Adam Whitty
BBC Radio Leicester commentator

Image source, Rex Features

Quite a lot going on here today, as you can imagine.

We could have a situation this week where both of these sides complete the game and are relegated - a draw isn't helpful to either side.

The bottom two going head-to-head could, and should be fascinating, but there's a weird sense of apprehension in the air.

Hampshire, as their head coach Russell Domingo has already admitted, need a miracle to stay up after a pretty miserable season.

For Leicestershire however, their safety will be decided, in all likelihood, away from Grace Road today. A disciplinary panel will decide whether they breached pitch regulations in their win against Glamorgan, and if they are, they will be punished with a 19-point deduction, which will all but relegate them.

The Foxes have vehemently denied the charges - but we'll find out at some point today.

Hilariously, the pitch that got them into trouble - 'the mullet' as we've called it, with shaved ends and a green top - is back! That type of pitch got them into trouble before, but they have gone for it again.

The hosts will be delighted to have three big name bowlers back, Ben Green returning is huge for them, as is the fact Ian Holland can play.

There is one delayed start in the round of fixtures this morning - at the County Ground in Northampton.

No rain but it is looking rather gloomy so the toss has been put back.

The weather forecast for the area is promising so fingers crossed it's not going to be a long hold-up before these two get started.

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How are your nerves, Somerset fans?

The club have been the Championship bridesmaids before but never quite crossed the threshold.

Somerset begin this round top of the table, just four points ahead of Notts on 189 after a comfortable win (by 377 runs) over Leicestershire.

The side includes Henry Nicholls and Josh Thomas, both of whom scored centuries at Grace road - and Craig Overton, who took 7-56 in that match.

Yorkshire at Headingley may be a tougher prospect.

Tykes are fifth in the table with a healthy cushion above the drop zone after demolishing Essex at Headlingley last week by an innings and 106 runs.

Fifteen wickets fell to spin, shared between off spinner Dom Bess and left arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav.

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Nottinghamshire have never successfully defended a County Championship title and they are embroiled in a gripping three-way sprint to the finish line with current leaders Somerset and Warwickshire.

With just two matches left to play, Notts are second and sandwiched between their rivals but are only four points behind Somerset and one clear of the Bears.

Peter Moores' side will most probably need to beat Sussex to keep their dreams of a first back-to-back title alive.

But Sussex are unbeaten in their past three, with draws against Somerset and Surrey and a win against Essex.

Sussex are fourth but cannot realistically challenge for the title and Ollie Robinson - their club captain and England's hero in the Pakistan Test series - is not in the squad.

Mohammad Ali has returned to the Notts squad but has not been named in the starting XI - with New Zealander Mitchell Hay and Indian seam bowler Mukesh Kumar, who only signed for the club yesterday, the two overseas players who get the nod.

The coin has landed in favour of returning host skipper Ian Holland, who chooses to bat.

Stephen Eskinazi and Ben Mike miss this game - as Ben Green and Josh Davey come in.

Hampshire are unchanged since the last round.

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Warwickshire take on Essex in the penultimate match of the County Championship campaign very much in the three-way tussle for the Division One title.

The Bears are five points behind leaders Somerset and one point behind Notts in second and at this stage of the season a slip up from any of them could unceremoniously end their chances, so the pressure is on.

But Ed Barnard’s side are in excellent form, they have won three games and drawn once – against Notts – since the County Championship returned and play Essex off the back of an impressive two-day innings win over Glamorgan.

It’s a very different story for Essex who are in a battle to maintain their top flight status after struggling in recent matches. They have not won in their past four (L3 D1) and suffered a heavy innings defeat to Yorkshire last week when they only managed 171 in the first innings and 117 in the follow-on.

Their poor run of form has seen them slip to eighth, one place above the relegation spots.

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The pressure is off for Durham as they welcome Worcestershire to Chester-le-Street, after Ryan Campbell’s side secured the Division Two title last week and with it, promotion to the top flight.

Durham will want to see the season out in style no doubt after such a strong campaign in which they have won nine of 12 fixtures and, as the only unbeaten side across the two divisions, they will want to navigate the final two games without tasting defeat.

As if to showcase their quality, they make two changes today, with Ben Stokes and Matthew Potts coming into the side, as they start without Brydon Carse, who is unwell, and Graham Clark.

As for Worcestershire, their season has rather petered out in the past few games. The Pears had been in the promotion picture for a long while, however defeats in consecutive games to rivals Kent and Northants has ended their hopes of going up.

Pears head coach Alan Richardson said after the damaging defeat to Northants last week that his team “have to make sure we are far better” and will demand a good showing in their final two matches before having another go at promotion next season.

Richardson makes one change to his side, with Ben Gibbon in for Adam Finch.

The hosts and the visitors occupy the relegation spots going into this round, but neither are mathematically certain to go down at this point.

Leicestershire begin in ninth place of 116 after their loss to Somerset. The club can in theory end on 164 with wins plus maximum bonus points.

However that tally would dip to 145 should their be a points deduction for their pitch in thea game against Glamorgan last month.

Hampshire are bottom on 92 - and even maximum wins from here only gets the club to 136, only slightly ahead of Essex and Glamorgan - who would both pull ahead with a win apiece.

Seamer Ben Coad makes a return to the playing XI with Jack White steeping back this time.

Somerset are unchanged.

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As things stand at the moment - pending the outcome of the pitch hearing involving Leicestershire - neither Surrey nor Glamorgan are certainly not safe from the threat of relegation.

Much is at stake, therefore, as the two sides meet at the Oval, and home advantage notwithstanding, it is Surrey who will surely be the more confident.

Glamorgan have lost three of their last four matches, the last two by an innings and have only passed 200 once in a completed innings during that dismal spell.

They hit rock bottom last week as they were bowled out for 69 and 65 by Warwickshire, but have all-rounder Zain ul-Hassan back from injury, while Surrey have England's Dan Lawrence back in their side.

Division One

Chelmsford: Essex v Warwickshire

Essex won toss and will bat

Leicester: Leicestershire v Hampshire

Leicestershire won toss and put Hampshire in

Oval: Surrey v Glamorgan

Surrey won toss and put Glamorgan in

Hove: Sussex v Nottinghamshire

Sussex won toss and put Notts in

Headingley: Yorkshire v Somerset

Yorkshire won toss and will bat

Division Two

Riverside: Durham v Worcestershire

Worcestershire won toss and put Durham in

Bristol: Gloucestershire v Middlesex

Middlesex won toss and will bat

Canterbury: Kent v Lancashire

Kent won the toss and put Lancashire in

Northampton: Northamptonshire v Derbyshire

Start delayed

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Timing is everything in cricket - and not just when attempting to play a Goweresque cover drive.

Losing key players is very bad news when your team is in a two-way battle for promotion with just two games left, as is the case with Northamptonshire and Kent.

Northants will be without spinner Yuzi Chahal - 19 wickets in four games - because of what the club say are "prior commitments" against a Derbyshire side boosted by the return of Pakistan's Mohammad Abbas.

Kent, meanwhile, take on Lancashire without Hasan Mahmud - 26 wickets in four games - who has returned home for Bangladesh international duty.

Bottom club Gloucestershire have opted to rest seamer Will Williams - seven wickets against Lancashire for last week - for their home game against Middlesex.

We had a few delayed starts and one complete washout on the opening day last week.

It looks like we may get one or two hold-ups/interruptions today as well.

The BBC Weather summary says: "Patchy light rain across the south-east this morning, but turning drier in the afternoon with sunshine. The north and west will see a mix of bright spells and showers."

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Not much has changed since last week's round of County Championship games began - Somerset, Nottinghamshire and Warwickshire are still locked together in a battle for the title.

Just five points separate first from third and all three teams are away from home this week. Which one will be the first to blink?

Read a full analysis of the state of the title race by clicking here.

Durham have already secured the Division Two title so it's left to Northamptonshire and Kent to slug it out for the second promotion place over the final two weeks - with just a two-point gap between them.

Welcome to our coverage of nine games. Play starts at 10:30.