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Kookaburra balls being used in this round of games plus first round in July
D1: Lancashire, put in by leaders Surrey, rally from 119-5 to be bowled out for 274
Teams who won the toss batting first in all the other games
D1: Essex duo Dan Lawrence and Tom Westley hit tons at home to Warwickshire
D1: Nick Gubbins & Liam Dawson going well for Hampshire against Middx
D1: Rob Keogh out for 97 for Northants against Kent in battle of bottom two
D1: Somerset bowled out for 163 at home to Nottinghamshire
D2: Alex Lees hits a ton as leaders Durham pile up a big score at Leicester
D2: Second-placed Sussex bowl out Glamorgan for 242
D2: Fin Bean makes a century for Yorkshire at home to Gloucestershire
D2: Pears opener Jake Libby still there but Pears four down at home to Derbyshire
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Northamptonshire 24-2 v Kent
Northants have lost both openers well inside the opening half-hour.
Kent's bowlers seem to be enjoying the Kookaburra ball experiment and have got their tactics spot on so far.
They have four slips in place for left-armer Arshdeep Singh who steams in, with Emilio Gay pushing the ball to second slip.
The bounce seemed to surprise him and it's a great start for Kent.
Hampshire 17-1 v Middlesex
Fletcha Middleton goes early for Hampshire as Toby Roland-Jones claims a scalp.
The opener attempts a drive through the covers but doesn't quite pick up the pitch of the ball and ends up a little off-balance, sending the ball to Sam Robson for a simple catch at second slip.
Yorkshire 33-2 v Gloucestershire
Two in four balls for Matt Taylor.
A miserable morning for Tykes skipper Shan Masood who is trapped plum in front by a fired-up Taylor.
On a belting day for batting, Dawid Malan would not have been expected to be in this early.
Yorkshire 33-1 v Gloucestershire
Yorkshire had made a rapid start after winning the toss, but Gloucestershire have made early inroads.
Adam Lyth had raced to 14 off as many balls, but couldn't get his bat out of the way of a Matt Taylor ball which dug in off the back of a length.
It takes the toe of Lyth's bat and Ollie Price does the rest with a super diving catch at second slip.
Lancashire 4-1 (4.3 overs) v Surrey
Image source, Rex FeaturesSurrey and England left-armer Sam Curran was the first player to take a wicket with the new Kookaburra ball at the Oval
Surrey strike at the Oval.
Luke Wells edges Sam Curran to slip, where Dom Sibley takes a fine low catch.
And Surrey are rewarded both for their courage in putting Lancashire in - and then backing it up with a fine first 20 minutes of use by Curran and Dan Worrall with the Kookaburra.
Also a fine description of it all by BBC Radio London‘s Mark Church, who is already on fine form alongside BBC Radio Lancashire‘s Scott Read in the commentary box. Well worth a listen . . .
Northamptonshire 16-1 v Kent
Early wicket for Kent as Northants opener Ricardo Vasconcelos departs.
Wes Agar does the damage, bowling round the wicket and getting Vasconcelos to edge to Tawanda Muyeye who takes a sharp low catch at third slip.
Somerset 9-1 v Nottinghamshire
Early breakthrough from Notts and an innings to forget for Sean Dickson.
He opts to leave his fourth ball and it's an unwise decision as Brett Hutton gets one to nip back and take the top of off-stump.
A classic dismissal and a superb start for the visitors.
Somerset 9-0 v Nottinghamshire
A neat and tidy couple of overs each from Notts striker bowlers Brett Hutton and Jake Ball after Somerset won the toss and unsurprisingly opted to take first bat.
Openers Tom Lammonby and Sean Dickson have moved to 9-0 without alarm after four overs.
The hosts have a lengthy queue for the treatment table, with England spinner Jack Leach, Peter Siddle, Roleof van der Merwe, Lewis Gregory, Lewis Goldsworthy and Sonny Baker all out.
Notts have made one change - replacing Calvin Harrison with fellow spinner Matt Carter.
Lancashire 0-0 (2 overs) v Surrey
No Bazball to be seen here.
Two tidy maidens to start with from Sam Curran and Dan Worrall.
Curran especially got one to lift and shape in the opening over.
But then both he and Australian pacemen Worrall and Sean Abbott do have plenty of experience of bowling with Kookaburras overseas.
They are just the right men for this job.
Hampshire 9-0 v Middlesex
Hampshire made a confident start but Joe Weatherley has just got away with one!
Trying to force it away off the back foot, he hits it straight at Max Holden but it's dropped.
Weatherley and Fletcha Middleton scored nine from the opening over but Tom Helm's bowling in the second was much better - a maiden which should have yielded a wicket.
Essex 4-0 v Warwickshire
Early strike for Chris Rushworth as the leading County Championship wicket taker adds scalp number 36 for the season.
After shipping an early boundary, he gets rapid revenge by having Feroze Khushi caught behind from the last ball of the first over.
Alastair Cook then plays out a maiden to Hasan Ali from the other end.
New man at the crease is home captain Tom Westley.
A beautiful day. A day to bat first?
You might think so. All except for Surrey.
They are the only team to have inserted the opposition.
But then they they are the reigning champions, they are the Division One leaders and they have won all their games this season batting second. And they clearly have faith that the Kookaburra will "do a bit early doors".
Not even the return to fitness of limpet-like Lancashire skipper Keaton Jennings after a hamstring injury has persuaded them otherwise.
Sam Curran has first crack with the newest of new balls.
Looks like another hot but potentially stormy one today everyone . . .
The BBC Weather forecast says:
"Rain and showers spreading eastwards. Locally heavy and thundery. Hot in the south-east."
Division Two preview
A tasty clash of two rejuvenated sides in the top three is the headine act in Division Two this week.
Runaway leaders Durham, who sit 32 points clear at the top, travel to third-placed Leicestershire, the Championship's perennial basement side in recent years who are enjoying a welcome resurgence.
The Running Foxes sit just a point behind second-placed Sussex at the halfway stage of the season with just one defeat and fresh from a five-wicket win at Gloucestershre last time out.
But they arrive without Paul Nixon whose six-year tenure as head coach ended this week, and they are set to lose both Callum Parkinson and Colin Ackermann at the end of the season - to Durham, of course.
Sussex could take advantage of a slip-up from either side, but face a testing trip to Cardiff to take on unbeaten Glamorgan who themselves sit just 10 points outside the top two in fifth.
In last month's reverse fixture, the Welsh side racked up a staggering second innings of 737, but this time they will be without Marnus Labuschagne, one of their three centurions in that monster total, who is now otherwise occupied with the Ashes.
Fourth-placed Worcestershire complete the tightly-packed quartet of teams chasing the leaders and the Pears will fancy their chances of closing the gap when they host basement side Derbyshire.
The East Midlanders are winless - and are eight points adrift at the bottom.
Yorkshire ended a surprisingly miserable start to the season with their first Championship win in 14 months last time out when they beat Derbyshire.
Can they continue their revival and put themselves back in promotion contention? They host second-bottom Gloucestershire who arrive following back-to-back defeats.
Division One preview
Leaders Surrey have a healthy lead at the top of Division One and will be confident of picking-up more points as they host Lancashire at The Oval.
Lancashire are down in seventh with only one win from their opening six games, but they are the only other unbeaten side, having drawn their first five games before beating Hampshire in the last round of games.
Second-placed Warwickshire are ready to take advantage of any slip-ups as they head to Chelmsford to take on Essex in fourth, who themselves can leapfrog their opponents with victory.
Another team in the mix at the top, Hampshire, host a Middlesex side who produced a record run-chase in T20 Blast in midweek - ending a 14-game losing run in the process.
Somerset have enjoyed an excellent campaign in the 20-over format but have not been in such great form in the County Championship. They sit in sixth at present and host Notts - the team directly above them.
Rounding off the latest set of fixtures is a clash between the bottom two as Northamptonshire host Kent.
Kent will be led by Jack Leaning for the rest of the season as he takes over the reins as red-ball captain from Sam Billings who announced prior to the game that that he had stepped down from the role, butg will rfemain as white-ball skipper.
Division One
Chelmsford: Essex v Warwickshire
Southampton: Hampshire v Middlesex
Wantage Road: Northamptonshire v Kent
Taunton: Somerset v Nottinghamshire
The Oval: Surrey v Lancashire
Division Two
Cardiff: Glamorgan v Sussex
Leicester: Leicestershire v Durham
New Road: Worcestershire v Derbyshire
Leeds: Yorkshire v Gloucestershire
Image source, Stu Forster - Getty ImagesKookaburra balls have been used in Australia, New Zealand and South African Test Cricket since 1946
For the first time in English county cricket, this week‘s games will feature the Kookaburra ball.
So what are these Kookaburras all about?
They are one of the recommendations made to the England and Wales Cricket Board by the high-performance review, led by former England captain Sir Andrew Strauss.
The Australia-made ball is believed to swing and seam less than the Dukes ball, its English counterpart.
So they have been shipped over from Australia as an initial two-match experimen, which will also be used for a second round of county games next month, to help further our future Test stars‘ long-term understanding of how best to get out an Aussie.
Not that, crucially, we could get Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon out at Edgbaston last week using a Dukes ball!
How well this one works will best be judged by just how watchful and respectcful today‘s batters will be over the next four days.
Buckle up and enjoy the ride.
Image source, Rex FeaturesHolders Surrey, who again lead Division One, have won their last six home County Championship matches at The Kia Oval
Good morning and welcome back to red-ball cricket.
This time it has only been an 11-day break from County Championship action.
But today it is still all about the mental thought process - for players, coaches, umpires, fans and reporters alike - of getting back into proper red-ball mode.
To leave all those white-ballisms behind.
To effectively de-Bazball.
Especially as, to mark the road to Wimbledon week, it is time for "new balls please".