Find out what happened across the LV= Insurance County Championship on the first day of the new season
Division One
Chelmsford (first day of four): Essex 272-4, Kent
Essex openers Sir Alastair Cook and Nick Browne battled through fierce winds to record a 220-run stand that threatened to demoralise Kent on the opening day of the LV= Insurance County Championship at Chelmsford.
It took the men of Kent exactly five-and-a-half hours of unremitting toil and strife to finally break the stubborn partnership when Australian debutant Jackson Bird forced Browne into his only mistake in an innings that spanned 253 balls, contained 13 fours and brought him 107 runs.
Browne's dismissal did not upset Cook's concentration, at least in the short term, and the former England captain duly clocked up the 70th first-class century of his distinguished career before driving loosely at Bird four balls later and edging behind for 100.
However, the platform built by Cook and Browne threatened to be wasted as present England batsman Dan Lawrence departed lbw for seven, having played no shot.
Southampton (first day of four): Hampshire 109-0, Somerset 180
Under-pressure pair James Hildreth and Joe Weatherley proved their worth with half-centuries as Hampshire enjoyed an impressive opening day to the 2022 LV= Insurance County Championship.
Hildreth ended last season out the Somerset side, while Weatherley averaged 18 last season and only has a single Championship century.
But the former ploughed a lone furrow by scoring 87, his 126th first-class score over 50, with absent-plagued Somerset collapsing twice to get bowled out for 180.
While Weatherley made a mockery of the potential axe above his head by seeing off the new ball to reach an unblemished 65 – Hampshire closed on 109 without loss, just 71 runs behind.
Thursday was Ricardo Vasconcelos' first day on the job as Northamptonshire's red-ball captain (David Rogers/Getty Images)
Northampton (first day of four): Northamptonshire, Gloucestershire 164-8
Ben Sanderson served notice Northamptonshire are ready to defy the odds on a rain-affected first day of the LV= Insurance County Championship season against Gloucestershire at Wantage Road.
Sanderson backed up new skipper Ricardo Vasconcelos' decision to bowl in seamer-friendly conditions to return 4 for 38 as the visitors struggled to 164 for 8 in between the rain squalls.
That total would have been even lower but for the obduracy of England hopeful James Bracey, who defied conditions to top score with an unbeaten 77 before bad light ended play.
Edgbaston (first day of four): Warwickshire, Surrey 168-3
Ryan Patel started the season with a flourish as Surrey made 168 for three against champions Warwickshire on a heavily rain-affected opening day of the LV= Insurance County Championship campaign at Edgbaston.
Patel averages just 24.50 in first class cricket but showed his potential by batting with verve to race to a 56-ball half-century after Surrey won the toss and chose to bat.
The 24-year-old struck 75 (107 balls) in an opening stand of 117 with Rory Burns before Warwickshire hit back among a series of rain breaks. Burns (41, 77 balls) and Patel fell within four balls of each other, albeit two hours apart either side of a heavy downpour.
Ollie Pope then moved sweetly to an unbeaten 40 (46 balls) in the last session of a day which brought the shivering crowd just 45.5 overs.
A nippy start to the County Championship season for everyone, including the umpires... (Matthew Lewis/Getty Images)
Division Two
Cardiff (first day of four): Glamorgan 164-4, Durham
Just 47 overs were possible on a day curtailed by weather in the LV= Insurance County Championship match between Glamorgan and Durham in Cardiff. The home side reached 164 for four at the close on a day that was full of weather delays after the lunch break.
It was the visitors who won the toss and put Glamorgan into bat. Useful contributions of 28 from David Lloyd and 24 from Sam Northeast gave Glamorgan a decent start but two wickets in eight balls just before lunch brought Durham back into the game.
It was Colin Ingram who was the star for Glamorgan finishing on 71 not out before a huge hailstorm took the players off the field for the final time just after tea.
Leicester (first day of four): Leicestershire, Worcestershire
Veteran Leicestershire seamer Chris Wright took 3 for 33 as Worcestershire closed on 118 for 4 after a rain-affected opening day of the LV= Insurance County Championship season at the Uptonsteel County Ground in Leicester.
The first two scheduled sessions were lost to a series of squally showers before the Division Two rivals squeezed in 26 overs either side of another stoppage.
After opting to bat first on what looked like a good batting surface, Worcestershire slipped to 32 for three, with former Warwickshire batsman Ed Pollock and Pakistan Test No.3 Azhar Ali both out for single-figure scores on debut.
They stumbled further to 45 for 4 before Brett D'Oliveira (34 not out) and Ed Barnard (41 not out) fought back in an unbroken stand of 73, although both were dropped in the slips.
Chris Rushworth was straight back in the wickets for Durham (Dan Mullan/Getty Images)
Lord's (first day of four): Middlesex, Derbyshire
Stephen Eskinazi's stylish century propelled Middlesex into a strong position against a depleted Derbyshire attack on the opening day of the LV= Insurance County Championship.
Eskinazi struck an accomplished knock of 118 – his eighth first-class hundred and his first at Lord's in five years – as he and teenage opener Josh de Caires shared a second-wicket stand of 186.
De Caires, the 19-year-old son of former England captain Michael Atherton, registered his maiden first-class half-century in an innings of 80 that helped to lay the foundations for the home side to post 307 for 4.
It was a difficult day for Billy Godleman's team, who opted to put Middlesex in but quickly lost the services of on-loan seamer Ryan Sidebottom, pulling up with a suspected hamstring problem just 1.1 overs into his Derbyshire debut.
Hove (first day of four): Sussex 302-6, Nottinghamshire
Tom Clark, with an unbeaten 82, was one of three batsmen to make fifties as Sussex made a promising start against Nottinghamshire in their LV= Insurance County Championship opener at blustery Hove.
Tom Haines and Ali Orr began impressively after Sussex were put in, putting on 110 in 36 overs before left-arm spinner Liam Patterson-White led a fightback for the second division promotion favourites.
Liam Patterson-White bowled unchanged until the second new ball was taken after coming on in the 22nd over, sending down 30 overs.
He was brought back into the attack to bowl four more overs before stumps to finish with three for 69, but by then Clark and Delray Rawlins seized back the initiative on a fluctuating day, adding 87 in 21 overs for the sixth wicket to help take Sussex to 302 for 6 at stumps.
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