Surrey v Warwickshire: Mark Stoneman's debut century makes Bears suffer

Mark Stoneman's century was the 17th of his first-class career and his third against Warwickshire

Opening batsman Mark Stoneman made 165 on his debut for Surrey as the hosts piled on the runs on the first day of the County Championship season.

After being invited to bat by Warwickshire at The Oval, Surrey reached 327-3 at the end of day one.

After sharing a first-wicket stand of 154 with Rory Burns (71), Stoneman, 29, went on to complete the first Championship century of the season.

The Bears, back under Ashley Giles' command, got through just three times.

It was some form of revenge for Surrey, who were well beaten by the Bears at Lord's when the two sides last met at the One-Day Cup final in September.

After Surrey went to lunch on 133-0, the visitors finally claimed their first wicket when left-hander Burns was caught behind off persevering left-armer Keith Barker.

Stoneman's former team-mate at Durham, Scott Borthwick, who was also making his Surrey debut, was second out after a 76-run second-wicket stand when he drove loosely to slip at the start of a new spell by Oliver Hannon-Dalby.

After adding a further 84 for the third wicket with former Warwickshire batsman Kumar Sangakkara (47 not out), Stoneman was getting close to the career-best 187 he made for Durham against Middlesex at Chester-le-Street in June 2014.

However, he was finally dismissed three overs after Warwickshire had taken the new ball, also caught behind as he tried to drive on the up at Chris Wright, having faced 267 balls.

Surrey debutant Mark Stoneman told BBC Radio London:

"I must admit I was pretty nervous for the first half hour or so, adjusting to my surroundings and to the expectation I have put on myself to do well for Surrey but I eventually got into a nice rhythm and took it from there.

"I had a gut feeling Warwickshire might put us in. There was a bit of dampness early on and they have got a strong new-ball attack so the key for us was to build partnerships.

"Rory Burns and I get on away from cricket and, although we're different players, we seem to complement each other. We built from there really."

Warwickshire first-team coach Jim Troughton told BBC WM:

"You have to give credit to their guys, particularly Stoneman. They batted really well. In the first session we gave them too many opportunities to score but they didn't let us settle either.

"We came back after that and, in the final session, it was important that we didn't capitulate.

"There is no heavy roller which could be a factor later on but there aren't too many indentations and there's no reason why we shouldn't bat well on that pitch as well."