Captain Steven Croft is the latest to go, becoming Tillakaratne Dilshan's first victim in a Derbyshire shirt as he is caught by Wes Durston.

Croft's demise brings Australian James Faulkner to the middle and he is going to need to produce something special if they are to shrug off their sluggish start.

Jim Allenby has always had a bit of a golden arm and now he removes Ravi Bopara with the first ball of his second over.

Bopara tried to cut the ball but chopped it onto his stumps.

Make that two wickets in the over as Kishen Velani is out lbw to the Australian all-rounder. Essex are now 103-3 after 11 overs.

Matt Coles is struggling to find his line at Beckenham as he sends down three leg-side wides in a row after consecutive boundaries from Kumar Sangakkara.

Moises Henriques has also shaken off any jetlag as he thrashes his first ball from Mitchell Claydon for six. Sangakkara meanwhile is doing what Sangakkara does - finding the boundary regularly and with elegance. A good comeback from Surrey after the disastrous first over.

Hampshire look like they may limp to the finish line in Cardiff after Sean Ervine is pinned lbw by Graham Wagg, who picks up his third wicket.

The visitors need to accelerate if they are going to set a challenging total here, but their main batsmen are gone.

BOOM BOOM perishes in a typical fashion as he takes on Recordo Gordon and is caught on the deep mid wicket boundary by Laurie Evans.

Matthew Fisher, aged just 17, is sharing the new ball with Tim Bresnan for Yorkshire, but Phil Mustard slashes his third ball to the boundary.

Mark Stoneman has joined in on the act, taking Bresnan for back-to-back fours in a lively start for Durham - maybe they know that five of the last six fixtures between these two has been won by the team batting first.

Image source, Getty Images

And that is a 17th T20 half century for Middlesex opener Paul Stirling, who was dropped earlier in his innings.

Stirling was dismissed for 90 against Kent on Thursday evening - so is this the occasion he finally makes it to three figures?

Dawid Malan is also going well on 34 and if these two stay together much longer, a tough target could be on the cards for Sussex.

Moments after bringing up a fine half-century, Jesse Ryder is out and Essex lose their first wicket.

It only takes Jim Allenby one ball to get the breakthrough as he traps the New Zealander in front of the stumps lbw.

Ravi Bopara is the new man at the crease.

Graham McKechnie
BBC Radio Northampton at Wantage Road

"There was a buzz around the ground when Shahid Afridi came out to bat.

"Right now you've got two of the most explosive batsman in world cricket at the crease."

Adam Rossington has fallen lbw to Ateeq Javid and that brings the star of the show to the crease.

Shahid 'BOOM BOOM' Afridi joins a well-set Richard Levi, who has reached his fifty, with five overs left. Expect fireworks!

That's a big wicket for Leicestershire.

Colin Munro dances down the wicket to Jigar Naik, but doesn't connect and Niall O'Brien whips off the bails.

Worcestershire's biggest striker is back in the pavilion for just 11.

However Daryl Mitchell is batting nicely at the other end - he's on 27 not out.

Hampshire's Sean Ervine smashes the gentle off-spin of Andrew Salter over the leg-side and into the River Taff.

The Zimbabwean is playing an important knock for his side here - he has 47 from 31 balls, while no-one else has passed 20.

Image source, Getty Images

Matt Coles opens the bowling for Kent and Jason Roy slashes his second ball high into the air for four. His third ball gets the same treatment, as Roy steers the ball through the covers.

There's no repeat shot though as Coles pins Roy on his crease for just eight. Roy is not thrilled about the decision - there's nearly steam coming out of his ears as he trudges slowly back to the pavilion.

And there's more disaster for Surrey as Steve Davies departs two balls later, run out by a direct hit from that man Sam Northeast. Terrible start for the Brown Caps - lucky they've got some bloke called Kumar Sangakkara at the crease.

It certainly hasn't been the start Lancashire Lightning were hoping for at Derby. After the early loss of Liam Livingstone, things have gone from bad to worse with Karl Brown bowled during the course of a wicket-maiden by medium-pacer Wayne White.

That was followed by the crucial dismissal of South African Ashwell Prince, who had been starved of the strike and departed for four from eight balls when the impressive Ben Cotton makes a third breakthrough for Derbyshire.

Tom Westley is starting the smash the ball around Chelmsford now as he hits Lewis Gregory for three fours in four balls.

Essex are absolutely rocketing along and entertaining a very vocal crowd.

A couple of misfields from Somerset, certainly raised a few cheers in the stands.

The wickets of Josh Cobb and Alex Wakely have slowed the scoring rate for Northants, with the experience of Jeetan Patel key in wrestling control for the Bears.

Adam Rossington has joined Richard Levi, who is nearing his fifty, and they have a partnership of 25 at slightly over a run-a-ball.

Don't forget that we want you to be part of coverage this evening. Get in touch using #bbccricket on Twitter or via the BBC Sport Facebook page.

Well, that's a statement of intent from Worcestershire Rapids' overseas star Colin Munro.

After the hosts lose Tom Kohler-Cadmore, the New Zealander strolls to the crease and hits his first ball for six.

This game is evenly poised after the powerplay.

Update from Chester-le-Street: play will begin at 19:25pm, with no overs lost. Sterling effort from the groundsmen.

Middlesex have made a flying start at Hove with Ireland's Paul Stirling looking in particularly good nick.

He picks up two boundaries from the third over, bowled by left-arm fast bowler Tymal Mills, abnd adds three more from the next as Ollie Robinson concedes 16 runs.