Other than Aaron Finch, Surrey's top-order barring found fluent run-scoring tricky on a rain-ruined opening day to their Specsavers County Championship clash with Yorkshire at the Kia Oval.

The wily white rose seam attack picked up the wickets of Rory Burns (8) and Dominic Sibley (17), before Finch (34*) and Zafar Ansari (35*) combined to add 59 either side of lunch and take the hosts to 91 for two before rain wiped out the day's 63 remaining overs.

Batting first in gloomy conditions against Yorkshire's all international new-ball triumvirate of Tim Bresnan, Liam Plunkett and David Willey, Surrey understandably found run-getting a headache in the opening hour.

They soon lost left-handed Burns who, having planted his front foot, missed the ball when working to leg and was sent packing lbw by umpire Martin Saggers.

Soon after, Sibley's 89-minute stay came to an end when he aimed to leg glance against Steven Patterson only to be caught in the left glove by Andrew Hodd, diving full-length to his left down the leg-side.

Finch came in and immediately upped the tempo with crisp straight drives and cuts. The Australian right-hander - who won the championship title twice as Yorkshire's overseas professional - caught up with Ansari, who had agonised over 52 deliveries for his 11 runs, in the space of 10 balls and by lunch had reached an unbeaten 30 to pass the 3,000-run milestone in first-class cricket.

The third-wicket pair returned with gusto after lunch, plundering three boundaries in the first over of the session from Azeem Rafiq, only for rain to arrive and force an early end to proceedings at 1.45pm. Play was officially abandoned at 5pm.

Yorkshire went into the match without England Test trio Joe Root, Gary Balance and Jonathan Bairstow as well as Jack Brooks with a quad-muscle injury and Kane Williamson, the New Zealand skipper who has asked to sit out the game with mental fatigue. The visitors did, however, welcome back David Willey and Liam Plunkett.

During the lunch interval, the family of the late Stuart Surridge offically opened a new gate at The Kia Oval in memory of the former Surrey legend, who died in 1992.

Surridge, who played 267 first-class games for the county between 1947 and 1959, was regarded as one of the county's finest ever captains having skippered them to five successive championship winner's pennants in the mid-1950s.

LUNCH REPORT

Other than Aaron Finch Surrey's top-order found fluent run-scoring tricky in SE11 where the hosts batted first on the opening day of their Specsavers County Championship clash with Yorkshire at the Kia Oval.

The wily White Rose attack picked up the wickets of Rory Burns (8) and Dominic Sibley (17) to leave Surrey on 82 for two at the lunch break - a position that would have looked far bleaker but for Finch's cameo 30 not out.

Against an all international new-ball triumvirate of Tim Bresnan, Liam Plunkett and David Willey, Surrey found run-getting a headache in the opening hour and soon lost Burns for eight. Having planted his front foot, the left-hander missed the ball when working to be sent packing lbw by umpire Martin Saggers.

Soon after, Sibley's 89-minute stay came to an end when he aimed to glance against Steven Patterson only to be caught in his left glove by Andrew Hodd diving full-length to his left down the leg-side.

Finch came in an upped the tempo, catching up with Zafar Ansari on 11 after only 10 deliveries. That after Anzari had faced 52 deliveries to score the same amount.

Yorkshire went into the match without England Test trio Joe Root, Gary Balance and Jonathan Bairstow as well as Jack Brooks with a quad-muscle injury and Kane Williamson, who continues his stint on the sidelines through mental fatigue. The visitors did, however, welcome back David Willey and Liam Plunkett.

During the lunch interval, the family of the late Stuart Surridge opened a new gate at The Kia Oval in memory of the former Surrey captain, who died in 1992.

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