The third group of the County Championship looks the weakest on paper but the same opportunities await the six counties in Group 3 as they do in the other two groups so we could well get plenty of competitive cricket in this section.
Plenty of the bigger hitters lie elsewhere in the competition but with the likes of Yorkshire and Lancashire in this group we should get some compelling cricket. Here is our Group 3 county-by-county guide:
Glamorgan
Last Season: 6th in Central Group
Captain: Chris Cooke
Overseas Player(s): Andy Balbirnie, Marnus Labuschagne, Michael Neser
Key Players: Marnus Labuschagne & Timm van der Gugten
One to Watch: Prem Sisodiya – has had a taste of the first team and if we have a dry summer he could come into his own at the back end of the campaign on a Cardiff square that won’t lack for use.
Title Odds: 66/1 General
Red ball cricket hasn’t really been the strength of Glamorgan over the last couple of years and you sense that on paper at least they look no stronger than in previous seasons despite the likelihood that they will have Marnus Labuschagne available from May onwards. This is the centenary year of the Welsh county though so that might act as an incentive for them to push hard throughout the season but a lack of depth looks a huge issue.
Glamorgan could well go better in the white ball formats of the game which the likes of David Lloyd, Chris Cooke and Callum Taylor are better suited to. If they are to progress out of this group they will need their senior batsmen to catch fire throughout the campaign and hope that there is an underrated prospect or two who shine brighter than they are expected. Even then you’ve got to fancy the others in this section.
Kent
Last Season: 2nd in South Group
Captain: Sam Billings
Overseas Player(s): Miguel Cummins (until June), Heino Kuhn
Key Players: Joe Denly & Darren Stevens
One to Watch: Jordan Cox – enjoyed a record breaking season at Canterbury and with the IPL taking Sam Billings away initially and England potentially controlling Zak Crawley and Joe Denly, the 20-year-old could have a huge role to play again.
Title Odds: 10/1 General
Kent had a better red ball season than many expected last season given that they were without some big players for much of the year. That likelihood is expected to repeat itself this year while England are forced to utilise bubbles so the experience of having gone well without their gun players should serve them well. If England don’t want the services of Denly this season then there is plenty of improvement to come from Kent, particularly while Miguel Cummins is around.
It might be that the limited overs formats remains the best chance of progression for the Canterbury side but if their seamers step up again and Darren Stevens hasn’t lost any of his potency with the ball then Kent can certainly compete in this section. The assumption is that they’ll find a couple too good so reaching the first division will be tough but with a pretty deep batting line up they have a commodity not too many have.
Lancashire
Last Season: 3rd in North Group
Captain: Dane Vilas
Overseas Player(s): Dane Vilas, Jackson Bird
Key Players: Keaton Jennings & Tom Bailey
One to Watch: Tom Hartley – saw plenty of action last season and if England ever appreciate what they could have with Matt Parkinson a bigger opening might appear.
Title Odds: 10/1 BetVictor
Lancashire saw their Bob Willis Trophy campaign end before it even began last season after early defeats. They rallied hard to finish third in a tricky North Group but will be eager to go much better this season. The immediate problem for them would appear to be a lack of batting depth. I never like it when a team has their two best players opening the batting in county cricket because the new ball is notoriously hard to escape in this country.
The lower order was full of youth and inexperience last season and although Luke Wells offers up a more seasoned option there will still be some of that youth in the side this season. If they are to go deep in this competition those players will need to be counted. The good thing is that they have a strong looking bowling attack which will be much better if England have little to do with Saqib Mahmood this season.
Northamptonshire
Last Season: 4th in Central Group
Captain: Adam Rossington
Overseas Player(s): Wayne Parnell, Mohammad Nabi (T20)
Key Players: Ben Curran & Ben Sanderson
One to Watch: Emilio Gay – had a solid start to First-class cricket under no pressure in the Bob Willis Trophy last season and will be wanting to show he can handle it in what will be a more serious campaign this term.
Title Odds: 50/1 BetVictor
When the County Championship returns to the two division format when normality comes back to us all, whenever that may be, Northamptonshire will be playing top flight cricket having been promoted in 2019. It might well transpire that two years of no promotion, relegation or even strong competitive red ball cricket in terms of how their performance affects their future status, will help them as they have had the chance to blood some young players who look like they can go forward with them.
One thing that Northamptonshire never seem to lack is good experienced bowlers and the addition of Wayne Parnell to replace Brett Hutton is a clever one. He and Ben Sanderson can be a potent new ball pairing and then the likes of Gareth Berg and Simon Kerrigan can use their experience to keep the pressure on. If this young Northants batting line up can improve on what they’ve offered up previously, if there is a sleeper in Group 3 it could be them.
Sussex
Last Season: 6th in South Group
Captain: Ben Brown
Overseas Player(s): Travis Head (from May), Stiaan van Zyl
Key Players: Phil Salt & Ollie Robinson
One to Watch: Tom Haines – isn’t a newcomer to the scene but with the transition over the winter he is set for a deeper role this term and has warmed up for the year in good form.
Title Odds: 16/1 Sky Bet
Sussex started the Bob Willis Trophy strongly last season but they faded pretty fast as they chose to use the campaign to blood for the white ball competition and the future rather than put all their eggs in red ball success. That has led to an enormous turnover in personnel in the close season, some surprising, some less so. It leaves a tight squad but one which certainly doesn’t lack for quality if everyone remains fit and available.
Sussex will always be connected to being better suited to the limited overs formats with the likes of Phil Salt, Jofra Archer and Chris Jordan all internationals in that sphere, but Ian Salisbury will be tasked with at least challenging on the four day scene even if they don’t have the consistency to get deep in the latter stages of the competition. If Travis Head and Stiaan van Zyl have big seasons to bolster the batting Sussex might not be ready to be overlooked.
Yorkshire
Last Season: 1st in North Group
Captain: Steve Patterson
Overseas Player(s): Duanne Olivier, Lockie Ferguson (T20)
Key Players: Adam Lyth & David Willey
One to Watch: Jordan Thompson – was a surprise and welcome emergence last season and should get the game time to make a bigger contribution this term.
Title Odds: 7/1 General
Yorkshire were the unlucky team last season in that they were the group winner who didn’t pick up enough points to go through to the final. Three wins and two draws made up their Bob Willis Trophy campaign and if they keep going on that sort of level then you would expect them to push for a place in the final once again, especially as a good young core of their squad have had the experience of another season under their belts.
In years gone by you would always fear for Yorkshire in that England would disrupt their campaign but maybe that is less likely this year with Joe Root around for the early stages of the season and questions over whether Jonny Bairstow will see any Test action this summer, they might see more of their star players than usual. David Willey looks to have been forgotten by England and we’re not yet at the stage where Harry Brook and Ben Coad are going to be considered so this could be the strongest Yorkshire squad for a while in terms of senior players. They should go very close again.
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