Image source, Getty Images

What a seven-over spell for Kasey Aldridge!

Brett D'Oliveira decides to leave the final ball of the Somerset paceman's seventh over and regrets it. It nips back in and takes the top of middle stump.

That's a fourth five-wicket haul for Aldridge who has superb figures of 5-28.

The Pears are in a mess and have lost six wickets for 60. Welcome Tom Taylor.

Anthony Gibson
BBC Radio Somerset

Somerset are rampant - well bowled Kasey Aldridge.

He's been a much more accurate bowler in this spell. He bowled a couple of loose deliveries early on that were dispatched, but since then he has been absolutely on the money.

He's got more from this pitch than any of the other bowlers. He's been accurate, he's been moving the ball, and he's picked up four wickets for 15 runs.

Matthew Waite decides not to have a look.

Kasey Aldridge offers a rare bit of width and the new Pears batter cashes in with back-to-back boundaries with back-foot punches off his first two balls.

He then unfurls a lovely on drive to his fourth ball and sends Josh Davey to the rope. He's counter-attacked his way to 12 off four balls.

It's a simple game.

Two overs sent down by Surrey since lunch and two maidens.

Tighter lines from Kemar Roach, who has swapped ends, and Jordan Clark.

They need to build some pressure on Essex

for Max Holdenpublished at 31 overs

31 overs

Middx 142-2 v Lancs

One over is all Max Holden needs after lunch to add the three runs he needs to reach his first half-century of the summer off 76 balls.

In fact, he adds four with a pair of twos off leg-spinner Luke Wells before Leus du Plooy finds the boundary in the next over, bowled by Tom Bailey.

What a fine example Liam Dawson is for any young cricketer.

There's just a hint of some turn there, nothing extravagant, as he sends down a tight over to Will Luxton.

Back to back maidens by Hampshire.

Durham wicketkeeper-batter Ollie Robinson is quickly into his stride after lunch by taking two boiundaries off Josh Tongue.

Add on a no-ball and it's an expensive opening to the afternoon sesh.

Colin Ackermann to face his first ball of the afternoon from Dillon Pennington whose threat went unrewarded this morning.

Kasey Aldridge gets the afternoon session up and running with the last two balls of his fifth over, after removing Adam Hose with the final ball before lunch.

New batter Brett D'Oliveira plays them both with soft hands.

Josh Davey opens proceedings from the Marcus Trescothick End.

Back out at the Utilita Bowl and Kyle Abbott whips one past the edge of George Hill's bat as he starts the afternoon with a maiden.

Yorkshire need a substantial partnership from these two with only Dom Bess and the seam bowlers to come.

Tom Clark welcomes Ed Barnard back after lunch by driving his fourth ball to the boundary.

The outfield is quick and batting looks easier than it did mid-morning.

Image source, Rex Features

It would not be the start of a domestic cricket season if there was not a discussion to be had over what path the County game will take.

This year the 18 counties will review the structure and schedule with the possibility of changes being introduced for the 2026 season.

Sir Andrew Strauss' high-performance review in 2022 suggested a cut to 10 County Championship and T20 Blast matches from the current 14 but those proposals were rejected by the counties.

"The reality is we need to create space in the calendar in order to get the right structure," said Daryl Mitchell from the players' union, the PCA.

The Blast often requires players to feature in matches on back-to-back days, or even pivot from the Blast to the Championship with little turnaround time.

"Maybe it could be a small cut to either the Blast or Championship, but the general feeling is to remove those back-to-back games in the Blast, those pinch-points in the season which have been difficult.

"If we get the commercials right in terms of when Blast games in particular are scheduled, on a Thursday or Friday night, hopefully it can have advantage from that side of things. More revenue could be generated," added Mitchell.

No doubt there will be plenty of rumours and discussion before the end of September.

Clive Eakin
BBC CWR Sport

Ethan Bamber, one of four Warwickshire debutants in the team, has claimed the limelight on the first morning of the season.

The winter signing from Middlesex has got some zip out of a greenish pitch and has been the most accurate bowler.

He took all three wickets in the morning session including two in two balls.

James Coles showed his youthful confidence by hitting the hat-trick ball straight down the ground for four.

He along with Tom Clark worked hard and survived a few scares to see Sussex safely to lunch without further loss.

Martin Emmerson
BBC Radio Newcastle

Australian Fergus O'Neill made a good start to his Notts career as he took the first two wickets to fall and then weighed in with a catch.

He bowled some really tight lines this morning, getting Ben McKinney caught behind for five and Emilio Gay in the same manner for a duck.

Durham were 24-2 in the eighth over before Alex Lees and Colin Ackermann put on 78 runs. But Lees fell for 52, chipping a ball from Farhan Ahmed to O'Neill at mid-on.

Ackermann will resume after lunch on 41.

Andrew Radd
BBC Radio Northampton commentator

Left-arm seamer Liam Guthrie made an immediate impact for Northamptonshire after receiving his playing cap - as the county's 558th first-class cricketer - from former paceman Lee Daggett before the start.

The 27-year-old - born in Australia but with a UK passport, and highly-rated by new head coach Darren Lehmann - knocked out two stumps to dismiss Zak Crawley with his 10th ball in the Championship, and produced a snorter that Kent captain Daniel Bell-Drummond could only edge to the keeper.

When Justin Broad bowled Ben Compton to leave Kent in trouble at 60-3, the hosts' decision to bowl first looked the correct call - but a spirited counter-attack from Tawanda Muyeye and Jack Leaning, who added 68 in only 11 overs, left the honours even at the end of an enthralling opening session of the season.

Ged Scott
BBC Sport at Edgbaston

For a man as multi-skilled and multi-tasked as Keith Cook has been over his 52 years' service to Warwickshire, it is no wonder that people have often referred to him down the years as the club's 'chief Cook and bottle washer'.

His official title when he finally retired today was 'cricket operations manager', a role he now passes on to former Bears player and coach Tony Frost.

But there is virtually nothing he hasn't turned his hand to down the years for the Bears. He knows everyone. He knows everything. He knows every story. And he knows where the bodies are buried.

He has carried out all his tasks unfailingly since he first arrived at Edgbaston in 1973 with an easy manner and a trademark smile on his face, A very popular man.

Image source, Warwickshire CCC

It was no wonder so many friends and former colleagues turned up to pay homage this morning on his final day.

As my pressbox colleague Brian Halford pointed out earlier his week, Cooky's retirement "brings to an end a continuous chain of 130 years administration at Edgbaston".

Since the Bears joined the County Championship in 1895, they have only had three men in this role - the great RV Ryder (1895-1944), Leslie Deakins (1944-1974) and the longest serving of them all, Cook himself (1973-2025).

Three men, 130 years - does a comparable chain exist anywhere else in world sport?

Division One

Chelmsford: Essex 114-1 v Surrey

Utilita Bowl: Hampshire v Yorkshire 106-5

Trent Bridge: Nottinghamshire v Durham 118-3

Taunton: Somerset v Worcestershire 110-4

Edgbaston: Warwickshire v Sussex 88-3

Division Two

Derby: Derbyshire v Gloucestershire 84-4

Cardiff: Glamorgan 90-3 v Leicestershire

Lord's: Middlesex 130-2 v Lancashire

Northampton: Northamptonshire v Kent 128-3