The third week of the County Championship season begins on Thursday on a day where all 18 counties are on show for the first time in this campaign. With English cricket now under a new director you sense the attention on this competition is about to increase.
Unfortunately that doesn’t mean there will be any TV coverage of these matches as it is the IPL which is getting that attention but all the county streams are of wonderful quality these days so they are a perfectly acceptable replacement.
Division 1
Surrey hit the front with an emphatic win over Hampshire last week and they will look to preserve top spot against a Somerset side who have taken a couple of brutal beatings to open up their campaign. The pick of the matches this week comes from Edgbaston where the last two champions meet as Warwickshire host Essex in a clash between two sides yet to taste defeat this term. Despite their loss last week Hampshire are still in third place and they’ll look to bounce back when they make the trip to Kent. Jimmy Anderson returns to action at Old Trafford this week when Lancashire host Gloucestershire while the other match sees Northamptonshire taking on Yorkshire.
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Division 2
Glamorgan took top spot in Division 2 last week when they overcame the challenge of Nottinghamshire and they will host another of the pre-season title favourites in Middlesex this week. The other two market leaders prior to the campaign meet at the Riverside this week when Durham host Nottinghamshire. Leicestershire and Derbyshire have opened their season with a pair of draws each and they will meet at Grace Road with the other match in this division coming at New Road where Worcestershire host bottom of the pile Sussex.
Betting
Durham have started the season with a couple of draws but they have been matches they have been in top in throughout and it will only be a matter of time before they start picking up wins and it could be that their opening win comes against Nottinghamshire this week. Nottinghamshire will be boosted by the availability of Stuart Broad but with the exception of Ben Duckett their top order has really struggled in the opening couple of weeks of the campaign.
Durham have no such problems. Their two most important batters have both opened the season with a 150 and they have Keegan Petersen who will have had an extra week to acclimatise and deliver the goods here. Durham also have a decent attack and although they have struggled to bowl sides out for a second time this term in Chris Rushworth, Matthew Potts and Ben Raine they have genuine seam quality so it is only a matter of time before those wickets begin to fall. I think Durham are a big price here given that more important players from their side are in form compared to their opponents.
Tips
Back Durham to beat Nottinghamshire for a 3/10 stake at 2.38 with Coral
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