County Championship, day one as it happened - Foakes scores century for Surrey

Summary

Ben Foakes hits unbeaten 112 for Division One leaders against Warwickshire
Liam Dawson makes hundred for Hampshire against Somerset
Second-placed Essex begin game against Middlesex on Monday
Durham - 40 pts clear in Division Two - bowl out Sussex for 266
Derbyshire all-rounder Anuj Dal takes five-for against Yorkshire
Leicestershire dismiss Gloucestershire for 159 at Grace Road

Live Reporting

Alex Hoad, Ben Kosky and Paul Grunill

Heath Streak RIPpublished at 10:15 British Summer Time 3 September 2023
Image source, Rex Features
Image caption,
Heath Streak playing for Hampshire against Warwickshire in 2007
Sad news this morning of the death of former Zimbabwe all-rounder Heath Streak at the age of 49.
One of his country's finest cricketers, he took more than 450 wickets in Tests and one-day internationals, and also had spells with Warwickshire and Hampshire during his career.
"Everyone at Warwickshire is shocked and saddened to hear that former captain Heath Streak has passed away. Our thoughts are with his family and friends at this time," the Bears have said on their X account.
Who can stop Durham?published at 10:10 British Summer Time 3 September 2023
Durham v Sussex (play starts 10:30)
Image source, Getty Images
It would take a spectacular collapse for Durham not to win promotion later this month as they go into their final three games with a 40-point lead over their closest challengers.
The north-east county - who have Matt Parkinson back with them on loan - need a maximum of 36 points to clinch the Division Two title and can remove one of the four teams still with a mathematical chance of pipping them to the silverware if they see off Sussex at the Riverside.
Sussex have a game in hand and are unbeaten but need a to find a way to win, having drawn nine of their 10 games so far.
They have signed India pace bowler Jaydev Unadkat for the next three games and a record of 382 first-class wickets at an average of 22.58 suggests he might give Durham something to think about.
Sunday's fixtures and toss infopublished at 10:07 British Summer Time 3 September 2023
Division One
Ageas Bowl: Hampshire v Somerset
Hampshire won toss and will bat
Northampton: Northamptonshire v Lancashire
Lancashire won toss and chose to bowl
The Oval: Surrey v Warwickshire
Warwickshire won toss and chose to bowl
Division Two
Riverside: Durham v Sussex
Sussex won toss and will bat
Leicester: Leicestershire v Gloucestershire
Leicestershire won toss and chose to bowl
Worcester: Worcestershire v Glamorgan
Glamorgan won toss and chose to bowl
Scarborough: Yorkshire v Derbyshire
Derbyshire won toss and chose to bowl
Today's forecastpublished at 10:03 British Summer Time 3 September 2023
"Lots of warm September sunshine" says BBC Weather on social media., external Excellent. Just what we wanted to hear.
Good morningpublished at 09:59 British Summer Time 3 September 2023
Image source, Getty Images
"Is this a cricket bat which I see before me? The handle towards my hand."
The Ashes, The Hundred and T20 Blast are history and the final month of the 2023 county season gets under way today.
We last saw County Championship action on 28 July - 37 days ago - and there are four rounds left to decide who wins the title, who goes up and who goes down.
Seven games start today. Which teams will "bear a charmed life" and which will run into "toil and trouble"? The best way to find out is to stay with us. Play begins at 10:30.
*yes, one of us did see a production of Macbeth yesterday...