County Championship: Burgess hits ton as Bears and Surrey draw at Edgbaston

Coming in at number eight, Burgess hit 20 fours and eight sixes in his career-best 178

Michael Burgess hit a career-best 178 as Warwickshire began the defence of their County Championship by drawing with Surrey.

Resuming the day on 12 not out, Burgess smashed 20 fours and eight sixes in his 221 balls at the crease as the Bears were eventually bowled out for 531.

Surrey then reached 43-0 in their second innings before the two teams shook hands on a draw.

It was a match where bat dominated ball with 18 wickets taken in 320 overs.

• Relive Sunday's County Championship action as it happened

• Day one: Warwickshire v Surrey

• Day two: Warwickshire v Surrey

• Day three: Warwickshire v Surrey

Warwickshire began the final morning on 293-7, still 135 runs behind but with chances of victory unlikely for either side.

Wicketkeeper Burgess found excellent support from the tail as Craig Miles (32) and Henry Brookes (29) took the total past 400.

Last man Olly Hannon-Dalby then stayed over two hours at the crease to help Burgess add 122 for the last wicket.

Hannon-Dalby contributed just 11 before Burgess was finally out to off-spinner Will Jacks.

Following the winter signing of suspended wicketkeeper Alex Davies from Lancashire in the close season, it was a perfect way for Burgess to respond to the competition for his place.

That left Surrey trailing by 103 but, with few demons in the pitch, skipper Rory Burns (22 not out) and Ryan Patel saw the game out.

The one regret for the visitors was that they could not force home an advantage when they reduced the Bears to 41-4 early in their innings.

Bears wicketkeeper Michael Burgess told BBC CWR:

"At the start of the day, we wanted to take as much time out of the game as possible and to try to bat to lunch. Luckily, we managed to bat until nearly to tea.

"It was a really flat wicket so the main aim was to give the bowlers a bit of time off their feet. They ended up batting for a while but I know they enjoy that. Huge credit to Milo, Brookesy and OHD for sticking around to play the way they did.

Bears captain Will Rhodes:

"It was a magnificent partnership between Burge and Olly. Burge batted brilliantly for his career best. And huge credit goes to Olly for all the work he put in on his batting in the winter.

"Milo and Brookes batted really well too. It's for exactly situations like that, to get bonus points and get the team safe and to help people to milestones."

Surrey head coach Gareth Batty told BBC Radio London:

"I asked the lads to start the season on the front foot and they did that quite magnificently with bat and ball.

"In pre-season we saw that the hard work that the boys put in in winter nets was transferring outside relatively quickly. We did have them 41-4. We just need to keep trying to be a fraction better next time.

"The pitch got slower as the game on and became turgid at times which is why the game panned out the way it did. But I am happy with the way we played."