Mark Stoneman on song for Surrey against Nottinghamshire

Stoneman, who was dropped by England earlier this summer after a poor run of form at international level, was one short of his hundred when bad light ended play, although the home side were indebted to their middle order with Ben Foakes and Will Jacks both scoring 48 to help them recover from 36 for three to 204 for five.

Luke Wood took two for 44 and Luke Fletcher two for 64 to keep Nottinghamshire in contention.

Azhar Ali, James Hildreth and Steven Davies all made it into the 80s but no further as Somerset made a strong start to their clash with Yorkshire at Headingley.

The visitors, who had been put in by David Willey, were on 374 at stumps with Jack Brooks having claimed four of the eight wickets to fall for 103 in his 25 overs.

Worcestershire skipper Brett D’Oliveira made 65 as his side was bowled out for 222 by Lancashire at Southport.

Tom Bailey did the bulk of the damage with a return of four for 41, although Josh Tongue was almost as potent when the home side batted, removing top three Alex Davies, Haseeb Hameed and Rob Jones and running out Dane Vilas to help reduce them to 96 for five by the close.

Meanwhile, Essex and Hampshire endured a frustrating day as rain at Chelmsford resulted in a complete wash-out.

In Division Two, Olly Stone kept Warwickshire’s title challenge on track as his four-wicket haul helped to restrict bottom-of-the-table Glamorgan to 203 in their first innings.

It might have been worse for the home side had South African all-rounder Craig Meschede not made an unbeaten 53 to boost their total.

However, former England batsmen Ian Bell saw openers Dominic Sibley and Will Rhodes, as well as Jonathan Trott, depart relatively cheaply, although he made it through to stumps unbeaten on 43 with his side 116 for three.

Jofra Archer and Chris Jordan took three wickets apiece as Sussex dismissed Middlesex for just 169 at Lord’s with Max Holden’s unbeaten 50 only briefly delaying their charge.

But James Harris and James Fuller hit back as the visitors took six first-innings wickets by the time the total had reached 120.

Joe Denly reached three figures to help Kent amass a commanding first-day total against Derbyshire.

Denly made 106 before being bowled by Hardus Viljoen, who had earlier trapped opener Sean Dickson leg before, while Zak Crawley fell four runs short of a century as the visitors ended the day on 365 for six.

James Bracey provided the backbone of Gloucestershire’s first innings as he scored 76 from a total of 202 all out as Mohammad Abass helped himself to five for 30 at Bristol.

Leicestershire lost opener Harry Dearden in the fifth over of their reply and had reached 11 for one at stumps.

Luke Procter took five for 33 as Northamptonshire skittled Durham for just 129 on a day when 16 wickets fell at Chester-le-Street.

Only opener Alex Lees and Stuart Poynter made it past 20 for the home side, although Northants found the going little easier in their first innings with Matt Salisbury claiming three for 38 as the visitors ended on 189 for six with Adam Rossington 47 not out.