Aaron Finch marked his Surrey debut by hitting his first ball for six and going on to complete a brilliant 90-ball hundred on the opening day of the Specsavers County Championship Division One match against Warwickshire at Guildford.

The powerful 29-year-old Australian slog-swept former New Zealand off spinner Jeetan Patel over mid wicket and out of the compact Woodbridge Road ground, and later drove leg spinner Josh Poysden high over long off for another six as he led Surrey's progress to 273 all out.

Patel got Finch in the end, smartly held at slip by Rikki Clarke, but by then he had also struck 16 fours and reached 110 from 98 balls. Strangely, one of Finch's previous four first-class hundreds was another innings of 110 against Warwickshire, for Yorkshire at Edgbaston in 2014.

Finch will play all formats in a five-week stint as overseas player at Surrey while Kumar Sangakkara takes part in the Caribbean Premier League, and he has certainly made a big initial impression in front of an appreciative and good-sized crowd.

One straight driven four off Boyd Rankin was a high-class stroke which belied Finch's reputation as a limited-overs specialist who is in just his 55th first-class match but has almost six times that number of List A and T20 appearances worldwide.

Finch came in at No 4, when Rory Burns fell for a solid 45 to the second ball after lunch. Pushing out at Patel, left-hander Burns was leg-before after including seven fours in a fine 95-ball effort. Patel finished with figures of 5 for 62 after helping to polish off the Surrey tail.

Keith Barker, the left-arm seamer, had struck an early blow for Warwickshire by having Arun Harinath caught at the wicket by a tumbling Tim Ambrose for 15, leaving Surrey 35 for one after they had won a toss and chosen to bat.

But Burns was then joined by Zafar Ansari in a second wicket stand of 44 before a short rain shower forced the players off at 12.45pm. An early lunch was taken at 12.50pm.

Ansari, 11 not out at lunch, had like Burns not added to his interval score when Barker pinned him leg-before with a fine delivery which pitched on middle and leg and straightened to peg Surrey back at 95 for 3.

There was no play between 2.20pm and 4pm, following a heavy downpour and mopping-up operations which carried on into the tea interval, but Finch was soon into his stride again as he cover drove and back cut Barker for fours to get a 42-over final session under way in style.

Steven Davies nicked Clarke to Ambrose on 13 and Sam Curran departed for 15 when Boyd Rankin, bowling with pace, made one lift to have the teenager caught at third slip off an inside edge on to his hip.

Ben Foakes began fluently, however, clipping Barker to the mid wicket ropes before driving him through extra cover for another four. He then produced a lovely back foot force to the boundary past cover's right hand off Rankin, a stroke suggesting he was too low in the batting order at No 7, and at 243 for 5 it seemed as if the day would be Surrey's.

Finch had dominated a sixth wicket stand of 63 in just ten overs with Foakes, but after his dismissal the innings fell away disappointingly with Patel bowling Tom Curran for 1 and then having Gareth Batty caught at short point for 4.

Foakes, jumping to avoid Andy Umeed's direct hit, failed to ground his bat and was run out for 23 and Surrey's first innings ended when last man Mark Footitt, returning from a two-month side injury absence, was stumped off Patel for 16 soon after clubbing a big six over long on.

In six overs' batting in early evening sunshine, Warwickshire replied with 12 without loss with Varun Chopra on 7 and Umeed on 3.

Aaron Finch said afterwards: "I can't think I've hit my first ball for six before, other than in a one-day game. I remember doing it in a T20 international. One of my things as a batsman is to be as positive as you can, and to take it on if the ball is there for the shot - whatever ball it is you're facing. Luckily, I got away with it this time.

"It's obviously nice to get a few in my first innings for Surrey, although I would have liked to have got a few more. I reckon we've got a pretty decent score on that pitch. We battled hard for a lot of the day before losing wickets quickly towards the end. There's something in it for the bowlers if they get it in the right area. Tomorrow we'll have to bowl in a disciplined manner to get ten wickets but if you do it can be tough to make runs."

TEA REPORT

Aaron Finch, the powerful Australian batsman, began his five-week stint as Surrey's overseas player by hitting the first ball he faced for six in the Specsavers County Championship match against Warwickshire at Guildford today.

Finch came in at No 4 when Rory Burns was leg-before for 45 to the second ball after lunch, bowled by Jeetan Patel, and promply slog-swept the former New Zealand off spinner over mid wicket and out of the Woodbridge Road ground. A replacement ball had to be selected by the umpires, Nigel Llong and Ian Gould.

Finch was unbeaten on 33 when tea was taken with Surrey 123 for 3 following an 80-minute interruption caused by a heavy burst of rain which forced the players off the field at 2.20pm. play was due to resume at 4pm.

Keith Barker, the left-arm seamer, struck an early blow for Warwickshire by having Arun Harinath caught at the wicket by a tumbling Tim Ambrose for 15, leaving Surrey 35 for one after they had won a toss and chosen to bat.

But Burns, who hit seven fours in his 95-ball innings, was then joined by Zafar Ansari in a second wicket stand of 44 before a short rain shower forced the players off at 12.45pm. An early lunch was then taken at 12.50pm.

Ansari, 11 not out at lunch, had like Burns not added to his interval score when Barker pinned him leg-before with a fine delivery which pitched on middle and leg and straightened to peg Surrey back at 95 for 3.

Warwickshire used six bowlers in the pre-lunch session, with Barker the most threatening of them in a new ball spell of 7-2-22-1. At tea Barker had figures of 2 for 30.

Finch, a powerful 29-year-old right-hander, is Surrey's overseas player replacement for Kumar Sangakkara, who is now on Caribbean Premier League duty, while left-arm fast bowler Mark Footitt was back following a two-month lay-off with a side injury.

LUNCH REPORT

An unbeaten 45 by Rory Burns guided Surrey to 79 for 1 on the opening morning of their Specsavers County Championship Division One match against Warwickshire at Guildford.

Keith Barker, the left-arm seamer, struck an early blow for Warwickshire by having Arun Harinath caught at the wicket by a tumbling Tim Ambrose for 15, leaving Surrey 35 for one after they had won a toss and chosen to bat.

But Burns was then joined by Zafar Ansari in an unbroken second wicket stand of 44 before a short rain shower forced the players off at 12.45pm. An early lunch was then taken at 12.50pm.

Ansari was 11 not out at lunch, as he concentrated mainly on defence but Burns had produced a number of eye-catching strokes as he included seven fours in his 93-ball effort.

Warwickshire used six bowlers in the opening session, with Barker the most threatening of them in a new ball spell of 7-2-22-1.

Aaron Finch, the Australian batsman, was making his Surrey debut as overseas player replacement for Kumar Sangakkara, who is now on Caribbean Premier League duty, and left-arm fast bowler Mark Footitt was back following a two-month lay-off with a side injury.

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