innings, Pope took Hampshire’s high-class attack to the cleaners. Of his 17 first-class hundreds, 11 have now come at The Oval, where he has a championship average a fraction under 100. Six of those hundreds have come against Hampshire alone.

Ollie Pope was in impressive form as he scored a superb century for Surrey against Hampshire

Surrey’s victory at The Oval saw them move to second in the County Championship

Pope scored successive sixes to finish with 122 not out from just 102 balls against Hampshire

‘The boys are buzzing to get over the line,’ he said. 

‘It was always going to be a new-ball wicket, with some of the dents in it, but as soon as the ball got softer, we wanted to cash in. 

‘I was really happy with how I played.’

Surrey are second in the table after two rounds of matches, three points behind Warwickshire.