Good morning to Gary Naylor, who as per, is making a lot of sense:

“If these early rounds were an opportunity for England players to find a bit of form at a lower level, not many have taken it have they? Could it be that it’s not that much lower a level after all - just a different challenge? Rob Key was interviewed yesterday saying that he wanted promising pacers to go from 80mph to 85mph. Why not say develop a wobble seam delivery or an in-ducker or a cutter? We’re not Australians and our best bowlers in history have been masters of movement and control not pace and bounce.”

To Blackpool where Keaton Jennings has just passed fifty, bunting Callum Parkinson down the ground for six and gliding Ben Raine away through point for four. Ben Stokes is now bowling at the Lancashire opener, bustling in with purpose. Stokes looking every inch a lean and tat laden Vincent Van Gogh.

It’s all go at Hove!

Sussex’s second dig is snuffed out in quick time – Tom Alsop flashing to third slip and falling for 86 and a couple of deliveries later Ollie Robinson has his furniture rearranged. Feng Shui it ain’t. George Hill finishing with 3-44 off his 22.5 overs.

Yorkshire need 183 to win. It could be all over today on the south coast.

Enjoyed this high level nonchalance from Keith Barker:

What better way to spend a Sunday morning than a beer with breakfast with the lugubrious tones of Vic Marks. He’s in fine fettle on the Somerset stream with Migael Pretorius keeping Joe Denly honest, zoning in on the pads and stumps. Denly quirts a single off the inside edge to bring Joey Evison onto strike. BOLWED ‘IM! Pretorius nips one back and sends the leg stump cartwheeling! Kent 147-6 and Somerset holding all the aces.

Just to say the comments BTL will be activated any moment. The bods on the desk are on the case. Andrew Benton emails in to ask if I’ve had a late/disturbed night? Well, yes but no more so than usual with a toddler... In this instance I can claim innocence. Promise.

The Simon Harmer machine keeps on twirling and whirring. The wily spinner has removed nightwatchman Michael Rae at Chelmsford. Warwickshire spluttering at 53-6 but they do have a handsome lead of 288 runs. Essex creeping back into the contest though.

Easy like a Sontag Morgen? Already a couple of wickets to fall in the first few minutes of the day.

Will Young has nicked off to Kyle Abbott to see Notts go to 33-2 at Trent Bridge against Hampshire. Joe Clarke strides to the wicket with purpose in the midlands.

Unlucky for some – namely Aussies – Dan Lawrence has fallen for 87 at The Oval! Ben Gibbon digs one in short and Lawrence won’t be happy to get out to it. A half tracker in truth and he spoons the pull shot to Nathan Smith on the square leg boundary.

The Making of Jimmy

It all started with a phone call. “It was highly unusual for Val to ring me. In fact I don’t think she ever did before or since, that wasn’t her style at all,” says John Stanworth, recalling how Valerie Brown, the wife of the then captain of Burnley CC, Peter Brown, telephoned one Sunday evening in the late-90s.

It would be a tipoff worth interrupting Antiques Roadshow. A different kind of rare and inestimable commodity was about to be unearthed. “Val just said: ‘The lads and Peter keep talking about this lad, he’s a bowler. Have you heard of James Anderson?’”

“I haven’t actually,” Stanworth replied. She said: “Would you mind coming down to have a look at him?”

Forgive the shameless self plugging but I really enjoyed doing this piece on James Anderson’s early days with the help of the Brown family and John Stanworth. As phone calls go, Val Brown’s is quite an important one in the history of English cricket…

The 11am bell clangs around the grounds. Let’s play!

Bright sunshine in Blackpool as Colin Ackerman, shirt billowing gently in the sea breeze, bowls to Keaton Jennings. Lancs lead by 212, can Durham get themselves back into this game? They might need a certain Benjamin…

Scores on the doors:

DIVISION ONE

Chelmsford: Essex 162 v Warwickshire 397 and 43-5

Stanley Park: Lancashire 357 and 91-2 v Durham 236

Trent Bridge: Nottinghamshire 235 and 33-1 v Hampshire 276

Taunton: Somerset 554 v Kent 108-5

The Oval: Surrey 213 and 342-5 v Worcestershire 128

DIVISION TWO

Derby: Derbyshire 170-2 v Northamptonshire 422

Sophia Gardens: Glamorgan 183 v Middlesex 303-6

Grace Road: Leicestershire 133-5 v Gloucestershire 706-6 dec

Hove: Sussex 150 and 194-7 v Yorkshire 195

Here’s Tanya’s round up of yesterday’s action:

The Blackpool tower peered over the wall of Stanley Park, curious for the England Test captain’s batting return. But, despite being greeted by warm applause, the England Test captain’s batting return was a brief one – 16 balls – before getting an outside edge to Nathan Lyon and being scooped up at second slip for two.

Lyon – sunglasses, long sleeves, huge shirt – finished with four for 59, but had to share the limelight with the 20-year-old Tom Aspinwall, bowling for the first time in Championship cricket. Aspinwall, who has turned out for England Under-19s, stalks to his mark like a man chasing down a supermarket manager, but it was the testing spells he sent down, running in from the South End, that stuck in the memory of those watching from the sunny banks, drifting through the pages of dog-eared paperbacks and picking up a 99 from the ice cream van.

Aspinwall’s first wicket, Colin Ackermann, was plucked out of the air by Keaton Jennings. The next four he collected in 27 balls after tea, including David Bedingham for a brilliant 101, his third century of the season. Aspinwall led Lancashire off, grinning broadly and holding the ball high in his right hand, saying afterwards he was “a bit shell-shocked” to be bowling to Ben Stokes, alongside Lyon.

Durham’s post-tea collapse left them with a first-innings deficit of 121. They needed something special and it came in a tumbling catch by Matthew Potts off Stokes, clinging on as he landed with a thud. Stokes thought he’d got a second, but the umpire disagreed, and he grew increasingly frustrated as Lancashire eased into the distance.

Elsewhere, Gloucestershire knocked up their highest first-class score, 706-6 declared, to the backdrop of Arron Banks, the co-founder of Leave.EU, declaring an interest in overthrowing the board of the club. Graeme van Buuren, the captain, picked up the third century of the innings, before Leicestershire folded despite a half century from Rishi Patel.

A century from Mark Stoneman put Middlesex in a good position against Glamorgan and a determined 77 from Tom Alsop gave Sussex a lead of 149 against Yorkshire.

In Division One, Che Simmons, “the next Jofra Archer”, had a scorching first spell in first-class cricket with Warwickshire – 6-2-10-3 – to rip through the Essex middle order.

There were four wickets for Nottinghamshire’s Ollie Stone at Trent Bridge, but Liam Dawson (95) and Keith Barker (74) gave Hampshire a first-innings lead; Surrey rubbed Worcestershire’s noses in the dirt, Lawrence 86 not out, the lead 427.

Preamble

James Wallace