Morning everyone. The dear old County Championship – forever derided, shunted into unwelcoming corners of the season, and no longer even an automatic barometer of England-worthiness – could do with an exciting denouement this year rather than just another Surrey procession. And, thankfully, we now have a chance of one after Somerset’s win over Durham and the champions’ draw at Trent Bridge put Lewis Gregory’s side within reach – 24 points – of the leaders.

Handily, they also meet this week at Taunton, with Somerset buoyant after white-ball successes that have them eyeing an unlikely treble, with places at Blast finals day and the One Day Cup to look forward to. Surrey meanwhile have eight players missing on England duty, with the T20 series against Australia crash-landing straight into the schedule after the Tests against Sri Lanka have concluded. Surrey though have added to their formidable depth by nonchalantly signing Shakib Al Hasan on a one-match deal, enabling the veteran former Bangladesh captain to get some red-ball cricket under his belt before their Test series against India. (It also gets him away from the political turmoil of his home country, in which he has become embroiled due to his role as a lawmaker in the party of the ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina.)

Elsewhere, third-placed Hampshire travel to doomed Kent, but the relegation scramble just above them looks tasty with improving Nottinghamshire visiting Essex, whose title hopes were torpedoed by their surprise defeat to Worcestershire, and seventh-placed Durham hosting Lancashire in eighth.

We’ll be keeping an eye on the second tier too, as leaders Sussex host Glamorgan and Middlesex and Yorkshire duke it out for the second promotion slot behind them. Middlesex take on Gloucestershire at Lord’s while Yorkshire visit Leicestershire, who have an outside chance themselves.

And it all starts, in the autumnal gloaming, at 10.30, rather more sensibly than at the Test, which is still scheduled for 11am, not that we’ll get a full day’s play at the Oval today.

Those fixtures in full:

Division One:

Durham v Lancashire (Chester-le-Street)

Essex v Nottinghamshire (Chelmsford)

Kent v Hampshire (Canterbury)

Somerset v Surrey (Taunton)

Worcestershire v Warwickshire (Worcester)

Division Two

Leicestershire v Yorkshire (Leicester)

Middlesex v Gloucestershire (Lord’s)

Northamptonshire v Derbyshire (Northampton)

Sussex v Glamorgan (Hove)