With the assertion by the England management that county cricket performances matter again and with one or two England spots up for grabs — most notably at the top of the order — it was Durham’s Emilio Gay who was the first to give the selectors a nudge.

In his second season at Durham, the 25-year-old scored an aggressive 128 from 141 balls batting at No 3 against Kent. Gay was due to play for Italy in the recent T20 World Cup but injured his hamstring playing for the England Lions in Australia.

The player eligibility rules allow for people playing for associate nations like Italy to then play for a full Test member although he would not then be allowed to be return to play for Italy — Gay was born in Bedford but has Italian family connections.

POTTS has Crawley & we have our second. ☝️#ForTheNorth pic.twitter.com/T0JSsnYxRP

— Durham Cricket (@DurhamCricket) April 3, 2026

His century, the first for any player in this year’s County Championship, came in front of the England captain Ben Stokes, who was at Chester-Le-Street doing some training — his return to playing has been delayed until May while he recovers from the fractured cheek he sustained after being hit by a ball in the Durham nets in February.

Other England opening hopefuls had a less successful day. Gay’s Durham team-mate Ben McKinney lasted just nine balls before being trapped lbw for eight, while Glamorgan’s Asa Tribe, touted as one of the main contenders for ­England, managed just 11 runs against Yorkshire before nicking behind to Jonny Bairstow off Jack White’s bowling when play began late in the afternoon after a rain delay in Cardiff.

Ben Duckett sat out the opening round of matches and Zak Crawley, his opening partner in Tests, knows he has to score plenty of runs in the early block of matches if he is going to keep his ­England spot. The Kent opener spent most of the day in the field at Chester-le-Street as Durham made 335 leaving Crawley to bat out 16 overs in the evening gloom.

He lasted just 12 balls though before his England team-mate Matthew Potts got one to nip back in and Crawley’s defensive technique was found wanting as he was pinned on the back pad. Before his dismissal, he had hit two lovely cover drives to the boundary.

Warwickshire v Surrey

Edgbaston (first day of four; Warwickshire won toss): Surrey have scored 328 all out against Warwickshire

Warwickshire’s seam attack ensured Surrey’s line-up of six England Test batsmen at the head of the order wilted to 65 for six, eight balls after lunch (Neville Scott writes). But a mottled pitch grew friendlier and Tom Lawes, the 23-year-old ­England Lions pace bowler who may well become the next Surrey man to claim a Test cap, belied his limited batting record with a bravura career-best 83. Ben Foakes, the one top-six man to get away, continued to a measured 128 after the pair had added 155.

With Edgbaston hosting the first wicket to fall of the 2026 season, the championship’s earliest-ever dismissal proved to be a comical run-out. Pushing to mid-on and attempting an impossible single, Rory Burns, the visiting captain, fell for four when partner Dom Sibley resolutely refused to stir.
Sibley then watched Ethan Bamber in turn remove Jamie Smith, driving ambitiously, Ollie Pope, dropped on 16 off Ed Barnard’s fifth ball as Warwickshire’s new captain but leg-before four runs later, and Dan Lawrence whose loose drive at what became the morning’s last ball ended a brief stay of five.

Sibley and Ralphie Albert followed in the first full over on resumption, Chris Woakes ending the former’s 85-ball stay for 25 and ripping out ­Ralphie ­Albert’s middle staump for a second-ball duck. Albert’s celebrated relative, the snooker player Jimmy White, had put the message “proud grandad time” on X. He will surely repeat it often given the 18-year old’s rich promise as a ­spinner.

For his part Lawes has not yet quite fulfilled his own promise but had the confidence to surge past a third career fifty from 79 balls before bringing a fine running catch from Dan Mousley in the deep after tea, top-edging a hook at Nathan Gilchrist.

Surrey’s batting was for once crucially fallible in their title-deciding, penultimate-match defeat by subsequent champions Nottinghamshire last year when, needing 71, their last five wickets fell for 50. But Foakes, surviving a chance on 45, completed his first hundred and added another 108 with Sean Abbott as here resistance continued.

At No 9, Abbott, the Australian late signing as overseas seamer for the first eight championship rounds this campaign, himself added a rapid 40 before flashing and being caught behind before Foakes, last out, finally fell with five balls unbowled. Surrey’s formidable depth had prevailed with stands for both their seventh and eight wickets their highest against these opponents.

Essex make first sub under new rule

Utilita Bowl (day one of four; Hampshire won toss) Essex have scored 219 for three wickets against Hampshire

The ECB’s new regulation permitting a like-for-like replacement of an injured player for the remainder of the match came into effect on the very first day of the season. What was more, it was for one of the captains (Ivo Tennant writes).

Tom Westley, leading Essex and once of England, had made 28 runs when he retired with an index finger injury and it was soon decided that his place would be taken by Noah Thain, who will not be permitted to bowl but will in effect be his side’s 12th batsman.

In years gone by Westley, who was struck on his right glove by a quick ball from Sonny Baker under the floodlights, would have wanted to bat in the second innings if Essex had a marked chance of winning or saving the match. The 12th man would have taken his place in the field. Now, the referee, Steve Davis, a former Test umpire, was in agreement that this trial ruling was appropriate. The ECB expect it to come into being in as many as a quarter of County Championship matches played this season.

Essex will, however, still be weakened in that as well as losing their captain — Sam Cook will deputise for him — his replacement is not as experienced or as yet as good a batsman. Thain is an all-rounder but will not bowl because Westley was unlikely to do so in this match. The Essex medical official who has travelled to Hampshire assessed the injury and an x-ray revealed a suspected fracture. Chris Silverwood, the club’s coach, said: “The substitute rule makes sense and is a good one.”

Alan Fordham, the ECB’s head of cricket operations, encouraged counties this week to “do the right thing” when deciding whether to use replacements and warned that the ruling, which also incorporates substitutes in the case of family illness or birth, could be amended in future if teams did not play fair.

Westley will not be able to play for eight days so will be unavailable for his club’s fixture against Somerset at Chelmsford next week, except as a replacement for the last three days of the fixture, assuming he is fit by then.

Thain will bat on the second day of this match if Hampshire can dismiss Matt Critchley, who was three runs short of a century, including 15 fours, when he and Charlie Allison, unbeaten on 60, came off for bad light with 25.2 overs remaining. In that sense, Westley, who had been dropped at second slip before he retired, was not missed.

Hampshire had put Essex in on an overcast morning and removed Dean Elgar, caught in the slips in Kyle Abbott’s opening over, and Paul Walter, who edged Baker to Ben Brown. When Wiaan Mulder had his middle stump knocked out by Abbott, Essex were struggling at 67 for three.

The match had begun with a minute’s silence to mark the death of Robin Smith, the former Hampshire and ­England batsman, in Australia during the winter. The players wore black armbands and a film featuring some of his career highlights was shown on the scoreboard.