A BRILLIANT burst from Ben Stokes, with three wickets, prised open the door for Durham to scent an unlikely victory at the Oval.

Surrey were 154 for five at tea, leading by four runs with 35 overs remaining and Zafar Ansari will bat only if necessary because of his hand injury.

Stokes removed Arun Harinath, Rory Burns and Kumar Sangakkara in a post-lunch spell of three for 31.

Harinath was lbw for 18, ending a stand of 41, then his opening partner Burns was brilliantly caught for 28 by wicketkeeper Michael Richardson down the leg side.

Sangakkara hit two fours off Scott Borthwick before the leg-spinner caught him at second slip for 14.

After his marathon spell in the first innings, Stokes's figures of 8-3-13-3 deteriorated as 18 came off his next four overs. He was rested, doubtless with a view to keeping something in the tank for later.

Coming together at 65 for three, Jason Roy and Steve Davies played their shots in taking the score to 117 before Ryan Pringle had Davies caught behind for 32.

Brydon Carse then had Roy superbly caught low down by a diving Borthwick in the gully for 34.

Wicketkeeper Ben Foakes was on 15 at tea with Tom Curran on seven.