Kyle Abbott's first ball beats Dom Sibley but also keeper Ben Brown and streaks away for four byes.

There's good bounce and carry and some swing about and Brown does well to grab the second delivery.

There's a wan sun trying to peep through the blanket of silvery cloud overhead and these openers would probably appreciate it.

Sibley opens the face to Abbott's fifth ball, guiding it to deep third but Jake Lehmann races to slide and prevent a boundary on the slow outfield, limiting Sibley to two.

Fairly sedate second over from Sonny Baker, with Dom Sibley on strike, het gets one to nip back a touch off the green deck but Sibley clips the final ball towards square leg for a quick single to keep strike for the fifth over.

Mark Church
BBC Radio London commentator

Sonny Baker is adding some sawdust to the crease ahead of his second over.

It's very soft.

We've had so much rain and there's been so much cricket, the ground staff are having to do a lot of work, it's not easy for them these days...

Short leg in for Dom Sibley as Kyle Abbott sends down his second over.

Sibley comes forward to his second ball which beats the edge and causes an intake of breath from the slip corden.

Sibley gets bat on the fifth ball, turning it into the leg side for a single, and Rory Burns sees out the third over.

Dom Sibley picks up a single from Sonny Baker's second ball but a couple of quiet ones the fifth ball takes off off a length, is avoided by Rory Burns and keeper Ben Brown takes it above shoulder height.

Juicy.

Kevan James
BBC Radio Solent commentator

It's taken us a while to locate the actual pitch... it is very, very green.

if I was a batter out of form and took a look at this pitch my shoulders would immediate drop and I'd let out a big sigh.

Rory Burns tickles the first ball from Kyle Abbott away to deep third for a couple, scattering a flock of pigeons on the outfield.

They're the only runs of the over.

Dom Sibley will take strike for over two, which will be delivered by Sonny Baker, who has also been released by England and hot-footed it across from St John's Wood for this match.

The track is very green... and the skies are grey.

Kyle Abbott takes the new ball at the Pavilion End with Rory Burns on strike...

Image source, Getty Images

Surrey have been asked to bat first at a rather gloomy Kia Oval.

Rory Burns and Dom Sibley will open up, Dan Lawrence is at three after his white-ball fireworks on Friday, Ollie Pope takes the gloves with no Jamie Smith or Ben Foakes, Will Jacks makes his first red-ball appearance of the summer, Tom and Sam Curran return, Matt Fisher has been released by England to play in this game while James Taylor returns after a short loan stint at Kent.

Sean Abbott (hamstring) and Dan Worrall (knee) miss out while Rahul Chahar is unable to make his debut after visa complications.

Sonny Baker returns to the Hampshire attack after England duty, James Fuller is back in the side while Ali Orr comes in at three.

Image source, Getty Images

If Friday night's T20 Blast clash between these two sides at the Oval is anything to go by, we're in for a treat this week.

Hampshire Hawks clung on in a tense finish against Surrey to secure a fifth straight victory and cement their place at the top of the South Group.

Toby Albert and Ali Orr - in for the injured James Vince - laid the foundations with an opening partnership of 73 from 49 balls before Hilton Cartwright (40 from 17) and Joe Weatherley (43 from 26) enabled the Hawks to post 215-5 – their highest Blast total against Surrey.

The visitors looked firm favourites after reducing Surrey to 52-3, only for Will Jacks (70 from 42) and Dan Lawrence (pictured), who smashed an unbeaten 94 from 47, to transform their side's fortunes.

With 22 needed off Manny Lumsden's final over, Lawrence struck 15 of them before losing strike and Chris Jordan was unable to manage a last-ball six that would have tied the contest.

Plenty of the players on show are set to feature in this red-ball encounter too. Team news coming up...

Image source, Getty Images

You might have noticed a spot of unseasonably poor weather in London over the past few days.

Fingers crossed today should be a little different, with silver skies but no immediate prospect of the wet stuff over Kennington on Sunday.

You can check the BBC Weather forecast for London here.

The same can't be said of the next three days, however, with a mixture of sunshine and showers, some of them thundery, forecast.

We'll aim to make the most of today, shall we, and I'm sure both sets of players will be thinking the same.

Image source, Shutterstock

While Surrey were getting thumped at Yorkshire 20 days ago, Hampshire produced a resilient display to ensure a share of the spoils against reigning champions Notts at the Utilita Bowl.

Jake Lehmann (pictured) converted a fifty into three figures at the sixth attempt as Hampshire avoided defeat at home in the County Championship for the first time in 10 months.

Champions and table-toppers Nottinghamshire had hoped to rip through the hosts on the final day to secure victory, but found Lehmann blocking their path as they finished on 207-6 with a lead of 192.

The Australian, who qualifies as a domestic player, had scored five half-centuries – all in succession – earlier in the season before batting out the day for a 205-ball 102 not out.

Both sides took 11 points from the match, enough to keep Nottinghamshire top, but not enough for Hampshire to escape the bottom, after losing four of their first five fixtures.

Second-bottom Leicestershire are six points clear of Hampshire with a 25-point gap to third-bottom Yorkshire in a congested Division One table in which just 20 points separate the top-eight sides.

Image source, Getty Images

Surrey have had to wait nearly three weeks for the chance to bounce back from a thumping County Championship defeat at Headingley, their first of the campaign.

Yorkshire romped to victory by an innings and 127 runs after bowling the visitors out for 204, having posted 486 themselves, then enforcing the follow-on and skittling Surrey for 155 before lunch on day four.

The last time Surrey lost a red ball game by an innings was in May 2024 at the hands of... Hampshire at Southampton.

The defeat left the 2022, 2023 and 2024 champions seventh in the Division One standings, having drawn four of their opening six matches.

The gap to leaders Notts is just 17 points, however, meaning Rory Burns' men could return to the top of the table with a victory here as they begin the second block of the red-ball summer.

Image source, Getty Images

Good morning, big day of cricket this...

While England will seek to polish off the New Zealand tail and seal victory in the first Test of the summer across town this morning, and 14 sides prepare for Vitality Blast action this afternoon, we also have a County Championship game on the agenda (nope, I don't understand the calendar either).

Struggling Surrey welcome Division One basement-boys Hampshire to the Oval with both sides seeking to get their campaign back on track.

The pyjamas are back in the wardrobe for a wee while and the whites are out, so let's bring you up to speed before the bell rings.