Somerset were left to regret putting Surrey in after the home side’s top-order took advantage in their top-of-the-table Specsavers County Championship Division One clash at Guildford.

Rory Burns (66) and Scott Borthwick (83) made half-centuries and Arun Harinath and Ryan Patel both added 48 before Ollie Pope hit an unbeaten 73 as second-placed Surrey closed on 351 for five.

Cloud cover and a green-tinged pitch encouraged top-of-the-table Somerset to bowl first. But there was little to encourage their two England spinners Dom Bess and Jack Leach, although the former did have Surrey debutant Theunis de Bruyn caught at short cover for a third-ball duck.

Ross Taylor collected his first Championship century for Nottinghamshire as champions Essex toiled in the humid conditions at Chelmsford.

The New Zealander, who has joined for the first half of the summer, guided the visitors into a dominant position on day one with a 208-ball 146.

It had looked a good toss for stand-in captain Chris Nash to win at the start of the day, and an even better one by the end of it when they had 311 for six on the board.

At Southampton, Gary Ballance allayed fears of batting against the pink ball by scoring his first County Championship century of the season.

Ballance, who is colour-blind, had previously struggled to pick up the different coloured ball against the white sightscreen, but looked comfortable in making 109 in Yorkshire’s 315 for seven against Hampshire.

Harry Brook contributed 79 for the visitors, while Hampshire’s Dale Steyn took four for 48, including the wicket of Ballance.

Worcestershire all-rounder Ed Barnard provided a late surge of wickets to turn the opening day of the match with Lancashire on its head.

Lancashire’s Australian paceman Joe Mennie had ripped through the middle order as bottom-placed Worcestershire were bowled out for 247 despite a fine century from Daryl Mitchell.

Four wickets in 16 balls by Barnard, though, saw Lancashire nosedive from a comfortable 77 for none to 86 for five by the close.

In Division Two, twenty wickets fell on a highly dramatic opening day at Tunbridge Wells, with Warwickshire dismissing fellow high-flyers Kent for 197 before themselves crumbling to 125 in reply after tea.

In two overs’ batting before the close of play, second-placed Kent made four without loss to stretch their overall advantage over the leaders to 76 runs.

Academy graduate Tom Haines scored a memorable maiden first-class century as Sussex put on a commanding display against Durham.

The 19-year-old left-hander – called in to replace England Lions call-up Chris Jordan – featured in a record second-wicket stand of 244 with Phil Salt as Sussex piled up 439 for five at Arundel.

An outstanding unbeaten 151 from Colin Ackermann, his second century this season, left Leicestershire in a strong position at the end of the first day of the match against Middlesex.

The South African, playing with a protective cast on a finger on his right hand, passed 150 off the final ball of the day as the hosts moved to 353 for eight.

At Swansea, Tony Palladino took four wickets as Derbyshire took control against Glamorgan.

Derbyshire’s seamers took full advantage of the muggy conditions to reduce the hosts to 52 for five after 21 overs before Glamorgan recovered after tea, thanks to Chris Cooke’s 69, to close on 175 for seven.

Elsewhere, Gloucestershire trail bottom-of-the-table Northamptonshire by 257 runs with nine wickets remaining of the first innings after bowling out the hosts for 282.