Latham puts Warwickshire on top against Surrey

Tom Latham's Warwickshire debut was delayed by a hand injury

Rothesay County Championship Division One, Edgbaston (day one)

Warwickshire 364-4: Latham 139*, Yates 86; Lawrence 2-68

Surrey: Yet to bat

Warwickshire 3 pts, Surrey 1 pt

Match scorecard

Tom Latham scored a debut century as Warwickshire reached 364-4 against Surrey on the opening day of their County Championship Division One match.

New Zealand batter Latham struck an unbeaten 139 from 244 balls after Surrey chose to bowl on another belter of a batting pitch at Edgbaston.

Rob Yates scored 86 against the champions' much-changed team with Ollie Pope, Jamie Smith and Gus Atkinson having departed on England duty.

Surrey are also without Dan Worrall, who they decided to spare the hard labour on a pitch which appears so good for batting that the best chance of victory lies in a fourth day run-chase.

Warwickshire, meanwhile, are without young seamer Michael Booth who will be sidelined for two to three months by a stress fracture of the fibula.

Against a Surrey attack including debutant Nathan Smith, Warwickshire started serenely in the Second City sunshine as Yates and Alex Davies (45) gathered an untroubled 70 in 19 overs.

Davies twice hoisted Jordan Clark for six over the short Hollies Stand boundary but departed in angst after swinging and missing at a full toss from Dan Lawrence.

Yates and Latham added 112 before the former departed in a different type of angst to this captain. With a century beckoning, he tickled an unthreatening leg-side delivery from Tom Lawes to the wicketkeeper.

A Latham century looked likely from the moment he took guard. He moved sweetly into the 40s, took a breather and spent 35 balls there, then pulled Clark for six to reach his half-century and galloped from 50 to 80 in another 18 balls.

It was batting of simple, solid, unhurried class.

Surrey's rejigged bowling attack, with Smith, Lawes and Cameron Steel each playing their first game of the season, persevered nobly.

Sam Hain flicked Clark straight to backward square leg and Lawrence bowled Beau Webster with a beauty through the gate.

But Ed Barnard (38 not out) joined the implacable Latham to add an unbroken 83 in the last 24 overs of the day.

Latham reached his 27th first-class century from 161 balls to emulate his countryman Jeetan Patel in making a ton on his Warwickshire debut, immediately providing the top order ballast they badly need.

It was a gruelling day in the field for Surrey but they will expect similar plunder from their batters, including Jason Roy who will be looking to make it back-to-back Championship centuries spanning six years eight months, having scored 128 against Essex at The Oval in his last Championship game, in September 2018.

His last first-class appearance was against Hampshire in the Bob Willis Trophy in 2020.

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Warwickshire batter Rob Yates:

"We got off to a brisk start with Alex putting away the short ones and punishing anything overpitched. It was good to get another 50 partnership up top.

"Then it was awesome to be out there with Tom. He looked class which was no surprise - he plays the ball so late and times it beautifully. We have had a good start to the season and to have the likes of Beau and Tom coming into the side is great.

"I was pleased with the way I batted but a bit frustrated to leave maybe 80 out there. But we are in a decent position after the first day.

"It's not easy to take wickets on this pitch and I think you have to be creative and also patient at the same time. You just have to go about it in a smart way."

Surrey bowling coach Jade Dernbach:

"First thing this morning the pitch looked like it was going to be a flat one, but we thought our best chance of progressing the game forward was to have a bowl.

"The pitch has played as we expected it to and we are getting used to this away from home. This seems to be what we are going to face now away from The Oval.

"The boys put in a brilliant shift and kept coming back and trying things and you never know, if we come in a bit fresher tomorrow morning and get a couple of early wickets, suddenly the game is wide open again. But it's going to take somrthing special, I think.

"It's attritional cricket and trying to stop the boundaries is the important thing and then trying to create opportunities if you can build enough pressure."