Hameed battles hard for Lancs; Ballance inspires Yorkshire
Friday 7 April 2017 20:17, UK
Mark Stoneman marked his Surrey Specsavers County Championship debut with a masterly 165 as his new county took control against Warwickshire at the Kia Oval.
The 29-year-old compiled a chanceless 17th first-class century as he became the first Englishman to score a hundred on Championship debut for Surrey since Mark Ramprakash in 2001.
Rory Burns (71) and Kumar Sangakkara (47 not out) also made solid contributions which mocked Warwickshire captain Ian Bell's decision to field first as Surrey closed day one on 327-3.
Burns had looked good for a hundred of his own until Barker drew him forward and he edged behind after hitting 11 fours and a six, then Stoneman added 76 in 22 overs with Surrey's other winter recruit from Durham, Scott Borthwick, for the second wicket.
Haseeb Hameed made 47 on his return from a hand injury and Lancashire took two late wickets to grab the upper hand against Essex, at Chelmsford.
Hameed, who impressed at the top of the order during England's tour of India before a broken finger ended his series early, had retired hurt against Cambridge MCCU earlier in the week to go for a scan after being struck.
However, he showed no ill-effects before falling three short of his half-century shortly after lunch as the visitors amassed 319 all out.
Lancashire were in danger of being skittled out for under 250 when they then slid to 217-7, but the last three wickets amassed 102 runs to validate the decision to bat after winning the toss.
Kyle Jarvis and Jimmy Anderson put on 51 for the last wicket and then took a wicket apiece as the home side finished on 39-2 - 280 in arrears.
Gary Ballance marked his first competitive game in permanent charge of Yorkshire with a defiant century before Ben Coad ripped through Hampshire's top order at Headingley.
Ballance took over the mantle in the close season from Andrew Gale, who succeeded Jason Gillespie as head coach, and his 120 helped last year's Division One runners-up recover to 273 all out having been 152-7 at one point.
Hampshire slumped to 58-5 in reply, with the inspired Coad taking every wicket on only his second championship appearance as he shared the plaudits with Ballance.
The 27-year-old was dropped by England after making four single-figure scores in two Tests against Bangladesh last October, but he moved on from his subcontinental woes in style in an innings which featured a 106-run stand with tail-ender Steven Patterson.
That steered the hosts out of trouble after Fidel Edwards, returning to the ground where he suffered a season-ending broken ankle in the corresponding fixture 12 months ago, clean bowled three Yorkshire batsmen, while Kyle Abbott,
Gareth Berg and Liam Dawson chipped in with two wickets apiece.
Abbott was playing his first game since quitting international cricket, along with fellow South African Rilee Rossouw, to take up a Kolpak deal with Hampshire, who finished in the bottom two last year but were controversially spared relegation by Durham's financial issues.
