It has certainly been a bowlers' day with 109 wickets falling in our nine County Championship matches.

No-one would have predicted champions Surrey being rushed out for 67 by Essex - and their unbeaten record is in danger of being ended in the final game of the season.

It was a day for calm heads with the bat as Somerset's James Hildreth, Worcestershire opener Daryl Mitchell and Warwickshire's Will Rhodes bucked the trend by scoring centuries.

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Division One

Hampshire 187 v Lancashire 123-4

Lancashire trail Hampshire by 64 runs with six wickets left

Somerset 353-7 v Nottinghamshire

Surrey 67 v Essex 197-2

Essex lead Surrey by 130 with eight wickets left

Worcestershire 319-8 v Yorkshire

Division Two

Derbyshire 184 v Gloucestershire 100-5

Gloucestershire trail Derbyshire by 84 with five wickets left

Middlesex 121 v Durham 227-5

Durham lead Middlesex by 106 with five wickets left

Glamorgan 331-8 Leicestershire

Sussex 118 & 4-0 v Northamptonshire 171

Sussex trail Northants by 49 with 10 wickets left

Kent 167 v Warwickshire 148-0

Warwickshire trail Kent by 19 with 10 wickets left

Image source, Rex Features

Tom Westley takes a single from the final ball of the day, bowled by Rikki Clarke, to move on to 93 not out, with Essex in firm control against the new county champions.

They lead by 130 after Surrey were cleaned up for just 67, their lowest Championship score since 1986, as Jamie Porter and Sam Cook took four wickets each.

With their unbeaten record on the line, Surrey will surely come out fighting on day two, but they have a lot of work to do to get themselves back into the match.

Westley, who put on 146 with Murali Vijay (80), will have his eyes on a second hundred of the summer.

Clive Eakin
BBC Coventry & Warwickshire Sport

Kent's decision to bat first was presumably based on the assumption that the pitch would deteriorate having been used on T20 Blast finals day - but it may cost them the second division title.

They endured the most testing batting conditions on the first day, although Warwickshire's bowlers deserve credit with Chris Wright, Olly Stone and Keith Barker all performing well to claim three wickets each.

That Kent's most productive partnership came from their numbers 10 and 11 was an indication that batting was getting easier and Warwickshire took full advantage.

Will Rhodes batted positively from the start to complete his fourth century of the season at nearly a run a ball, sharing in an unbeaten century stand with a more circumspect Dominic Sibley.

The Oval is the only ground where play is continuing and Essex are now 125 ahead with two overs remaining. Tom Westley is 91 not out and Dan Lawrence has 10.

Liam Livingstone and Dane Vilas survive the final five overs at the Ageas Bowl after the loss of Keaton Jennings, for 48, and Stephen Parry in the space of four balls.

The double dismissal was a setback after what had been a good opening day for Lancashire, who must win the game to have any hope of remaining in Division One.

Yorkshire have already claimed the two points they needed to be sure of staying up, so Notts are the only team the Red Rose county can now catch.

Tom Bailey took 4-57 as they dismissed Hampshire in 56.5 overs to claim maximum bowling points, but they will resume 64 behind and knowing that somehow they must score at least 300 to be in with a chance of survival, should Notts fold against Somerset.

Martin Emmerson
BBC Newcastle

Durham bowled Middlesex out for just 121 on day one of their Championship encounter in Chester-le-Street.

Matt Salisbury took a career-best 6-37 with the ball after the visitors made the strange decision to bat first, something they were quickly left to regret.

In contrast to a generally awful season with the batDurham actually dug in and gained a lead at home for the first time this season. They will resume on day two, 106 ahead at 227-5, with Gareth Harte on 76.

Earlier Michael Richardson made 50 and Paul Collingwood 32 in his final match before retirement.

Their hopes of promotion having been ended last week, Sussex were involved in a hectic opening day in which 20 wickets fell against Northamptonshire.

Their first innings lasted only 35.1 overs as Ben Sanderson took 4-32 for the home side, and he then made 36 off 41 balls, batting at number eleven as Northants eked out a 53-run lead in reply.

Ollie Robinson (4-55), Chris Jordan (3-59) and Abi Sakande (3-44) all bowled well for Sussex, who managed to avoid any loss in five overs before stumps at the start of their second innings.

Luis Reece was the star performer with bat and ball for Derbyshire on a day when runs proved hard to come by.

Reece's 59 was the top score in the home side's innings as they were bowled out for just 184 - with Craig Miles claiming 5-50 in his final game for Gloucestershire before joining Warwickshire for 2019.

The visitors reached 75-1 in reply, with Chris Dent making 37 before he was lbw to Reece, who took 4-15 from 10 overs to reduce them to 100-5 at the close.

Glamorgan have lost their last seven Championship matches, but it has been a better day for them in Cardiff, led by Kiran Carlson with 83 off 94 balls.

Craig Meshede (55) also reached a half-century and Timm van der Gugten helped himself to an unbeaten 40 - with eight boundaries - in the final over of play.

Leicestershire have so far used seven bowlers, with Tom Taylor and Callum Parkinson the most successful, taking two wickets each.

The end of his partnership with Murali Vijay hasn't disturbed Tom Westley's concentration at The Oval.

A boundary off Surrey's Ryan Patel - his 14th - has taken him to 87 not out, but he might have to wait until tomorrow to complete a hundred as there are only eight overs left. The Essex lead is 115.

A 10th-wicket stand of 60 between Ben Sanderson (36) and Ben Cotton (24no) enabled Northants to reach 171 all out, a first-innings lead of 53 over Sussex.

Tail-ender Timm van der Gugten has made 35 off 42 balls so far, with Glamorgan 326-8 after 93 overs against Leicestershire.

Luis Reece has followed his 59 in Derbyshire's 184 all out, by taking three wickets to reduce Gloucestershire to 99-4 after 40 overs of their reply.

Gareth Harte has reached 75 not out for Durham, who are 215-5 in the 60th over after bowling out Middlesex for 121 - a lead of 94.

What a day for the Bears in the Division Two title decider.

After bowling out Kent for 167, Warwickshire close on 148-0, within 19 runs of the visitors' score.

Three wickets each for Keith Barker, Chris Wright and Olly Stone earlier have now been followed by a superb century from Will Rhodes - his fourth of the summer.

It's been a memorable day for Paul Collingwood for all sorts of reasons.

He has been dismissed for 32 by Middlesex's Ethan Bamber at the Riverside, but not before passing a notable milestone.

Could that be his final innings? That may depend on the eventual size of Durham's first-innings lead.

Almost everyone's happy at New Road.

Yorkshire are safe, Daryl Mitchell has another hundred to his name.

And Worcestershire are still batting.

After a 49-run ninth-wicket stand, Ben Twohig is on 30 and Josh Tongue on 20.

Lancashire's total reaches three figures with a Liam Livingstone single off Liam Dawson's left-arm spin.

Livingstone has 31 and Keaton Jennings is 45 not out, but the Red Rose county's fate is out of their control.

All they can do is try and score as many runs as possible and see what the situation looks like then.

There are 10 overs to go on day one.

100 for Will Rhodespublished at 17:39 British Summer Time 24 September 2018

17:39 BST 24 September 2018

Warwickshire 147-0 v Kent

Will Rhodes moves to his fourth Championship century of the summer.

That's the Bears' 15th ton of the summer. More than double the seven they got when they were relegated from Division One in 2017. And that is a major reason why they are going back up again.

Image source, Getty

This latest one is also a major reason why they should now go up as Division Two champions.

In this battle of the already promoted top two at Edgbaston, Kent are a long way behind.