Surrey comfortably placed but they cannot afford to ease up

Even in the absence of that man, Alec Stewart, who is in such irrepressible form for England and now missing Graham Thorpe as well, Surrey sit on a comfortable lead on top of Division One in the county championship.

But having played a game more than the other sides - except for Derbyshire - Surrey will need to do as well against Leicestershire as when they last played them and Alistair Brown produced that monumental innings which saw him remain unbeaten with just five short of a triple century.

Ben Smith has given Leicestershire a reasonable start this time with a century in their total of 313 for nine after choosing to bat first.

The two 'Roses' teams, directly behind the London side, have only one point separating them from each other. Yorkshire take on Somerset and Lancashire who are at home to Durham, have given the northern county a pretty good start on 355 for nine with the exciting Australian left-hander, Simon Katich, hitting 129, his third century in the championship.

Yorkshire will be more satisfied in their current match against Somerset whom they dismissed for 182 with England Test new-comer Matthew Hoggard taking three for 47. In reply Yorkshire are144 for three.

Kent have a bit to catch up with having played fewer games than the rest and they haven't had it easy on the first day of their match against bottom-of-the-table Hampshire whose Australian star Shane Warne was in his most aggressive mood, hitting 69 - the second highest score in the innings and remarkably, 56 of his runs came from boundaries.

The leg spinner then took two wickets in his first over to end the day with two for four from three overs. Kent were 31 for two at the close after dismissing Hampshire for 320. The spinners seemed to enjoy the day on the Portsmouth pitch with Min Patel claiming four Hampshire wickets for 118 in a long spell of forty overs.

The positions at the top of the second division remain tight with just three points separating the top four teams.

Leaders Worcestershire reached 232 for seven with eighteen-year-old pace bowler, Andy McGarry, taking three for 29 on his championship debut for Essex.

Warwickshire, currently in second position, were dismissed for 260 after some remarkable bowling by Gloucestershire's Australian signing Ian Harvey. While claiming five wickets he was most economical, his 23 overs conceded as few as 29 runs.

Third placed Glamorgan, a point behind Warwickshire, were 39 for two at the end of the first day after dismissing Northamptonshire for a modest 229. Some accurate pace bowling from Darren Thomas gave him five for 43.

The middle of the table clash at Hove, produced the highest total of the day with Sussex piling on 404 for five. Yet another Aussie had a great day, Michael Bevan hit a magnificent 166 and Richard Montgomerie 133. They shared a colossal second wicket stand which was broken just eight runs short of three hundred.

Nottinghamshire's bowlers made little impression on these two batsmen with the exception of Paul Reiffel who had two of the five wickets for 63 in 23 overs.

If the current fine weather remains we should have results in most of these games by the weekend, going by the match situation after day one.