Also sending a loving CCLive! shout out to cricket writer John Stern and his gorgeous new wife Suzanne, who had a wonderful wedding yesterday in London.
Here, Kent won the toss and will field.
So much good reading to accompany your Sunday morning coffee.
New era England:
More Bazball:
And Azeem Rafiq’s first return to Headingley since his devastating testimony at the Houses of Parliament:
Fixtures
Division One
Chelmsford: Essex v Hampshire
Bristol: Gloucestershire v Lancashire
Northampton: Northants v Warwicks
The Oval: Surrey v Kent
Division Two
Trent Bridge: Nottinghamshire v Middlesex
Hove: Sussex v Derbyshire
New Road: Worcestershire v Glamorgan
Preamble
Good morning from The Oval! It’s a gorgeous day and Kent and Surrey are out in the nets on the right of the ground going through their paces. The hot team news from south London is that Sam Billings has been fast-tracked up to Headingley as a like-for-like replacement for Ben Foakes, who has gone down with Covid.
Eight games in progress in this round of Championship matches, and the first since the midsummer sun started its weary journey towards winter.
