Summary

  • Use audio icons at top of the page to listen to BBC local radio commentaries

  • New England Test captain Ben Stokes playing for Durham, predecessor Joe Root playing for Yorkshire

  • Division One: Essex v Yorks, Hants v Gloucs, Lancs v Warwickshire & Surrey v Northants

  • Division Two: Glam v Leics, Sussex v Middlesex & Worcs v Durham

Live Reporting

Ged Scott and Alex Winter

  1. wicket

    WICKET

    Davies b Bailey 0 (Warwickshire 0-1 v Lancashire)

    Not the return to Old Trafford that Alex Davies had planned.

    He is out for an eighth-ball duck.

    After a warning in the previous over when Bailey swung one back in, Davies fails to heed the warning, again offers no stoke - and this time loses his off stump.

    New man in is Rob Yates.

    One change for the Bears is the inclusion of Chris Benjamin on the ground where he got a century century on his County Championship debut last summer. He comes in for Matt Lamb, who is out with a hamstring injury.

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  2. Hampshire 3-0 v Gloucestershire

    A maiden too to start with Ryan Higgins at Southampton against Felix Organ.

    The first runs come in the second over off Mohammad Amir.

  3. wicket

    WICKET

    Browne c Hill b Thompson 0 (Essex 0-1 v Yorks)

    Hoho Yorkshire strike third ball of the match!

    Decent delivery from Jordan Thompson, right in the channel.

    Nick Browne probably needs to play at it but it's an angled bat that comes down and healthy edge to third slip.

    Well caught by George Hill down low to his left.

  4. Lancashire v Warwickshire 0-0

    Alex Davies, back at Old Trafford for the first time since leaving Lancashire, has a testing first over up against Tom Bailey.

    One huge LBW shout. Maiden for Bailey.

    Now Dom Sibley to face Hassan Ali.

    Warwickshire won the toss and decided to bat, incidentally.

  5. Weather forecast looks good

    The weather forecast seems set fair for the day, even in Manchester.

    So let's get on with it . . .

  6. Stokes and Root return to action

    One side issue of the early part of any season is England players getting the rare chance of some County Championship cricket.

    Along with a few others, Ben Stokes and Joe Root both need red-ball practice ahead of the start of the New Zealand Test series starting at Lord's on 6 June.

    That means, rather neatly, that Root's first game as 'former England captain' will pitch him up against another former England captain, Sir Alastair Cook, the man he succeeded as England skipper five years ago.

    Joe Root and Ben StokesRex Features

    Root has made 52 first-class appearances for Yorkshire, but this will be only his 20th since making his England debut in December 2012.

    Stokes, the man who replaced Root as skipper, is making only his third Championship appearance since July 2018.

    5 Live Sports Extra will feature commentary on Essex v Yorkshire and Worcestershire against Durham.

    Coverage starts from 10:55, hosted by Kevin Howells - but all the other usual individual county streams are available in all the usual places.

  7. This week's games

    Division One:

    Essex (5th, 43 pts) v Yorkshire (4th, 51 pts)

    Hampshire (2nd, 59 pts) v Gloucestershire (9th, 33 pts)

    Lancashire (3rd, 58 pts) v Warwickshire (7th, 37 pts

    Surrey (1st, 67 pts) v Northants (6th, 38 pts)

    Division Two:

    Glamorgan (4th, 51 pts) v Leicestershire (8th, 29 pts)

    Sussex (7th, 31 pts) v Middlesex (3rd, 59 pts)

    Worcestershire (6th, 40 pts) v Durham (5th, 42 pts)

  8. Good morning and welcome

    We're already into round five of this summer's County Championship fixture schedule.

    We bowed out from our live online coverage last Sunday evening with that pulsating finish at Derby when Glamorgan so nearly snatched victory.

    Maybe it didn't quite match Madrid levels of sporting excitement, but for those with a shared love of English county cricket, it was a reminder of how good the red-ball game can be.

    And today we resume with seven more games on the top flight at Chelmsford, Southampton, Manchester and The Oval - and, in Division Two, at Sophia Gardens, Hove and New Road.