Bottom placed Northants host top of the table Yorkshire as the latest round of CricInfo Championship games gets under way.

The hosts will be desperate to lift themselves off the bottom of the table and record their first win of the season, but have a tough task in store as the Championship leaders descend upon them.

Yorkshire are weakened by the loss of star players Gough, Vaughan, White, and Hoggard on England duty – or to injury. But Lehmann, Lumb, and Wood all scored centuries in the convincing victory over Leicestershire and Steven Kirby is in outstanding form with the ball.

"The lad has done well," Yorkshire coach Arnie Sidebottom said, referring to Kirby. "Naturally we are very pleased but Northampton could be a different ball game. They may be bottom but they are still a very good outfit. Hopefully we can bat and bowl as well as we have been doing. We have just got to keep going because they are all big games."

Batsman Mal Loye and Michael Hussey are in good form for Northants and much will depend on how these two bat.

Champions, Surrey, with only one win in seven games to date field a much-changed batting line-up. They are without Thorpe, Stewart, Ramprakash, Ward and Butcher through a mixture of injury and England calls. They must face Leicestershire, who sit just one point behind them in the first division table.

Essex are without Stuart Law for their trip to Somerset, while the hosts are boosted by the return of their influential skipper, Jamie Cox.

"It's a big loss," Essex coach Keith Fletcher admitted. "Stuart is a class player. But these things happen and we'll just have to cope with it."

Mark Chilton comes back for Mike Atherton as Lancashire travel to Kent. The hosts' side sees Andrew Symonds back as their overseas player.

Middlesex lead the pack chasing promotion and remain unbeaten this season. Stephen Fleming returns for their game against Notts at Trent Bridge, while the home side will look to fill the gap left by Afzaal's England call-up.

Nick Knight will be looking to remind the England selectors of his abilities Warwickshire travel to Bristol. Ian Harvey is back for Gloucestershire.

© CricInfo