Essex choosing to field on what feels like a decent morning to be bowling.

Jamie Porter and Sam Cook with the new ball.

Nick Gubbins - just one half-century this season - and Toby Albert - playing his third match - opening up for Hants.

Lovely line by Dan Worrall, who's begun his comeback with two maidens and getting the odd ball to leave the right-hander.

Despite that, a solid start from Haseeb Hameed and Ben Slater, who have seven and eight respectively after Notts were put in to bat.

Stephan Shemilt
BBC Sport cricket correspondent at New Road

Nice start from Ben Stokes. Sharp haircut, shirt untucked, bouncy run-up. This is his first Durham game for almost two years. After his various injuries and lengthy layoff, it will be interesting to see how many overs he bowls today.

James Rew gets the visitors off the mark with an early boundary, dispatching 18-year-old Tom Norton for four following a maiden opening over from Timm van der Gugten.

A leg bye adds another to the tally.

A very welcome sight for Surrey fans, with Dan Worrall back in the side for his first appearance of the summer and ready to share the new ball with Gus Atkinson.

Atkinson has just sent down the first over to Notts captain Haseeb Hameed, who got off the mark with a cover boundary and then added another three from the next ball.

The hosts have won the toss in Wales, and have elected to field.

Josh Thomas and James Rew will open up for Somerset.

Timm van der Gugten opens the bowling for Glamorgan.

Image source, Getty Images

Durham have already hit top spot in the Division Two table, but it certainly can’t hurt their prospects to be bringing in England’s Test captain for his first appearance of the season.

Ben Stokes takes his place in the Durham side for their game against Worcestershire at New Road and should get a bowl today after the visitors won the toss and opted to field.

Along with Durham, second-placed Northamptonshire have also made an unbeaten start to the season and will look to continue that after heading up the M1 to Derbyshire.

Meanwhile, Lancashire take on Middlesex at Old Trafford and Gloucestershire and Kent, who both go into this round on the back of victories, meet at Bristol.

The headline news from a Yorkshire point of view is the return of England's Harry Brook to the starting 11 with the batting star replacing the rested Joe Root.

The duo are both available next week and are expected to line-up together for Yorkshire at home to Surrey.

The visitors have won the toss and chosen to bowl first at Edgbaston so we will have to wait to Brook in action in Birmingham.

Warwickshire obviously saw how well Olly Hannon-Dalby was doing in his loan at Worcestershire because they recalled him yesterday and he is straight into their starting 11 today.

Two sides who experienced differing emotions at the start of the week meet at Sophia Gardens.

Glamorgan's victory over Hampshire was their first at this level in 21 years, and was made all the more impressive by the fact they only batted once.

Captain Kiran Carlson - who was named the division's play of the round - hit a double century, and put on a sensational 318-run partnership with Zain ul Hassan to make it all happen, before Timm van der Gugten and Mason Crane took 15 wickets on the third day to secure the result.

Somerset began their week with a first defeat of the campaign, by 75 runs to Yorkshire in Taunton, despite having looked in a strong position going into the final day.

The loss cost Somerset their place at the summit of Division One, and they will be eager to get back there as quickly as possible.

Some good news in the dressing room in between last week's loss and today's fixture were the contract extensions of Thomas Rew and Josh Thomas. The latter takes his place in the line-up again today.

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Essex safely negotiated the second half of their last game at Surrey to save the game.

But it’s been an underwhelming start to the season with defeat to Warwickshire and Somerset and they currently lie eighth in the table.

Hampshire arrive at Chelmsford no doubt reeling from last week’s shellacking by an innings to Glamorgan.

It was their second innings defeat of the season and they currently prop up the table.

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Bit of a Last Dance feel about Sussex this season with their financial problems and potential break up of their squad.

Their title bid got off to a great start by winning their first two games but they were hit by defeat to Surrey last week.

Leicestershire are seeking their first win of the season. The only side in Divison One yet to win.

After two solid draws, they took a 10-wicket hammering by Notts in the last round.

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Remember the drama of last September, when Nottinghamshire’s Ben Slater held his nerve – and the vital catch in the deep – to dismiss Surrey’s last man Tom Lawes at The Oval?

Surrey certainly won’t have forgotten that gripping 20-run defeat. It was the moment that their three-year stranglehold on the County Championship title loosened and a few days later the pennant was on its way to Trent Bridge.

And that’s today’s venue for the Brown Caps’ rematch with Notts – the team who finally wrested the title away from south London and, after four rounds of fixtures, are in pole position to defend it.

The champions head the table by eight points after a resounding 10-wicket win against neighbours Leicestershire last weekend, while Surrey climbed to second place after picking up their first victory of the campaign.

Having started off with three consecutive draws, Surrey finally broke that sequence against Sussex at The Oval, although they had to work hard on the final day to beat both the clock and the rain.

The next four days won’t decide the destiny of the championship – but it’s a great chance for one of these heavyweights to strike a psychological blow against their rivals.

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Good morning, the County Championship action is coming thick and fast and we are ready for another four days of action.

There is a full fixture list in this round with five matches in Division One and four in Division Two.

We have a couple of headliners back in action too, with Ben Stokes and Harry Brook putting on their county shirts for the first time this season.

Hope you're all warmed up and ready to enjoy another round with us so without any further ado let's take a look at what's coming up.