Kent lost three wickets in the last three overs of day two to leave Surrey in control of their County Championship Division 1 clash at The Oval on Friday.

The visitors slid from 78-1 to 80-4 in their second innings at stumps, still four runs behind overall as Tawanda Muyeye, nightwatchman Wes Agar and Jack Leaning were all dismissed in a dramatic finish.

A responsible 31 not out from Zak Crawley, featuring some lovely shots, was the only consolation after Muyeye skewed Tom Lawes to mid-on, Agar was bowled for a duck by Sean Abbott off an inside edge and Leaning was bowled by Lawes for one.

It was a good day for Kent’s Arafat Bhuiyan, though. The Bangladesh-born seamer and UK passport holder, who was last weekend playing in the Kent League Premier Division for Blackheath, claimed the wickets of Ollie Pope, Jamie Smith, Ben Foakes and Will Jacks for first-class debut figures of 4-65.

“To get Ollie Pope as my first wicket was obviously very nice and I’m very pleased to finish with four,” he said.

“You always have to believe you are good enough to do well and that you are picked at this level for a reason.

“Surrey are a very strong team and we worked very hard as a bowling unit to bowl them out.

“We have to come back hard tomorrow morning with the bat and try to get as big a lead as possible.”

Muyeye had uppercut a Gus Atkinson short ball for six over third man in an entertaining, if streaky, 42 dominating a partnership of 58 with Crawley after Jordan Clark had removed Ben Compton for one in the sixth over, caught by an alert Pope at second slip when Jacks, at third, parried the ball up.

At 211-7 earlier, the Division 1 leaders were struggling for mid-game parity, but Abbott’s powerful 88-ball 78 and Atkinson’s blistering 55 not out from No.10, with three sixes and six fours, propelled them to an 84-run lead at the halfway point.

Fast bowling all-rounder Abbott, recently called up into Australia’s extended Test squad for this summer, came in at 180-6 and impressed with his clean hitting, striking a six and nine fours, while Lawes also batted well for 20 in an eighth-wicket stand of 53.

But it was Atkinson who provided the main fireworks, first helping Abbott to add a further 65 for the ninth wicket and then plundering three sixes in four balls off Michael Hogan’s fast-medium, in an over costing 24, to rush Surrey to a third batting bonus point and himself to a 42-ball half-century.

Atkinson’s first two sixes were swung over mid-wicket, from down on one knee, and his third an extraordinary blow over extra cover. The 25-year-old finished the over by smashing Hogan for a one-bounce four wide of mid-off.

Resuming on 88-1, in reply to Kent’s first-innings 278, Surrey initially found it difficult to shake off a hard-working seam quintet in which 26-year-old Bhuiyan produced the standout performance.

Brought on at the Vauxhall End, after the first 10 overs of the day had brought just 20 runs and some careful reconnaissance from the second-wicket pairing of Dom Sibley and Pope, Bhuiyan first struck in his second over.

Pope, in his first innings since being installed as England vice-captain for this summer’s Tests, became a distinguished maiden first-class scalp for Bhuiyan. On 34, and having helped Sibley to add 84, he tried to whip a straight ball through mid-wicket but succeeded only in hitting it straight into the hands of Grant Stewart in the legside ring.

And Bhuiyan soon had his second wicket, when Smith - having just picked him up effortlessly off his pads for six over deep square leg - edged a drive at a widish ball to second slip to go for eight.

Then, contentiously, Sibley fell for 60 on the stroke of lunch, edging an outswinger from Joey Evison and seeing Leaning dive to claim a low left-handed catch at second slip. It was not clear if the ball had carried but, after consultation, umpires Nigel Llong and Rob Bailey upheld Llong’s original decision.

Sibley had looked secure throughout his 172-ball stay, so it was a setback for Surrey to lose him at 152-4, just when they seemed to be taking control of the contest, and another double-strike by Bhuiyan in the first hour after lunch then put Kent on top.

Foakes, trying to force, gave Leaning his third catch on 17 and Jacks, having hoisted Evison’s medium pace for a magnificent six over wide long-on in a quickfire 24, spliced a pull at Bhuiyan and looped up a simple catch to mid-on.

Clark made only eight before nicking Evison to first slip but then came the counter-attack from Abbott, Lawes and Atkinson. In all, Surrey’s last three wickets added 151 in 25 overs - quite the response to the 160 put on by Kent’s own last three wickets in 32 overs on day one.

Lawes, taken at first slip, and Abbott, caught behind, both eventually fell to the bustling Agar, who ended with 3-76 when he bowled last man Dan Worrall for six.