Long, expensive county toil for new boys Boland & Lyon

Lyon did at least enjoy taking his first two wickets for Lancashire, including the scalp of England batter James Vince, against Hampshire, but he was almost hit for a century during his marathon stint at Southampton.

Boland found the going even harder on a Edgbaston flat track, the seamer going wicketless on his Durham debut while being smacked for 54 off 13 overs amid the carnage of Warwickshire bludgeoning their way to 1-490.

There was better news for Australian batters, though, with Matt Renshaw and Peter Handscomb both scoring fifties in the season's second round of games.

All eyes were on spinning great Lyon at the Rose Bowl after he had only managed a couple of overs in Lancashire's opening rain-hit contest.

And with the veteran's spell in the county game shortened at the behest of Cricket Australia, it seemed like Lancashire were determined to get their money's worth on Friday as they made him slave for 32 overs for 2-97.

It took the 36-year-old only until his seventh over, when introduced in the morning session, to take his first Lancashire wicket when Vince, looking threatening on 56, turned one into short-leg's hands.

Lyon also got Nick Gubbins edging behind for 50 but had no further success as the home side reached 6-305.

Boland, handed a brand-new Kookaburra, was expected to cause rather more problems at the same Birmingham venue where he was last found getting carted around by England's batters in the Ashes.

But the 35-year-old was driven for four first ball by Alex Davies and it got worse as he leaked four more boundaries in just his first three overs as his opening spell eventually went for 30 off five.

Boland was used only sparingly after that initial humbling as the hosts wrought further mayhem, with Davies going on to 226no and Rob Yates making 191 in their opening stand of 343.

Somerset's Renshaw might have made his first ton of the season, after a half-century in the opening game, if not for a run-out mix-up with centurion Tom Lammonby (100) when he was going nicely on 87 at The Oval against champions Surrey.

His departure from a direct hit, which looked to down mostly to his partner's dodgy call for a too-sharp single, sparked a collapse as Somerset plummeted from 1-196 to 285 all out.

Handscomb was one of three Leicestershire batters to make half-centuries as they made 8-326 against Sussex at Grace Road.

Rishi Patel scored 87 and allrounder Liam Trevaskis 82no on his county debut, while the experienced Australian chipped in with 51 before being bowled attempting a slog-sweep off spinner Jack Carson.

Wes Agar got a wicket fifth ball for Kent but that was as good as it got for the Australian as he ended up with 1-85 off his 16 overs as Essex piled up 6-421 off the back of centuries for former South African Test skipper Dean Elgar (120) and Matt Critchley (103no).

Joe Root, in his first appearance for Yorkshire for nearly two years, made just two off seven balls and Harry Brook was out for 26 but Pakistan Test captain Shan Masood made 140 as they were bowled out for 326 against Gloucestershire at Bristol.

Gloucestershire were 2-28 in reply, with opener Cameron Bancroft still there on five.

Australian Associated Press