Essex’s Dan Lawrence hit the first 50 of the 2019 first-class season, as MCC finished on 265 all out at the end of Day One of the Champion County clash versus Surrey at the ICC Academy in Dubai.

MCC won the toss and captain Stuart Broad put the team into bat with Warwickshire duo Will Rhodes and Dom Sibley opening the innings.

After a solid start to their score, Conor McKerr dismissed Sibley, who scored 19, while Tom Westley was bowled for a duck to leave MCC 45/2.

Rhodes fell four short of a half-century after some sharp work by Jamie Smith behind the stumps off the bowling of Freddie van den Bergh, before Somerset’s Tom Abell and Lawrence started to build a healthy partnership to build MCC’s score.

Abell was caught LBW by Scott Borthwick for a useful knock of 41 but Lawrence continued his way to a fine half-century, which included eight fours prior to his wicket falling to the bowling of van den Bergh, as MCC concluded Tea with a score of 216/5.

Surrey started to fight back after the interval, with spin continuing to cause MCC issues, as Peter Trego (18) and Ben Cox (27) lost their wickets to van den Bergh and Borthwick before Dom Bess was superbly run out by Smith for four.

Broad began his preparation for a busy summer with a handy score of 15 until McKerr bowled the England seamer for his third wicket of the match, while Stephen Parry hit four prior to his wicket falling to the bowling of Ryan Patel as MCC finished their innings with a score of 265 all out.

Surrey started their reply brightly with an emerging opening partnership of 20 between England opener Rory Burns and Mark Stoneman, to leave the 2018 Specsavers County Champions with a score of 20/0 at close.

For full-match highlights and scorecards from the Champion County fixture, please click below.

Champion County match