Surrey reached 96 for one against Gloucestershire before bad light and rain prevented any play after lunch on the first day of the LV County Championship Division Two match at Bristol.

Home captain Alex Gidman won the toss, but Surrey got off to a good start thanks to a partnership of 70 from openers Michael Brown and Jonathan Batty.

After Brown fell lbw to James Franklin for 37, championship debutant Arun Harinath (18 not out) and Batty (39 not out) batted with few alarms until lunch was taken five minutes early due to poor light.

Rain then descended on the County Ground and umpires Richard Illingworth and Nigel Cowley eventually abandoned play for the day at 3.55pm.

Gloucestershire went into the game requiring at least two wins from their final three matches to revive their promotion hopes following a poor run of form, while Surrey were looking for only their second win of a disappointing campaign.

Opening batsman Will Porterfield and seamer Anthony Ireland replaced the injured Richard Dawson and Jon Lewis in the Gloucestershire side.

For Surrey, Harinath came in for Mark Ramprakash, after the former England batsman suffered a broken thumb against Kent, and Sri Lanka spinner Rangana Herath, fresh from his match-winning performance against New Zealand in Colombo, made his first appearance for the county. There was also a recall for former England seamer Alex Tudor.

Brown and Batty capitalised on some loose new-ball bowling from Ian Saxelby to score at five an over in the early stages.

Steve Kirby and Ireland slowed the run rate up for a while, but it was the re-introduction of James Franklin into the attack which provided Gloucestershire with a breakthrough.

Franklin, having replaced Kirby at the Pavilion End, struck with the first ball of his second spell when Brown was lbw to an inswinging delivery.

Former Loughborough UCCE batsman Harinath began his innings patiently and then struck successive deliveries from Ireland to the cover boundary. Batty, meanwhile, had hit six fours in his 83-ball innings by the end of play.