County Championship returns to near-normal after two years of Covid

With the temperature gauge set to brisk, but rain largely forecast to stay away, the County Championship rolls into another season. For the first time since 2019, red-ball cricket returns to some normality, two divisions restored to their rightful place, though this time split 10 to eight.

Alongside that, cricket bids farewell to most of the Covid regulations that have haunted the past two seasons: adieu multiple-hatted slips, good riddance sanitation breaks.

Symptomatic testing, however, will remain, with players asked to withdraw from multi-day matches if they test positive. The ECB will also uphold a couple of the MCC rule changes due to come in in October: the (Covid-induced) ban on using saliva on the ball remains, and a tweak to the caught law, whereby a new batter will face the next ball bowled, even if the previous pair crossed while the catch was being taken. This follows a successful trial during last year’s Hundred.

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Each county will live stream home games, available through county websites or social media channels, or the ECB website, with BBC local radio also covering every match.

The blue riband draw of the first round is at Edgbaston, where champions Warwickshire take on recent serial underachievers, Surrey.

Warwickshire’s bowling is somewhat hobbled: reliable seamer Liam Norwell will miss the first game with a bad back after sleeping in hospital chairs following the birth of his baby; Olly Stone is still recovering from injury, while Chris Woakes will miss the first two games after an injection in his heel.

More worrying for Warwickshire fans, the coach Mark Robinson did not rule out an interest in the England job, “I have a