England's Steve Finn puts Middlesex on top against Worcestershire

No leaves on the trees; no scaffolding on the cathedral; no Graeme Hick on the scorecard. It was a strange start to the season at Worcester, but an uplifting one nonetheless. The car park was full; there were 1,500 spectators sprinkled around the stands and the hardy perennials were in shirtsleeves. The cricket was earnest, albeit between two counties who are a long way from former glories. At least Middlesex could boast the presence of two England players, Steve Finn and Andrew Strauss who can play as many as six consecutive Championship games, a glorious luxury for the county in this era.. Strauss looked as if he needed plenty of practice. Just before the close Strauss wafted carelessly at a wide delivery from Richard Jones and was adjudged caught behind for a single. Otherwise he strolled from slip to slip enthusiastically, taking a couple of catches and increasingly appreciating the efforts of England's latest cap. After two barren spells from the New Road End, Finn switched to the Diglis End for his third spell and something clicked. During an eight-over spell separated by tea Finn took four wickets for one run in 19 balls. He returned later for his fifth wicket as Worcestershire were bowled out for 287. Middlesex were 12 for one at stumps. Middlesex had been wicketless in the first session, partly because Dawid Malan dropped a straightforward slip catch offered by Phil Jacques. The Australian opener was unusually restrained and Daryl Mitchell kept pace with him easily, a circumstance unlikely to be repeated often throughout the season. They had added 105 together when Iain O'Brien, the Kiwi, dismissed Jacques lbw. Then the bustling Gareth Berg disposed of Vikram Solanki and Moeen Ali, both of whom were caught by Middlesex's latest keeper, John Simpson. Mitchell is more of a pragmatist and after their calamitous summer of 2009, Worcestershire will need men of his grit to recuperate. Mitchell punched the ball square of the wicket hungrily until Finn found his outside edge. Alexei Kervezee, born in Namibia and sometimes of the Netherlands, flickered briefly and brightly, hitting 44 from 37 balls until Finn removed his middle stump. At Edgbaston Finn's England colleagues, Ian Bell and Jonathan Trott (38 runs between them) could not subdue the Yorkshire attack for long. Warwickshire were 97 for three at lunch, but all out for 217 by tea. Tim Bresnan and Ajmal Shazhad shared five wickets on a good day for England's reserve pace bowlers. Who knows what cheered them the most? The sight of some green grass or a 25-degree drop in temperature compared to Dhaka? Elsewhere there was an unusual amount of spin bowling on view given that it was 9 April and surely the earliest start to Championship cricket in the history of the game. At Chelmsford Billy Godleman, a shrewd winter signing by Essex from Middlesex, fell eight short of his century. Danny Briggs, an 18-year-old left-arm spinner, was Hampshire 's most effective bowler, taking three of the first five wickets to fall. Glamorgan have three spinners in their line-up against Sussex (Robert Croft, Dean Cosker and Jamie Dalrymple). All of them had a bowl at Cardiff but most of the damage was done by the 19-year-old seamer James Harris, who took four good wickets. This might have been a joyous return to Cardiff for Monty Panesar since it is the scene of his greatest batting triumph when all that Australia could throw at him was stoutly repelled. But it wasn't. On his debut for Sussex Panesar was dismissed first ball.