Having been inserted by Somerset, Surrey will be pleased that they overcame the disadvantages of batting first on a damp pitch to make 280-7, which included fifties by Scott Newman and James Benning, not to mention a dogged 28 off 117 balls from Jonathan Batty.

Justin Langer's decision to bowl first was vindicated when the first three deliveries of the match beat the outside edge of Newman's bat. However, the ball connected with the middle of it when Charl Willoughby was pulled for four in the third over and when Alfonso Thomas, who replaced the injured Peter Trego, was driven to the extra cover boundary in the fourth.

Matt Spriegel, making his championship debut for the Brown Caps, then found his feet by clipping Thomas through mid-wicket for four in the eighth over. Two overs later the 21-year-old former Whitgift schoolboy drove Steffan Jones to the point boundary. Against the new ball the batsmen were never in, though. In the 13th over Spriegel edged Ben Phillips to first slip where Langer held on to a shoulder high catch to his left.

Two overs later Newman brought up the fifty for Surrey with successive fours through cover, the first on one knee and the second off the back foot. Mark Ramprakash was at the crease for nearly an hour before he came out of his shell, not that he had been playing tentatively.

The 28th over saw the former Middlesex man drive Jones through extra cover and, two balls later, despatch him to the point boundary off the front foot. Newman cut Jones for four in the same over. In the next, however, Ramprakash was undone by a delivery from Willoughby that lifted and left the 38-year-old just enough to brush the outside edge.

Mark Butcher was caught and bowled by Phillips in the fourth over after lunch when a ball from Phillips appeared to stop on the Brown Caps' skipper. Usman Afzaal departed six overs later, in the 41st over, to a low catch at first slip; though not before Newman had progressed to fifty, in 110 deliveries, with his tenth four, which was cut off the bowling of Thomas.

The stocky left-hander then went on the offensive. In the 46th over he drove Phillips straight down the ground for four. Hot on its heels were two on-side boundaries off the front foot. But the next over saw Newman perish leg before, trying to work Thomas to leg.

Batty then looked on as Benning picked up where Newman left off. The 25-year-old's first ball was clipped to the long leg boundary, but, when he had reached 10, Benning was put down at third slip off Phillips. As if to erase the let-off from his memory, Benning then punched Thomas for two straight fours in the very next over, the 49th, before steering the South African to the third man boundary.

Four overs later, Benning cut Willoughby for two successive fours and in the 56th a pull to the mid-wicket boundary off Jones brought up the 25-year-old's half-century in just 38 deliveries.

Benning only became becalmed when spin was introduced from the Chapel End in the shape on Ian Blackwell, who finished the day with figures of 11-3-14-1. Blackwell's solitary success was the wicket of Benning, who was beaten down the leg-side in the 75th over.

However, Blackwell was to blame for dropping Matt Nicholson at mid-on off Phillips in the 80th over. Nicholson has been in good form with the bat of late, just as he demonstrated by driving Phillips for fours either side of the wicket two overs later.

The quality of Nicholson's strokeplay suggested he would become the third Surrey batsman to reach fifty. But in the over before bad light brought about an early finish, he was brilliantly caught at square leg by Thomas off the bowling of Willoughby.

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