The covers remain firmly on at Old Trafford as overnight rain continues to come down over Manchester.

The forecast for today isn't wonderful, so it could be a frustrating wait for the players.

It will be particularly hard for the visitors who are still chasing points to ensure their Division One status for a second season running.

Rory Burns, sporting a new haircut, has called correctly and the Division One leaders will bowl first at the Oval.

With Jamie Smith away on England duty, the hosts have given a first team debut to left-handed Indian batter Sai Sudharsan.

The squad boasts a very experienced attack, including Kemar Roach, Jamie Overton and Dan Worrall.

Emilio Gay and Hassan Azad will take guard first for the visiting team, who again include spinner Simon Kerrigan.

Image source, Rex Features

Warwickshire win the toss and will bowl first at an overcast Lord's.

It will be a poignant moment for veteran seamer Tim Murtagh who comes back into the side for his last match as a player at the home of cricket.

The 42-year-old will finally hang up his boots at the end of the season and take a well-deserved retirement from playing duties. Will the Irishman sign off in style?

This won't be a gentle swansong, however, as Middlesex need points against the fourth-placed Bears in their battle to avoid dropping straight back into Division Two.

With two games to go, they sit just two points above second-bottom Kent who head to Taunton.

For their part, Warwickshire are out of the two-horse title race, but can still claim a respectable third-placed finish.

They start the day only four points behind Hampshire.

The Bears are without their leading run scorer in Sam Hain on international duty and his place goes to Alex Davies who has passed a fitness test this morning after suffering back spasms.

Second-placed Essex have won the toss and chosen to bat first against Hampshire at Chelmsford.

Tom Westley's side are unchanged, with Indian pace bowler Umesh Yadav, again included.

Hampshire make one change to the XI that beat Somerset in their previous again, with spin bowling all-rounder Felix Organ back in for James Fuller.

Gloomy news in Division Twopublished at 10:19 British Summer Time 19 September 2023

10:19 BST 19 September 2023

We have three second-tier games this week - at Derby, Leicester and Worcester.

Unfortunately, there is rain around at all of them at the moment, so the start of play will be delayed in each case.

An inspection has been scheduled for 10:45 at Grace Road, though, so that is at least a bit more positive.

Image source, Rex Features

Because of England's one-day international series against Ireland, there are a number of key players who won't be involved for their counties this week.

Batter Jamie Smith is absent for Division One leaders Surrey, while relegation-threatened Kent are without Zak Crawley following his brief return to score 158 against Nottinghamshire last week.

Batter Sam Hain will miss Warwickshire's game at Lord's and in Division Two, title-chasing Durham will field a bowling attack minus Matthew Potts, who has taken 50+ wickets for them this season.

Having tried to explain the position to you as far as the title, promotion and relegation issues are concerned, there is of course a random element which could affect our calculations - rain.

BBC Weather tells us that there are Met Office yellow warnings in place for a lot of wet stuff across parts of northern England, although it should be "mostly dry, cloudy but windy" in the south and south east.

Last night's forecast for the next few days wasn't much better, so we could see a few games ending in draws.

Should that be the case, we'll try and keep you updated as to how that affects the 'who's going up/down' picture as we go along.

For more local information, use the search box on the BBC Weather site here.

Image source, Rex Features

Image source, BBC Sport

Northants are widely expected to drop down to Division Two at the end of this season.

After all, they're 10th in the table, 30 points behind ninth-placed Kent on 63 points with only games against the top two teams in the division left in the season, Surrey and Essex.

While the drop is not yet mathematically certain, the team would need big wins in their last two rounds, starting with Surrey at the Oval - where they haven't won a first-class game since 1994.

In those days, Rob Bailey, Allan Lamb and Curtly Ambrose were in the winning XI.

Nonetheless, Emilio Gay will have fond memories of his last appearance against the Division One leaders, back in September last year at Northampton.

The young Northants batter scored 145 against an attack comprised of Kemar Roach, Dan Worrall and Gus Atkinson in an innings that played a major part in a draw.

Rob Keogh is also in the Northants squad and can boast a century of his own against this morning's opposition, also at Northampton in September 2021.

Northants may field an extra spinner, with left arm bowler Simon Kerrigan and leg spinner Alex Russell also in the squad.

Dan Worrall and Kemar Roach are in the Surrey squad this morning, while Gus Atkinson is away with England.

The forecast is gloomy with rain most likely in the afternoon.

So bring a brolly.

Image source, Getty Images

With Surrey 18 points clear at the top of the Division One table, rivals Essex are going to need a favour or two from Northants and Hampshire if they are to pip them to the title.

Should Surrey win this week and Essex lose, the boys from the Oval will be lifting the Championship trophy for a second successive year.

If Surrey were to win with a minimum of 19 points and Essex draw with a maximum of 13, then Rory Burns' side will only need a single point next week to be confirmed as champions.

Should both draw this week, Essex must hope that they can pick up more bonus points and at least chip away a little at that Surrey lead.

There's a bit of drizzle in the air and the full complement of covers are on the square.

More news as and when we get it.

This is a must win game for ninth-placed Kent, who need to put some pressure back on Middlesex in eighth.

The gap between them is a slender two points after both teams drew in the previous Championship round.

Sussex's promotion chances were dealt a serious blow by yesterday's news of a 12-point deduction because of disciplinary issues during the season.

Captain Cheteshwar Pujara must serve a one-match suspension and the club have also opted to stand down opener Tom Haines, spinner Jack Carson and pace bowler Ari Karvelas pending incidents in last week's dramatic win over Leicestershire.

Although they can theoretically still catch second-placed Worcestershire, they have dropped tow places to fifth and are now 30 points adrift with just two matches to play.

Read our full story below.

In 2016, Durham were demoted from Division One of the County Championship over financial issues.

As of last week, though, promotion back to the top flight for next year is certain, and Scott Borthwick's side need a maximum of five points from their game at New Road to become Division Two champions.

Worcestershire, though, have every incentive to try and beat the north-east county as they try to fend off the challenge of Leicestershire and Sussex for the second promotion spot.

One-Day Cup winners Leicestershire have 21 points to make up on the Pears, so they are very likely to be rooting for a Durham victory in the first v second contest.

Image source, BBC Sport

Division One

Chelmsford: Essex v Hampshire

Old Trafford: Lancashire v Nottinghamshire

Lord's: Middlesex v Warwickshire

Taunton: Somerset v Kent

The Oval: Surrey v Northamptonshire

Division Two

Derby: Derbyshire v Sussex

Leicester: Leicestershire v Yorkshire

New Road: Worcestershire v Durham

Image source, Rex Features

Oh the days dwindle down to a precious few.

Those words by Maxwell Anderson from September Song certainly apply to the County Championship at this time of year, with just eight days of play remaining in the season.

We've still got the title to decide in each division and the important matter of who goes up and who goes down.

Welcome to our coverage of the penultimate round of matches. Play on day one is scheduled to start at 10:30.