The final round of matches in the LV County Championship prior to the break for the Vitality Blast take place this week with some juicy looking fixtures across both divisions with the teams on show looking to go into the hiatus with a win.
As has been the case throughout the season so far, the Indian Premier League takes up the TV attention which means we are once again left with the county streams in order to watch these games and keep up with them.
Division One
The leaders Surrey aren’t in action this week which means that the chasing pack get the chance to try and close the gap on them. Lancashire are the ones in pole position to reach Surrey and they will be looking to get the better of Essex at Old Trafford. Hampshire sit in third place in the table and they took can close the gap on Surrey if they can find a win at Taunton against a Somerset side they have already beaten easily this term. At the other end of the table Northamptonshire play host to Kent at Wantage Road in a match which might be looking back on as key to the relegation picture come the end of the season. Yorkshire host the champions Warwickshire in the other match in this division.
Special Offer
Sign up for a Boylesports account to get up to £25 in free bets! Perfect offer for this series! Click the image below for this great offer! New accounts only. 18+ T&Cs apply. Gamble Aware.
Division Two
There are just the three matches in Division Two this week with the pick of them coming from Lord’s where the leaders Middlesex are in action. They welcome the new England captain Ben Stokes and his Durham teammates while Nottinghamshire in second play host to the only other unbeaten side to Middlesex in the division. That is Derbyshire. Two of the bottom three meet at New Road where Worcestershire welcome bottom of the pile and winless Leicestershire.
Betting
Middlesex have done wonderfully well at the start of this season but I wonder if their unbeaten record will come to an end here. The Seaxes have won three matches this term but two of those were against the bottom two in Leicestershire and Sussex. The other win was a good one against Glamorgan but since then Shaheen Afridi has left for international duty and with Tom Helm out injured there is a bit of a hole in the Middlesex attack even with Toby Roland-Jones bowling well.
Middlesex are unbeaten but they needed the rain to save them against Nottinghamshire last week and that might be significant. I still think Durham are probably the second best team in this division after Nottinghamshire so the fact that Middlesex had issues with them doesn’t really bode well. Durham have Ben Stokes available here while new England call up Matthew Potts is arguably the bowler of the season so far. With a top order in decent nick and some top class options available to Scott Borthwick with the ball I expect Durham to build on their win over Glamorgan last week with another here.
Tips
Back Durham to beat Middlesex for a 3/10 stake at 1.91 with Coral
Back them here:
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2022
