County Championship 2024: Champions Surrey to start season against Lancashire

Surrey have been handed a testing trip to Emirates Old Trafford to begin their quest for a third County Championship crown in a row.

For the second straight season Lancashire will host the defending champions in the opening round of Division One fixtures, which begin on Friday, 5 April.

The sides played out a rain-affected draw to start the 2023 season but the Red Rose county won handsomely at The Oval in June.

No side has claimed three straight County Championship titles since Yorkshire in 1968 while Surrey won seven consecutive crowns between 1952-1958.

Division Two champions Durham host Hampshire while Worcestershire, promoted as runners-up, start with a derby against local rivals Warwickshire at Edgbaston.

Worcestershire then head to Trent Bridge to face Nottinghamshire as they play their first two games away from home as their New Road ground is next to the River Severn and prone to early season floods.

Relegated Middlesex begin life back in the second tier against Glamorgan at Lord's while Northamptonshire, who finished bottom of Division One, are away at Sussex.

The County Championship will begin with eight consecutive rounds played from Friday to Monday each week across April and May.

Following a break for the T20 Blast, and before England men's Test summer, the County Championship returns with back-to-back rounds in late June and early July, with each county playing one home fixture and one away.

After no Championship cricket in August last summer, two rounds take place in the month this year, starting on Thursday, 22 and Thursday, 29 August.

The first half of the month will again be saved for the Men's and Women's Hundred and the One-Day Cup.

The final round of the Championship campaign starts on Thursday, 26 September.

This season the points awarded for a draw will revert from five back to eight after last season's change, though batting bonus points will continue to be awarded for first-innings scores of 250 to 450.

The trial use of Kookaburra balls will double from two rounds of Championship matches to four, with half in the opening block of the season and two towards the back end of the campaign.

There will also be a one-year trial of the use of hybrid pitches for County Championship matches.

All but four of the 126 Group Stage matches in the T20 Blast will take place on Thursday and Friday nights or weekends - an increase of 29 from last season.

There will also be a record 22 T20 Blast/Charlotte Edwards Cup double-headers played across 16 grounds with eight double-headers across the Blast Off weekend from Thursday, 30 May to Sunday, 2 June.

The ECB has also introduced Rivals Week when 10 of the game's closest rivals battle it out in the opening block of group fixtures on 20-21 June.

The Charlotte Edwards Cup Finals Day will take place at Derby on 22 June and will mirror the format of the T20 Blast Finals Day for the first time with two semi-finals and a final all on the same bill.

The Blast Finals Day - which is already a sell-out - will take place at Edgbaston on Saturday, 14 September.

Leicestershire will begin the defence of their One-Day Cup title at home to Notts Outlaws on Wednesday, 24 July.

The Group B line-up is completed by Essex, Warwickshire, Surrey, Glamorgan, Yorkshire, Gloucestershire and Sussex.

Group A features Lancashire, Worcestershire, Kent, Middlesex, Durham, Hampshire, Northamptonshire, Somerset and Derbyshire.

The One-Day Cup Final will again take place at Trent Bridge, Nottingham, on Sunday, 22 September.

The Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy will begin on Saturday, 20 April, when defending double champions Southern Vipers will begin their campaign at South East Stars. The final will be at Leicester on Saturday, 21 September.

The Disability Premier League draft will take place in March ahead of the return of the four-team competition which will run for four weeks across August and September.

All games start on Friday, 5 April (11:00 BST)

Division One

Durham v Hampshire

Kent v Somerset

Lancashire v Surrey

Nottinghamshire v Essex

Warwickshire v Worcestershire

Division Two

Derbyshire v Gloucestershire

Middlesex v Glamorgan

Sussex v Northamptonshire

Yorkshire v Leicestershire