New England Test captain Ben Stokes hits 64-ball century for Durham, predecessor Joe Root playing for Yorkshire
Stokes' tally of 17 sixes is the highest in a County Championship game, beating 16 by Andrew Symonds
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
McAndrew lbw b Hassan Ali 15 (Warwickshire 282-8 v Lancashire)
Early wicket for Hassan Ali in Manchester as he removes Australian paceman Nathan McAndrew.
Dom Sibley remains on 120 as Craig Miles joins him at the crease.
Miles, McAndrew and last man Oliver Hannon-Dalby have got the three places alongside skipper Will Rhodes in the Bears' furiously contested pace bowling department this week.
Meanwhile, there is news of another one . . .
Curran c Vasconcelos b Taylor 73 (Surrey 267-7 v Northants)
Sam Curran was Surrey’s key to pushing on to 300 and beyond this morning but he’s only added two to his overnight score.
A big early wicket for Northants.
Tom Taylor is round the wicket on a good length to the left-hander and Curran has rather tamely poked it to first slip.
Durham 360-4 v Worcestershire
Time for new England captain Ben Stokes to make his grand entrance at New Road.
Scott Borthwick is trapped in front by Worcestershire debutant Ben Gibbon - and that brings in Stokes.
Former Cheshire paceman Gibbon, who also played for Lancashire in the One-Day Cup, took his maiden first-class wicket yesterday, Keegan Petersen, and it left him pretty excited.
"The nerves started to kick in when I got to the ground," Chester-born Gibbon told BBC Hereford & Worcester. "It was a big day for me, a first class debut but as soon as I settled into an over or two, I was all right.
"My first wicket? Short and wide off stump but I’ll take anything. Just to play is a dream come true really."
Wonder if he dreamed last night of getting any even bigger scalps?
Warwickshire 274-7 v Lancashire
Dom Sibley also gets the scoreboard moving again in Manchester with a single.
He moves on to 119.
Hampshire 311-8 v Gloucestershire
Kyle Abbott is off the mark first ball as Gloucestershire captain Graeme van Buuren completes the last ball of his uncompleted over from the night before.
It must be bit of a relief for Abbott, who is normally no mug with the bat but had started this season with three first-innings ducks in a row - one first-baller and two second-ballers.
Yesterday's first day was a bit of a blast from the past as former England captain Sir Alastair Cook ground his way to another century for Essex - against Yorkshire at Chelmsford.
He was one of five centurions - three of whom all holed out on the same 107 mark.
Watching on was his successor as England skipper Joe Root, who may get a chance of a bat himself later, unless Essex maintain yesterday's slow progress against a typically mean visiting Tykes attack.
Image source, Getty ImagesAlastair Cook's century, watched by Joe Root, was his 71st in first-class cricket
As for Root's successor as England skipper, Ben Stokes, he is due to be next in to bat for Durham in their Division Two game against Worcestershire at New Road.
For both Root and Stokes, both making rare Championship appearances, this will be their first bat since the England captaincy changed hands following the West Indies series - and they will both be looking to warm up for the home series between the world one-day champions and the world Test champions New Zealand starting at Lord's on 6 June.
Division One:
Essex 234-3 (A Cook 107, Walter 89*, S Cook 0*) v Yorkshire
Hampshire 310-8 (Organ 107, Vince 78, Dawson 31*, Abbott 0*) v Gloucestershire
Warwickshire 273-7 (Sibley 118*, McAndrew 9*) v Lancashire
Surrey 261-6 (Burns 107, S Curran 71*, Atkinson 4*) v Northants
Division Two:
Leicestershire 285-8 Patel 82, Wright 10*, Parkinson 8*) v Glamorgan
Sussex 354-6 (Alsop 113, Orr 99, Garton 37*, Robinson 11*) v Middlesex
Durham 339-3 (Dickson 104, Borthwick 80*, Bedingham 69*) v Worcestershire
Good morning to another day of County Championship cricket.
We have seven matches going - four in Division One, at Chelmsford, Southampton, Manchester and The Oval.
Three in Division Two, at Sophia Gardens, Hove and New Road.
And all seven teams who batted first yesterday morning are all still batting when play resumes at 11 o'clock.
Image source, Rex FeaturesLast night, one game - Essex v Yorkshire - even finished bang on time at 6 o'clock. Almost unprecedented in the modern age, surely? And the rest were done by 7.
Hope you can stick around with us all day, whether here with us on the live text, just looking at the scorecards, or listening to 5 Live Sports Extra with Kevin Howells or one of our seven individual commentary streams.
Or maybe a combination of them all?