Ruthless Surrey demolished Somerset inside three days to get their Rothesay County Championship charge rolling.

Three draws had given Rory Burns’ side a stuttering start to their campaign, as they attempt to become the first team in 70 years to claim the title four years running.

But Somerset, who finished fourth last season after briefly emerging as Surrey’s main challengers, found the champions’ pace attack too much to handle on a tailor-made pitch and were beaten by eight wickets.

That sent Surrey up to second place in Division One, ten points behind leaders Nottinghamshire but having played one more game than some teams around them.

At the centre of their victory was Jordan Clark, whose eight for 92 in the match was the best return of his career.

The 34-year-old all-rounder had a rough start to the match, being hit for 22 from his first three overs, but fought back to claim five for 68 from 24.1 overs on the first day as Somerset were dismissed for 283. They owed much of that to Tom Lammonby’s 76 early on and a determined 62 from skipper Lewis Gregory, who ensured a recovery from 187 for seven.

Gus Atkinson’s two for 73 was augmented by a fierce delivery which left opener Sean Dickson with a broken knuckle and the England paceman received his county cap during the match.

Surrey’s reply of 367 all out was built on an opening partnership of 129 between Burns (76) and in-form Dominic Sibley (53), Jamie Smith (58) and Ben Foakes (42) building on that and Dan Lawrence’s 55 not out mainly responsible for extending the lead to 84.

The value of that was underlined when Somerset slumped dramatically on the third afternoon, losing six wickets for 13 runs in eight overs – including a dizzying spell of five for four in 34 balls – to be 38 for seven. With Dickson unable to bat in the second innings, they owed much to Migael Pretorius (54) partnering Gregory (18 not out) in an eighth-wicket stand of 79 to delay what was inevitable. Clark’s three for 24 was matched by Dan Worrall’s three for 16 in a welcome return to form.

Left needing 36, Surrey lost Sibley and Ollie Pope before cruising home in 5.2 overs.

Clark admitted the sudden victory had taken him by surprise: “It’s very nice to do it in three days. I didn’t have it on my bingo card when I woke up.

“It was a good surface to bowl on but if you missed there were runs to be had and if we’re being critical of ourselves we might have gone bigger in the first innings.”

Surrey’s victory underlined their potency on home surfaces without offering any clues about how they might be successful away from them. The dry start to the season – and opposition teams’ lack of enthusiasm for rolling out the green carpet when treble champions arrive – has highlighted the lack of an established spinner in the side. That issue is likely to become an even greater factor as the summer wears on, without the recruitment of a quality spinner from overseas.

Surrey have a week off before heading to Edgbaston to take on Warwickshire from Friday, May 9, with home clashes against Yorkshire and Essex to follow.

By Richard Spiller