Surrey will launch their bid to recapture the Rothesay County Championship title with an Easter trip to Birmingham.

They take on Warwickshire at Edgbaston on Good Friday, April 3, launching a campaign which takes them through to the final week of September.

Having gone into last season bidding to win a fourth successive title, Rory Burns’ side lost out narrowly to Nottinghamshire, who prevailed by 20 runs in a tense match at the Kia Oval in September.

Promoted Leicestershire are the first visitors to The Oval, on April 10, followed by Essex a fortnight later with Sussex arriving seven days later.

Surrey’s first opportunity to have a crack at the new champions comes on May 8 when they head to Trent Bridge, then travelling north for a first visit to Headingley in nine years for a clash with Yorkshire.

The Championship then takes a break until mid-June, Hampshire arriving at The Oval on June 17 before a trip to play the other promoted side, Glamorgan, at Cardiff.

There is another long break before the final six rounds of the competition, starting with the return match against Nottinghamshire on August 20.

The large gaps in between are filled by white ball matches, Surrey starting their Vitality Blast T20 programme against Lancashire at home. A new-look competition sees the old north/south structure split into three sections and a reduction of 14 to 12 matches. Teams play each other home and away plus one each against a team in the other groups – Lancashire travel to The Oval before a trip to take on Gloucestershire at Bristol.

Surrey will also come up against Lancashire in the opening match of the Metro Bank One Day Cup, when they are due to make a maiden visit to Sedbergh School.

The four home matches are split between The Oval and Guildford, Woodbridge Road hosting the matches against Leicestershire and Northamptonshire on July 24 and July 26 respectively.

April – Fri 3-6: Warwickshire (RCC1, Edgbaston); Fri 10-13: Leicestershire (RCC1, Kia Oval); Fri 24-27: Essex (RCC1, Kia Oval).

May – Fri 1-4: Sussex (RCC1, Kia Oval); Fri 8-11: Nottinghamshire (RCC1, Trent Bridge); Fri 15-18: Yorkshire (RCC1, Headingley); Fri 22: Lancashire (T20, Kia Oval); Sun 24: Middlesex (T20, Lord’s); Fri 29: Hampshire (T20, Utilita Bowl); Sun 31: Kent (T20, Kia Oval).

June – Wed 3: Middlesex (T20, Kia Oval); Fri 5: Hampshire (T20, Kia Oval); Sun 7-10: Hampshire (RCC1, Kia Oval); Wed 17-21: England v New Zealand (Oval Test); Fri 19-22: Glamorgan (RCC1, Cardiff); Fri 26: Sussex (T20, Hove).

July – Wed 1: Essex (T20, Chelmsford); Sat 4: Gloucestershire (T20, Bristol); Wed 8: Sussex (T20, Kia Oval); Fri 10: Kent (T20, Canterbury); Sun 12: Essex (T20, Kia Oval); Wed 15: T20 QFs; Sat 18: T20 finals day (Edgbaston); Tues 21: Lancashire (MBC, Sedbergh); Fri 24: Leicestershire (MBC, Guildford); Sun 26: Northamptonshire (MBC, Guildford); Wed 29: Warwickshire (MBC, Edgbaston); Fri 31: Gloucestershire (MBC, Bristol).

August – Wed 5: Kent (MBC, Kia Oval); Fri 7: Somerset (MBC, Taunton); Tues 11: Nottinghamshire (MBC, Kia Oval); Fri 14/Sun 16: MBC QFs/SFs; Thurs 20-23: Nottinghamshire (RCC1, Kia Oval); Thurs 27-30: Essex (RCC1, Chelmsford).

September – Wed 2-5: Yorkshire (RCC1, Kia Oval); Tues 8-11: Sussex (RCC1, Hove); Tues 15-18: Glamorgan (RCC1, Kia Oval); Thurs 24-27: Somerset (RCC1, Taunton); Sun 27: England v Sri Lanka (Oval ODI).

By Richard Spiller