County Championship: Ollie Pope helps Surrey recover against Yorkshire

Ollie Pope's century was his third in just 16 first-class innings

Ollie Pope's unbeaten century helped Surrey recover against Yorkshire on day one of their County Championship match.

England hopefuls Mark Stoneman (10) and Rory Burns (9) both fell early to leave the hosts on 19-2.

Dean Elgar's 61 helped Surrey recover, but they remained in trouble when Joe Root bowled Elgar to leave them 137-5.

But Pope (131 not out) and Rikki Clarke (71) put on 129 for the seventh wicket as Surrey reached 366-7 before bad light brought an early end to play.

Pope's century, the 20-year-old's second of the season, came from 174 balls with 16 fours.

He then struck four successive boundaries in one Jack Brooks over to take his side to a fourth batting bonus point, having been made to bat first by England Test captain Root - leading Yorkshire in the absence of Gary Ballance.

The hosts still have another 17.3 overs to reach 400 and secure maximum bonus points, scoring at almost four runs an over against Yorkshire's attack.

Part-time spinner Root was the most economical of the bowlers, finishing with figures of 1-27 from 11 overs as his seam bowlers struggled to make an impact.

Surrey batsman Dean Elgar told BBC Radio London:

"It was really tough, they're seasoned bowlers and they know what they're doing, but we had to take the game to them.

"We had to fight fire with fire. I think if you just hung back and were prepared to be defensive you might have had one ball that had your name on it.

"I thought we had to be a little bit positive and be a little bit more aggressive on that kind of wicket and then potentially they might bowl a few loose balls, which actually happened."