Jordan Clark ton bails Surrey out of trouble

Batting performances

Jordan Clark's 107 at no. 7 pulled Surrey out of trouble at 70/4 and took them to 339/8 on the opening day of their Division 1 encounter against Nottinghamshire, who had opted to bowl.

On a 12-wicket day in Canterbury, Robert Yates (53* off 171) and Grant Stewart's (50 off 45; 5 sixes) contrasting half-centuries stood out as Warwickshire look set to gain first innings lead on Warwickshire.

Only 57 overs were possible at Taunton but unbeaten fifties from James Rew (77*) and Kasey Aldridge (55*) - in an unbroken stand of 116 - had ensured recovery for Somerset, who found themselves in deep trouble at 41/4 at the beginning of the 13th over.

After Gloucestershire opted to bat against Durham, opener Chris Dent made sure that they overcame occasional hiccups to finish the day with a decent total of 280/6. While he held one end up with a patient 85, it allowed for others around to score quicker. Notable amongst those was Miles Hammond's 46-ball 52 and Grant Roelofsen's 42 which helped push Gloucestershire's scoring rate up.

After opting to ball on a rain-curtailed day, Worcestershire were sent on a leather hunt by Yorkshire's openers. Adam Lyth hit 15 fours in his unbeaten 78 while his partner Finlay Bean hit 10 fours in his 69*. The duo powered the visitors scoring at a rate of 4.6 and setting up a good base.

Sussex had a batters' day out at Hove as they racked up 376/7 in 96 overs on the opening day. The tone was set by a 150-run stand by openers with Tom Clark falling four short of a ton while his partner Tom Haines also hit 86, at a much quicker pace. Haines took only 96 balls for his knock and scored 60 runs in boundaries to give Sussex a solid start. And while there were stutters after the partnership, it was offset by contrasting fifties from the middle order. Oliver Carter went slow and steady for his 56, ensuring Sussex got past the 300-run mark, and it was given further impetus by an unbeaten 50-ball 52 from Fynn Hudson-Prentice that took them closer to 400 by the end of the day.

Bowling performances

It was cut short by rain but Kyle Abbott had an excellent day in the field at Taunton - claiming 10-4-20-4 and affecting a run out to have Somerset reeling at 80/5. The pacer essentially had a hand in all five dismissals Hampshire affected on the rain-curtailed opening day.

O Hannon-Dalby's 4-45 and Henry Brookes' 3-55 ensured Warwickshire wrapped up Kent's first innings for a paltry 171 after they opted to bat first in Caterbury.

Lyndon James claimed 4-74 on the opening day to first have Surrey reeling at 70/4 - when he struck in successive overs to send back Jamie Smith and Tom Latham - and then late in the day added two more victims to his tally as the hosts slipped to 323/8 from a comfortable 304/6 in the last half an hour or so.