Surrey 42 for 0 trail Somerset 285 (Lemonby 100, Renshaw 87, Gregory 50, Steele 4-50, Atkinson 3-57) by 243 runs

At the end of that tour, he was dropped from the IPL, where he stood to earn around £100,000 but was likely to spend two months on the bench for Kolkata Knight Riders. It meant that Atkinson took until April 12 to play his first match of 2024, while he was – surprisingly – rested by the ECB for Surrey’s season opener against Lancashire.

Going by Surrey’s pace, Atkinson was a little off the pace in his first spell – understandable, after so long without a competitive game. His most recent appearance came in December’s T20I series against England in the Caribbean, where he contributed two wicketless overs for 33 runs. His first four months as an international cricketer seem to have benefited him.

He was 0 for 39 after his first nine overs at the Oval, but made a decisive intervention between lunch and tea. The second ball of his third spell was to Tom Benton, with the diving Ben Fowkes well caught on his inside edge, after which Somerset reached 196 for 1 at 199 for 4.

This was no small part of Lemonby’s anxiety as he reached his seventh first-class century. On 99, he drove Jamie Overton to mid-on and stood up at mid-pitch during a flurry of Jordan Clarke. He reached the non-striker’s end but Renshaw was helpless, diving full to make his ground moments after Clarke’s deadbeat goal deflected off the stumps.

Lemmonby is a fine player who attracted England’s interest when, aged 20, he scored centuries in three consecutive Bob Willis Trophy matches. He has struggled since then, failing to average 30 in the past three Championship seasons and losing his place during Somerset’s T20 Blast victory last summer, but is ranked No.3 in Kent with 90. Started the season with a new character.

He completed his century off just 132 balls while working Overton in the leg-side in south London, and his 16 boundaries included several crisp attacks down the ground and off the side. He’ll rarely face such a potent seam attack the rest of the season and, even in mid-April, it has the feel of a breakthrough summer.

He angled three balls in a row past James Reeve, whose five centuries last season were unprecedented in Division One. The first two beat his outside edge with ease but the third, hanging wide outside his off-stump, hit an edge. His next delivery, a sharp short ball, beat Casey Aldridge for quick and the ball slipped off his bat shoulder.

“It was very fast,” Clark said. “That’s when I thought ‘he’s got his feet’, because it was about five miles an hour faster than the last few balls. Gus found his rhythm a lot in his third spell…his run. Up was a lot better than him. In the beginning. He just wants to go to the park, so he’s obviously very happy to be back at his home club.”

Atkinson was name-checked by Rob Kay in a recent newspaper interview as one of the young seamers who “could take us forward” in England’s Test team after an over-reliance on experienced seamers. His name will be discussed for the T20 World Cup but he could be kept in the cotton till the start of the Test summer in July.

Somerset lost six wickets for 15 when Craig Overton was betrayed by the flow of the steel and Lewis Gregory’s 50 took them to 285. Shoaib Bashir, who scored 10 not out for the last wicket, scored at least 49 runs. Playing, missed last week. April is the cruellest month for spinners – but Steele’s nine wickets this season are worth just 75 runs.

Surrey’s openers overcame a 42-run deficit before the end, with Dom Sibley playing a role in the evening session, smashing six powerful boundaries. He had started the day with a surprising catch at slip: Shaun Dixon headed for Overton, but Sibley saw the rebound land on his right boot to drag it inches from the turf.