County Championship round-up: Cook and Browne ruffle Kent bowlers

If the County Championship season started with its traditional squelch, a surprising number of batters were able to see off April’s demons.

At Edgbaston, where the wind snapped across the ground like a bad-tempered terrier, terrorising the glove-wearing umpire and billowing the covers, Surrey made steady progress against the reigning county champions despite the frequent weather interruptions. Ryan Patel, opening the innings, galloped along to 75 before having a wild swing at Olly Hannon-Dalby, while Ashes flotsam Rory Burns chugged along to a steady 41 in an opening partnership of 117. Hashim Amla was also misled by Hannon-Dalby, stumps-a-splatter for two, and Ollie Pope caressed a quick 40 before stumps.

At Chelmsford, old hands Alastair Cook and Nick Browne made the most of a friendly pitch, putting on 220 for the first wicket and each reaching a century as Kent’s bowlers toiled into the swirling gale. Australian Jackson Bird, on debut, dismissed them both in fairly quick succession before Dan Lawrence shouldered arms to a ball that nipped back.

Stevie Eskinazi made the first Championship hundred of the year, and his first at Lord’s in five years, in a classy innings of 118 as Middlesex ambled along confidently against a wan and depleted Derbyshire attack. Josh de Caires, Michael Atherton’s 19-year-old son, collected his maiden first-class 50 in an innings of careful cribbage.

Derbyshire’s cause was not helped when Ryan Sidebottom, their new signing, limped off the field after 1.1 overs with a suspected hamstring problem. At Hove, Sussex’s rosy-cheeked apple scrumpers, with an average age only just over 21, made sublime progress against big boys Nottinghamshire. Fifties for Ali Orr and Tom Haines, the captain, and 82