A sporting school pitch, seemingly with a ridge at one end, was not quite the ideal setting for Mark Ramprakash's ceaseless quest for his hundredth hundred. True, he is the only Surrey cricketer ever to have reached three figures on what, otherwise, is a delightful ground, but his innings lasted for little more than an hour and reaped just 17 runs. The moment will come, but there will be the odd frustration along the way.

Ramprakash was starting to time the ball nicely, cover driving Steffan Jones for two fours, when he fenced at one from Charl Willoughby that lifted and moved away sufficiently to catch the edge of his bat. This proved to be a day for the batsman who piled his full weight into his shots, such as Scott Newman, who made 84, and James Benning, 69.

Surrey gave a Championship debut to Matthew Spriegel, an Old Whitgiftian no less, as Raman Subba Row, the best known of them all, spotted before anyone else. He coped competently enough before edging Ben Phillips to first slip, one hand off the bat. Newman drove fiercely through the off side, striking ten fours in his half century. Having hit 16 fours in all, he was leg-before to one that kept low from Alfonso Thomas. Benning drove with considerable power until he was stumped charging recklessly down the pitch to Ian Blackwell.

Mark Butcher, by contrast, was caught and bowled when checking his drive, and Usman Afzaal was dismissed through a similarly restrained shot, nicely picked up low down by Justin Langer at first slip. Newman, having hit 16 fours in all, was leg before to one that kept low from Alfonso Thomas, another to be making his debut, although he has played for Warwickshire in the past. Then Benning played the ideal innings at a stage when Surrey were making indeterminate progress.

Benning, like Newman, drove with considerable power until he was stumped charging recklessly down the pitch to Ian Blackwell, who was gaining some turn by mid-afternoon. For Surrey, this might just prove to be a good toss to lose. Useful runs from the lower middle order, which doubtless will be followed by Saqlain Mushtaq gaining as much turn and bite today as Blackwell - probably more - should stand them in good stead. And then there is the little matter of Rampraskash batting a second time.

Surrey: First Innings
S A Newman lbw b Thomas 84
M N W Spriegel c Langer b Phillips 22
M R Ramprakash c Kieswetter b Willoughby 17
*M A Butcher c and b Phillips 2
U Afzaal c Langer b Phillips 2
J N Batty not out 28
J G E Benning st Kieswetter b Blackwell 69
M J Nicholson c Thomas b Willoughby 36
Saqlain Mushtaq not out 0
Extras (b 1, lb 12, w 5, nb 2) 20
Total (7 wkts, 89.5 overs) 280
J W Dernbach and P T Collins to bat.
Fall of wickets: 1-37, 2-96, 3-100, 4-112, 5-140, 6-233, 7-279.
Bowling: Willoughby 23-8-54-2; Thomas 14.5-3-57-1; Jones 11-4-40-0; Phillips 19-5-72-3; De Bruyn 11-2-30-0; Blackwell 11-3-14-1.
Somerset: M E Trescothick, N J Edwards, J C Hildreth, *J L Langer, Z de Bruyn, I D Blackwell, A C Thomas, C Kieswetter, B J Phillips, P S Jones, C M Willoughby.
Umpires: A A Jones and R A Kettleborough.