Ollie Robinson is absolutely convinced that he has Tom Scriven caught behind. There is no reaction from the umpire, however, and the Leicestershire nightwatch survives - for now.

Henry Crocombe will open up from the other end.

Jack Leach in ahead of Miggy Pretorius remember after Lewis Goldsworthy fell just before the close last night.

Alfie Ogborne can bat too, so there is still enough to come for Somerset, but Notts scent early morning blood to try and rattle through the last four wickets to commence their chase soon.

Dillon Pennington opens the bowling, the batters trade singles and then Craig Overton smashes him down the ground off the front foot to make it six off the first over.

Sam Northeast angles a thick edge to the backward point boundary to start the day.

It's the final couple of balls of the final over of day one, which was cut short by bad light as the sun slipped below the stands at 19:00 BST.

Matthew Potts will bowl the first full over of the day from the other end, with Tawanda Muyeye on strike ready to resume their duel.

The big news at Sophia Gardens is that Finlay Bean is wearing the wicketkeeper's gloves for Yorkshire after Jonny Bairstow suffered a thumb injury last night.

That would suggest, however, that Bairstow still hopes to play a part in the game as Bean is not a like for like substitute.

Ben Kellaway drives Ben Coad for four to get the scoreboard up and running.

Image source, Getty Images

Is 328 a good score? From 65-6 after being put in it definitely is. It might have been regardless, we'll soon see.

Silvery skies over the second city this morning as the hosts begin their reply and Surrey will be keen to make the same start in helpful conditions the Bears did 24 hours ago.

Matt Fisher takes the new ball with Rob Yates on strike and Alex Davies at the other end.

Sam Northeast (19*) and Tawanda Muyeye head out to resume Kent's reply under leaden skies at the Riverside.

Muyeye (7*) was dropped by Ben McKinney in the slips on nought and survived an onslaught from Matthew Potts to reach stumps.

Conditions look helpful to the bowlers with the lights on so Kent will need to knuckle down again this morning, with the threat of bad weather later in the day.

Ben Raine has the ball in hand for the opening over of the day.

Nick Gledhill
BBC Essex

Despite a little drizzle this morning the clouds are lifting and we should be due a prompt start with Essex in a strong position.

Yesterday’s injury substitution of Noah Thain for Tom Westley certainly produced some interesting debate.

The majority view was that it was perfectly reasonable for Thain to bat in the first innings. The alternative, more purist view, was that if you stick to the principle of 11 batters per innings it makes things more clear cut.

Westley’s was an obvious injury but it will be interesting to see what happens when a batter with a muscular injury carries on to reach a personal landmark or a batter starts to feel ill when at the crease for a long period in oppressive heat.

Thanks for the many dozens of messages (and generally helpful feedback) you sent in during the day yesterday, do please keep them coming today.

This season it's never been easier to get in touch with us and join the conversation, just click the shiny gold button on the top left of this page and get things off your chest.

We'll publish the best comments right here throughout the day.

Harry Everett
BBC Sport from Taunton

Image source, Harry Everett

Tom Abell was typically modest last night talking about the game situation more than his innings, but he did already look forward to the next innings of this match.

"Hopefully the seam movement is still there tomorrow, we want to ask lots of questions with the ball," he said.

The Somerset lower order will look to pile past 350 at least before the 110 over mark, if they last that long, though without getting too greedy chasing bonus points affecting their overall run total.

Haseeb Hameed will be Notts' Tom Abell, their main man that the champions will look to to start their first innings off on the front foot.

He as captain needs to find a way to take the remaining four wickets first though.

It was about as pulsating day of cricket as you'll see all season, and it came on the opening day.

After winning the toss in helpful conditions the Bears were ruthless early-on reducing Surrey to 65-6 just after lunch, with England's Jamie Smith departing for nine batting at three and Ollie Pope following for 20 soon after.

But the visitors dug deep and rallied to 328-7 thanks to century stands between Ben Foakes and Tom Lawes (who made a career first-class best 83) and Foakes and Sean Abbott (40) before Foakes departed for a magnificent 128 with the final ball of the day to end a run of three wickets for no score and leave the hosts back in the ascendancy, just.

Bears bowler Ethan Bamber admitted to 'frustration' after having 'a really good side on the ropes,' and 'letting it slip' but added: "We hit back again late on and the character of the lads showed through right at the end."

Lawes hopes his knock will boost his status as a genuine all-rounder and said: "It was really pleasing to get out there and contribute when the lads were in a bit of trouble.

"It was a tough start this morning with their bowlers having the overheads and the slightly damp pitch and drizzle to work with but to be 65-6 and then walk off the field with 328, the boys are chuffed with that."

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The onus is on Leicestershire's batting line-up at Grace Road after the Foxes marked their return to the top flight of the County Championship by bowling out Sussex on day one.

They fought back well after Sussex rattled along at a rate of knots during the opening morning and Tom Clark went on to make 101.

The loss of Rishi Patel before the close was a setback for the home side, but they will hope Australia's Jake Weatherald can provide stability as they look to try and build a sizeable total.

Rehan Ahmed scored five hundreds to help Leicestershire win promotion in 2025 and he was due to bat at four - but that's more likely to be five with nightwatch Tom Scriven not out overnight.

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Essex director of cricket Chris Silverwood said the new ECB regulations worked perfectly after captain Tom Westley suffered a suspected fracture on day one at Southampton.

Westley, whose side finished 219-3 at the close after being put in by their hosts, was struck on the hand by a delivery from Sonny Baker and had to retire hurt with Essex replacing him with Noah Thain.

As a ‘like-for-like’ substitute the latter will be allowed to bat in both innings but not bowl but Silverwood said the new system worked well in the circumstances.

“Thankfully I had looked through the regulations,” said Silverwood. “The match referee was great and made sure we got it right. It worked really well.”

Essex finished day one strongly after an unbroken 152-run partnership for the fourth wicket between Matt Critchley and Charlie Allison.

Hants bowler Codi Yusuf admitted his side had let slip a decent position but insisted they would aim to regain momentum this morning.

“We leaked a few runs at the end but we will come back stronger tomorrow to get momentum back on our side,” he said.

“We were on top at 60 odd for three but then the ball got a little bit soft and it got easier to bat. Critchley and Allison batted quite well. They got in and took the opportunity to take the game back into their hands.”

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Glamorgan batter Colin Ingram promised positive cricket from them this summer, even though things did not go smoothly following a belated start on day one against Yorkshire.

The Welsh county were reduced to 28-4 before the South African, with 41 not out, and Ben Kellaway saw it through to the close.

"Obviously losing the toss wasn't ideal with the conditions for bowling and their catching was outstanding. We were under pressure then a few things went our way with half-chances," Ingram said.

"We've been on a three or four year of journey of playing positively and win or lose we're going to look to do the same thing.

"I don't want us to throw away the hard work but it's an interesting dilemma of how is best to stay up [going for wins or draws] but we play our best when we're playing positively."

Image source, Getty Images

Lancashire batter Josh Bohannon admitted there was a degree of frustration in the away dressing room after a number of near misses with the bat on day one.

Bohannon fell 10 short of an opening day century, Luke Wells was out for 86 and Michael Jones went for a swashbuckling 71 as Lancashire finished on 346-7.

Asked for his reaction after a late Northants fightback, Bohannon said: “Probably [got] mixed emotions, to be fair. We felt like we worked really hard under quite tough conditions to start with.

“We got ourselves in a really good position and fair play to Northants in that last session there. They bowled really well and probably got their rewards that they feel they deserve.

“But yeah, we'll naturally feel quite disappointed from where we were.”

“I'm never happy when I’m out, but I felt like I played really well, and I felt like I deserved a 100. Same for Wells as well. I thought he played really well, and obviously incredibly frustrating that none of us carried on."

Northants bowling coach Glen Chapple praised their attack for a huge effort with the ball.

“Both [Ben] Sanderson and [Harry] Conway were excellent. Sando worked hard through the winter to get fit for the start of the season and to bowl 20 overs plus on the first day is a great effort.”

Image source, Getty Images

Emilio Gay will not be distracted by talk of England Test honours after a stellar century for Durham on an opening day when he outshone current incumbent Zak Crawley and another heir apparent, Ben McKinney.

Kent put the hosts in and made early inroads with McKinney pinned in front for 8, though Gay's brilliant 128 from 141 balls, featuring 22 fours, helped Durham to 189-3, only for Keith Dudgeon (4-83) and three wickets each for debutant Glenton Stuurman and Grant Stewart to haul Kent back into the ascendancy at 290-9.

Debutant Kasey Aldridge (44*) and last-man Kemar Roach added 45 for the final wicket to secure an unlikely second batting point and then the hosts picked up the prized scalps of Crawley (lbw to Matthew Potts for nine) and Ben Compton early in the reply to leave the visitors to endure a nervy final mini-session, reaching 50-2 at the close.

Gay said: "Naturally there were some nerves going out today, everyone wants to start well. It was really pleasing for me to get off to that start and getting a hundred was nice.

"I'm not thinking about (England speculation) much at all. I don't know, maybe I should, but there's so many players out there who have such talent. I'm not really worried about what they're doing, I'm focussed on what I'm doing.

"If that opportunity does come in the future, my game's in a good place for that."

Division One

Glamorgan 99-4 v Yorkshire

Hampshire v Essex 219-3

Leicestershire 15-1 v Sussex 361

Somerset 292-6 v Nottinghamshire

Warwickshire v Surrey 328

Division Two

Derbyshire 391-4 v Worcestershire

Durham 335 v Kent 50-2

Middlesex 279-5 v Gloucestershire

Northamptonshire v Lancashire 346-7

Image source, Shutterstock

As the Easter rabbit does a final check of the huge mountain of chocolate goodies to be delivered tomorrow, we reach day two of the opening round of the 2026 County Championship.

There was some great action yesterday with Ben Foakes, Tom Abell, Tom Clark, Emilio Gay and Martin Andersson starting the summer in style by hitting centuries - and we could have a couple more to come in the early overs this morning.

Welcome to our coverage. Play starts at 11:00 BST.

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