Mark Church
BBC Radio London commentator

Image source, Getty Images

All set for the first sight of the pink ball and floodlit Championship cricket at Headingley.

On paper this should be a cracking game with Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow in the Yorkshire squad and Surrey welcoming back Tom Curran and Jason Roy from their T20 exploits with England.

How will the pink ball behave? Will the floodlights have any bearing on the outcome? Do you call the "tea " break the "supper" break? So many questions to be answered.

Image source, Rex Features

You can get a full flavour of what this day-night cricket malarky is all about in this feature on the BBC Sport website.

Click here to read more.

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ECB director of cricket operations Alan Fordham told BBC 5 live sports extra:

"If people are expecting it to behave in the same way as a red ball, they'll be disappointed.

"The easiest way to describe it is the pink ball is manufactured in the same way as a white ball, so it's not a ball that is easy to shine.

"You can perhaps get a little bit of a sheen on it but nothing like a red ball where you can get a really good polish on it, keep that lasting well and perhaps swinging into 40 or 50 overs. That's unlikely to happen."

Image source, Rex Features

To confuse things further in this round of fixtures, there's an England Lions match beginning on Thursday.

Counties were given the opportunity to select players named in the England Lions squad for the opening two days this round of fixtures.

If selected for their counties, they would then head off to New Road to face South Africa and be replaced with a 'like for like' substitute for the final two days.

Yorkshire captain Gary Ballance will be doing just that, but Middlesex decided not to select opener Sam Robson because they prefer to have "one player totally focused for an entire match".

England Lions squad: Gary Ballance, Sam Billings, Joe Clarke, Mason Crane, George Garton, Tom Helm, Keaton Jennings, Liam Livingstone, Saqib Mahmood, Liam Plunkett, Sam Robson, Tom Westley.

Surrey vice-captain Rory Burns told BBC Radio London:

"It's an exciting, different challenge. We've been practising with the pink ball and getting used to it.

"It's a very different ball to the red ball, in how it reacts and the seam on it. With spin, you can't quite see the seam. That's one of the challenges.

"It feels a little bit lighter off the bat. The tougher periods will be when the floodlights come into play."

Image source, Rex Features

• Root, Bairstow & Rashid play for Yorkshire
• Cook opens for Essex
• Hameed, Buttler & Anderson in Lancashire team
• Roy back in Surrey side
• Moeen Ali in Worcestershire team
• Stokes, Jennings & Wood play for Durham
• Ball & Hales feature for Notts
• Finn & Roland-Jones play for Middlesex

• Durham v Worcestershire - Toss uncontested, Worcestershire elect to field
• Glamorgan v Derbyshire - Derbyshire win toss and bat
• Northants v Leicestershire - Northants win toss and bat
• Notts v Kent - Kent win toss and bat
• Sussex v Gloucestershire - Sussex win toss and bat

• Essex v Middlesex - Middlesex win toss and bat
• Hampshire v Somerset - Hampshire win toss and bat
• Warwickshire v Lancashire - Lancashire win toss and bat
• Yorkshire v Surrey - Surrey win toss and bat

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Lancashire and England bowler James Anderson:

"I've had no experience with pink balls. I don't think the batsmen are hugely in favour of it.

"All the reports I've heard of day-night Test matches are that the twilight period is really difficult to bat in.

"It's great all the England players are available, not just because it's a pink-ball game, but a round of county games with all the England players available is a stronger one, and probably a more exciting one."

Play will start at 14:00 BST, with 'lunch' at 16:00 and 'tea' at 18:40 or later, depending on the over rates of the teams.

The close should be at about 21:00 - although it is quite likely play could go on as late as 22:00 on some days if there are weather interruptions.

Image source, Rex Features

The pink balls will be a focus of attention, and they certainly were not to the liking of some players when Kent met Glamorgan in a trial in 2011.

"It was hard to see the ball, the colour wasn't quite right but I think they've sorted that out now, they've done a lot of trials and testing," former Glamorgan wicketkeeper Mark Wallace recalled last year.

Division One

• Essex v Middlesex
• Hampshire v Somerset
• Warwickshire v Lancashire
• Yorkshire v Surrey

Division Two

• Durham v Worcestershire
• Glamorgan v Derbyshire
• Northants v Leicestershire
• Notts v Kent
• Sussex v Gloucestershire

When the ECB announced its plans for day/night cricket in England, a few eyebrows were raised.

It's objective - bums on seats and practice for the international players ahead of the first ever day/night Test on English soil against West Indies.

Whether it will work remains to be seen, but it's certainly got people talking!

Cricket is forever innovating and changing.

First there were helmets. Followed by Hawkeye and T20 matches. Flashing bails are the latest big thing.

Today, the county game thrusts itself into the spotlight with its first ever day-night fixture list.

We've got nine matches coming up, pink balls at the ready.

Image source, Rex Features