The current redevelopment underway at Edgbaston - a £46 million project to combine the Raglan and Priory stands into a new 3,200-seat stand and 146-bed hotel - has left a very precise gap in the otherwise enclosed circular ground.

From the press box, the angled chasm opening out towards the Five Ways and Harbourne areas of Birmingham has the ground bearing a striking resemblance to Pac-Man.

Fittingly, Surrey, chomping on dots for most of Friday, were made to navigate a maze of seam and swing on the earliest opening day of a County Championship season.

But it was the ghosts that were prevalent throughout most of the 95.1 overs of play - and not just Chris Woakes, now a seamer of Test cricket past, returning to red-ball action in an eerie 25,000-seater venue filled by just 823 spectators.

Spectres of the winter were evident as early as 11.10am, after Rory Burns' comical run-out earned him the unwanted tag of the first dismissal of the 2026 campaign. Out walked Jamie Smith at No.3, where Ollie Pope might have been had he not lost his Test place during a debilitating Ashes campaign.

The man that he lost that place to was not here. As was the case last year, Jacob Bethell will spend the first two months of the English summer as a squad player for Royal Challengers Bengaluru, which doubtless adds a sting. The way cricket is right now, especially for England's Test side, if you're not in the thick of things at this precise moment - as is the case with Bethell, Joe Root and Harry Brook - you're probably doing just fine.

Smith's own Australian demons returned as he drove lazily to cover, two balls after an imperious launch on the up had brought a second boundary. Pope arrived and was - yes, you guessed it - fizzing before fizzling out. Dropped on 16 by wicketkeeper Kai Smith, a walk and a twitch at a delivery well outside off stump, Pope wore two on the shin in five deliveries, the second given to Ethan Bamber.

Smith and Pope are in very different stages of their England careers. For all their travails during the Ashes, Smith should survive his. Pope, though loyal to all stages of Bazball, is set for a spell on the outside as things get serious. And while both are throwing themselves into this first six-game block with Surrey, regardless of their participation in the first Test against New Zealand, both are in need of grounding. To reassert themselves at the club they call home.

They'd do well to take cues from Ben Foakes, dismissed off the final ball of the day, 128 of Surrey's 328 all out to his name. Assured, confident and comfortable, his innings was the upshot of being in a healthy headspace.

It was at Surrey's media day a couple of weeks ago that Foakes spoke of a past exorcised. That accepting his England career of 25 Tests, the last of which came under the current regime in 2024, was "gone", meant it could no longer haunt him.

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His comments about how he had been left off-kilter when Brendon McCullum discarded England's keeping coach role came with a nod to this future, in which things must be worked out for oneself. Eventually, Foakes has found the peace that allows him to come in on a seaming deck and last the course.

That he brought Tom Lawes along with him was noteworthy. "He's really cool to bat with," Lawes said, having hit the ground running with a career-best 83 after a curtailed winter with England Lions. Foakes was not particularly talkative, locking in for the grind. He only broke out of it to reel Lawes in after, by his own admission, he had suggested doing something "rash".

"I was suggesting something and, well, he just said, 'no, don't do something like that'." Lawes did not reveal what exactly his ambitions had been, but his dismay at top-edging a pull off Nathan Gilchrist to the man set back on the hook suggested he wished he had conferred with Foakes first. The allrounder leaves with a lesson to learn and an example to follow. That maiden first-class hundred feels that little bit closer.

Foakes, on the other hand, eased his way through to the 18th of his career, and - much as he had once admitted his best self was "not, as you'd say, Bazball", this latest effort was another self-contained display that perfectly met the needs of his team's hour.

"I find him a challenge to bowl at because he leaves well, is strong off his pads and he's really good square of the wicket on the off side," Bamber said of Foakes. "Your margins are small."

On balance, England were not wrong to move away from Foakes in search for a more dynamic keeper-batter at No.7. But they would love for more from their current incumbent, who could only dream of possessing as clear a batting plan as Foakes produced to rescue his team from 65 for 6.

Pressure back on the bowlers takes many forms. And as for absorbing pressure, that can be a team pursuit. Dom Sibley's patience throughout the morning session did at least take 30.4 overs of sting out of the new ball.

It was notable, however, that Sibley, having spoken of trying to banish his reputation as a plodder, fell soon after lunch for 25 from 85 balls, thereby reinforcing an unhelpful stereotype. Not that he would mind given how effectively Foakes and Lawes were able to build on his foundations. And perhaps that is the point.

Neither Sibley nor Foakes are likely to start a new chapter in their Test careers, but they can both rest proudly after day one of the 2026 summer. For Smith and Pope, with designs on starting afresh, they could heed lessons from two men who have already come and gone from England's ranks. Peace and equilibrium take time, and over the next two months between now and the Test summer, there is plenty of time to find it.