for Amlapublished at 13:52 British Summer Time 8 April 2021

13:52 BST 8 April 2021

Gloucestershire v Surrey 96-3

Hashim Amla passes fifty for the 141st time in first-class cricket.

He's converted 52 of them into hundreds and you wouldn't bank against him making century number 53 today!

The South African and Ben Foakes will be looking to put Surrey in a strong position after lunch.

Martin Emmerson
BBC Radio Newcastle at Trent Bridge

Image source, Rex Features

Notts brought Liam Patterson-White on for what should have been the final over before lunch and at the end of it Durham looked to be in a good position.

David Bedingham (pictured above) and Alex Lees had put on 88 to rescue their team from 5-2 in the fifth over. However the umpires decided to grant Luke Fletcher one more over and it in Bedingham fell for 57, caught behind with two balls to go.

Perhaps it shouldn't have started because the clock had already struck one, but it did and they are the breaks, as they say in sport. Durham resume this afternoon on 93-3 and Lees has 33.

Jack Tanner: I'm a bit out of the loop with the County Championship - is Division One and Two gone?

I think it's just been shelved for the moment Jack while Covid-19 protocols remain an issue. I'd expect them to return next season personally.

Nick Webb
BBC Radio Wales

It was a first session of two halves at a freezing Headingley as Glamorgan slumped to 29-3 before a 50 partnership between Billy Root, playing against brother Joe, and Kiran Carlson.

Opening bowlers Ben Coad and Matthew Fisher soon disposed of Nick Selman and David Lloyd for 4 apiece, Lloyd kicking himself for not playing a shot.

Home captain Steve Patterson then won an lbw verdict against Ireland captain Andrew Balbirnie, out for 16 on his Championship debut.

England spinner Dom Bess bowled four tidy overs but Joe Root’s duties were limited to scampering round the covers to keep himself warm.

And so we're just about ready to go again after lunch.

What does the second session on this opening day of the 2021 County Championship campaign have in store?

We'll keep you across all the key moments right here.

Now this is the sort of dedication to the County Championship we like to see...

A bit of transfer news from around the county circuit today.

Warwickshire have moved quickly to plug the gap by an unexpected delay with the arrival of South Africa batsman Pieter Malan.

India opener Hanuma Vihari will be on his way to Edgbaston in the coming weeks.

Kevan James
BBC Radio Solent at Grace Road

Image source, Getty Images

Hampshire will be the happier of the two sides.

Interesting winning the toss and batting first at this stage of a season. But the wicket is dry and has some cracks in it.

Joe Weatherley (41) batted beautifully until he skied an attempted pull off Gavin Griffiths. Tom Alsop (40 not out) has timed the ball well on both sides of the wicket.

For Leicestershire, the evergreen Chris Wright picked up their first wicket of the season inducing Ian Holland (11) to nibble at one outside off stump.

The home side stuck at their task well, but may feel that with the ball swinging and seaming somewhat, that perhaps 90-3 would have been a better reflection.

Mark Church
BBC Radio London at Bristol

As opening mornings go, this was a good one.

Stuck in by Gloucestershire, Surrey found themselves in trouble when Rory Burns and Mark Stoneman fell early to David Payne and Ryan Higgins.

Hashim Amla and Ollie Pope got their heads down and were looking good until Pope fell to Shaw on 22. Amla’s hands guided Surrey to lunch with South Africa’s finest unbeaten on 47.

God it’s lovely to be back.

Adrian Harms
BBC Sussex at Emirates Old Trafford

An excellent morning for Lancashire who having lost the toss, have bowled a consistently good line and length, and continually asked questions of the batsman.

Tom Bailey has been the pick of the bowlers, but in truth the Lancashire seamers have all bowled extremely well.

On what looks a good batting surface, Sussex have been indebted to opener Tom Haines who despite being dropped twice has battled to an excellent half century at lunch.

Kevin Hand
BBC Radio London at Lord's

Glorious sunshine for the most part at Lord's after cloudy skies at the toss, which also brought a rouge shower to delay the start briefly.

Sam Robson has been dropped twice in the slips, off Davey and Gregory, and may have offered a sharp chance low to midwicket off De Lange but that's batting at the start of the season and the former England opener has indeed looked in very good nick otherwise.

Somerset will rue those chances over lunch and even more so if they don't strike quickly after the interval as it felt like a four-wicket morning.

The pitch has some good pace in it and looks excellent in particular for early season. There's enough movement for the bowlers to trouble the batsman so, with another strong session this afternoon, the hosts could really lay down a strong early season marker against one of the form counties of recent years.

Group 1

Essex 74-2 v Worcestershire

Nottinghamshire v Durham 93-3

Warwickshire v Derbyshire 58-4

Group 2

Gloucestershire v Surrey 91-3

Leicestershire v Hampshire 109-2

Middlesex 99-2 v Somerset

Group 3

Northamptonshire v Kent 55-3

Sussex 66-4 v Lancashire

Yorkshire v Glamorgan 79-3

A morning session of two halves at Headingley.

Yorkshire's bowlers dictated terms for the first hour to reduce Glamorgan to 29-3 but then Kiran Carlson (32 not out) and Billy Root (23 not out) came fighting back in the second to leave them 79-3 at lunch.

Carlson has survived being dropped on 15, but apart from that, the pair have been largely untroubled in their patient approaches.

Image source, PA Media

Enouragement for both sides in that first session.

Essex have looked for the most part relatively untroubled in their accumulation of runs, but Worcestershire's bowlers have kept plugging away.

Alastair Cook (16) and Nick Browne (26) were the two batsmen to depart to Charlie Morris and Ed Barnard respectively while skipper Tom Westley (20 not out) and Dan Lawrence (10 not out) are looking to build a third-wicket partnership.

Image source, Getty Images

Middlesex will probably go to lunch feeling slightly the happier side.

Sam Robson has looked in exceptional touch, albeit with a couple of lifelines. The opener has raced to 65 off 79 balls.

A wicket apiece for Craig Overton and Josh Davey, but no bowl for England spinner Jack Leach yet.

Who's enjoyed this first session of the 2021 County Championship season then? Feels great to be back.

Image source, Rex Features

Elsewhere in Somerset's group, Hashim Amla is demonstrating his class for Surrey, even at the ripe old age of 38.

The former South Africa batsman has moved into the 40s with Surrey 80-3 at Gloucestershire. England wicketkeeper Ben Foakes is also batting.

Hampshire are going along rather nicely at Leicestershire. They're on 98-2.

Into the last 10 minutes of the opening session of the season.

Ball dominating bat for the most part so far but also some handy-looking scores from a number of games up and down the country.

Hannah Needham: Hello from a relatively new cricket fan, loving listening to the commentary, and have been enjoying Lancashire's bowling immensely this morning!

Pleased to have you on board Hannah!

It's been the Sam Robson show this morning at Lord's.

The opener is up to 63 off just 72 balls with 10 boundaries.

Will Somerset turn to the spin of Jack Leach before lunch to try and find the breakthrough? It's been all pace so far.