Durham will begin their bid for third consecutive LV County Championship with a home match against newly-promoted Essex.

Having claimed the trophy for the first time in their history in 2008 under Dale Benkenstein's captaincy, the north-east county successfully defended it with Will Smith at the helm this summer.

The England and Wales Cricket Board announced the first-class fixtures for 2010 on Thursday morning and the list showed that Durham's season will get under way with the traditional curtain-raiser against the MCC, a three-day match with dates yet to be fixed, before welcoming Essex to Chester-le-Street in the second round of Championship fixtures.

Durham sealed the crown two years ago in the final round of matches, beating Kent, but face the toughest of opponents in their last match next term with title hopefuls Somerset - led next season by Marcus Trescothick - visiting the Riverside on September 13.

Other noteworthy fixtures include the first Roses clash of the season at Headingley on May 29 and 2005 Ashes hero Matthew Hoggard's first match as captain of new county Leicestershire on April 9 against Northamptonshire.

England spinner Monty Panesar, meanwhile, will make his return to Northamptonshire with Sussex on May 18.

Panesar, who has lost both his Test place and his central contract during his recent downturn in form, was released by his home county a year early but this week made a £10,000 goodwill payment to the club in recognition of their role in his development.

The fixture list also reveals the logistics of the revamped limited-overs game in England and Wales next season.

Following lengthy consultations last season there will be no domestic 50-over cricket in 2010, with the ECB favouring an expanded Twenty20 Cup and a revamped 40-over competition.

There are scheduled to be 151 Twenty20 clashes this summer, including finals day at Hampshire's Rose Bowl on August 14.

Middlesex have already whetted the appetite for that competition with the signing of Australia legend Adam Gilchrist for the group stages, and the dashing wicketkeeper-batsman could make his county bow at Lord's against Sussex on June 3.

The new ECB 40 League which will take place predominantly on Sundays, begins on April 25 and runs until a Lord's final on September 18.

The newly-convened Recreational XI make their first appearance against Surrey on May 2, while Holland enter the fray against Yorkshire on May 15.

Across the two limited-overs competitions there will be 61 floodlit matches.

Surrey, Middlesex, Sussex and Essex all have tour matches against Bangladesh, while Ireland, Middlesex and Derbyshire will line up against the visiting Australians.

Leicestershire, Worcestershire and Somerset have been selected to host Pakistan.