Sibling rivalry worked in Surrey's favour as Sam and Tom Curran shared seven wickets to dismiss title rivals Lancashire for 287 on the opening day of their Specsavers County Championship match at The Kia Oval.

The young seam-bowling brothers were Surrey's star performers with the ball as Lancashire mustered two batting bonus points on a seemingly ideal day for crease occupation.

In response, Surrey's openers Rory Burns and Dominic Sibley survived the last 15 overs in reaching 50 without loss with Burns posting his 1,000th first-class run for the summer in the process.

Burns edged to slip in the day's final over, but survived when Rob Jones downed a sharp, low chance to ensure the brown caps hammered home their first day superiority and will go into the second day trailing by 237.

Batting first after winning the toss, Lancashire lost Luke Procter fell lbw in the eighth over of the day when he played across one on the back foot to be wrapped in front by Sam Curran.

Then, after Surrey's attack had extracted some exaggerated bounce, the in-form Haseeb Hameed fell hook line and sinker for the host's leg theory trap. The right-hander gloved an attempted pull shot against Stuart Meaker to the keeper Ben Foakes, who held a diving catch almost in a leg gully position.

A seam-bowling masterclass by the Curran brothers then sparked the loss of a further five Lancashire wickets in the mid-session. Giving nothing away in terms of width or length, the siblings mopped up three wickets inside an hour of the resumption.

Left-armer Sam started the rout bowling from the Vauxhall End with a prefect in-swinger. Alviro Petersen made a late decision to withdraw the bat, but could only deflect the ball onto off stump via the toe end of his bat.

Brother Tom got in on the act by having Liam Livingstone caught behind, then Sam responded with another beauty, a leg-cutter that grazed the outside edge of Steven Croft's bat give Foakes his third catch of the day.

Clark and Jones dug in for the next 25 overs to add 85 but, on the cusp of tea Clark, fishing outside off stump against Meaker, was sensationally caught, low, one-handed and diving to his right by 38-year-old Kumar Sangakkara at first slip.

Sam Curran returned to bag his fourth scalp of the day in a third spell when Jones (25), in reaching to drive a wide one, dragged the ball on via a thick outside edge.

After tea, Arron Lilley came out swinging like the proverbial village blacksmith but Tom Curran responded by nabbing his second scalp when Kyle Jarvis checked his push-drive to loop a comfortable catch to Mark Footitt at mid-off.

After smashing four sixes and a brace of boundaries Lilley's fun ended when, with his score on 38, he swished at one to be caught behind and receive a vociferous send-off from Meaker.

Lancashire's last-wicket pair of Simon Kerrigan and Nathan Buck also hit out lustily to add 48 and see their side to a second batting bonus point, before Kerrigan, groping on the drive, nicked behind off the wayward Footitt to give Foakes his fifth catch of the innings.

Sam Curran bagged four for 61, his brother two for 51 and Meaker three for 83 as Lancashire succumbed inside 79 overs.

Surrey's Stuart Meaker said: "We have so much depth in our bowling now that it allows people to have a bit of a break between spells and that was important today. The fact that the two Curran brothers are chipping in with runs and wickets means we have great balance to the side. In my view we're in a very good place right now.

"For an 18-year-old Sam is leaps and bounds ahead of a lot of people I've seen play this game and the best thing is he has plenty of time to improve. Watch out for him, there's still some rawness there, but he's shaping up to be a helluva player for Surrey and England."

Arron Lilley said: "The lads at the top will be disappointed for us not to get over 300, but going into tomorrow we've got 280-odd on the board and hopefully we can pick up a few wickets in the morning.

"I've been told to play my natural game, which is to be aggressive, and it worked out today for me. The lads worked well down the order, Clarky, Jonesy on debut, Keggsy and Bucky, got us into a half decent position.

"We know we didn't bowl as well as we could have done in that last session there, but I'm sure we'll come hard at them in the morning and hopefully nick a few early ones.

"The pitch is playing alright. When the ball's dug in, it's quite spongy and soft, so some skid through and some don't. Other than that, it's a good wicket. I think it will spin towards the end. Hopefully that brings Keggsy and myself into the game. If we can get three or four early, we'll be in with a sniff."

TEA REPORT

A half-century from Jordan Clark helped Lancashire edge nearer to a respectable total as the visitors lost five mid-session wickets on a cut and thrust opening day to their Specsavers County Championship match with Surrey at The Kia Oval,

The red rose county went in at tea on 211 for seven having just lost Clark for 56 and first-class debutant Rob Jones (25) after the pair had added 85 for the sixth wicket.

Resuming on their first session total of 79 for two Lancashire suffered three losses within the hour during a seam-bowling masterclass by the Curran brothers.

Left-armer Sam started the rout bowling from the Vauxhall End with a prefect in-swinger. Alviro Petersen made a late decision to withdraw the bat but could only deflect the ball onto off stump via the toe end of his bat.

Brother Tom got in on the act by having Liam Livingstone caught behind then Sam responded with another beauty, a leg-cutter that grazed the outside edge of Steven Croft's outside edge to give Foakes his third catch of the day.

Clark and Jones dug in for the next 25 overs but, on the cusp of the tea break, Clark, fishing outside off stump against Stuart Meaker, to be sensationally caught, low, one-handed and diving to his right by Kumar Sangakkara at first slip.

Sam Curran then returned to bag his fourth scalp of the day when Jones (25), in reaching to drive a wide one, dragged the ball on via a thick outside edge.

LUNCH REPORT

First session honours finished just about even in sunny SE11 where Lancashire went in at lunch on 79 for two on the opening day of their Specsavers County Championship clash with Surrey.

Having elected to bat first the fourth-placed visitors lost Luke Procter (5) and in-form England prospect Haseeb Hameed (26) on a pitch at The Kia Oval that has already shown signs of alarming uneven bounce.

Procter fell lbw in the eighth over of the day when he played across one on the back foot to be wrapped in front by Sam Curran.

Then, with 51 on the board, Hameed gloved an attempted pull shot against Mark Footitt to the diving Ben Foakes at leg gully, having fallen hook, line and sinker for Surrey's leg theory trap.

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