The County Championship returns again on Wednesday with five matches across the two divisions as the season continues to race towards its conclusion.
In Division One, Yorkshire will be looking to secure the title when they head to Lord’s to face Middlesex while Nottinghamshire and Durham will be looking to push for the top three when they go against each other at Trent Bridge. At Taunton Somerset host Hampshire in a massive match in the relegation battle.
There are also two matches in Division Two where Derbyshire host Essex and Glamorgan take on Kent in Cardiff. Promotion in that division has already been sorted so pride is all that is at stake there.
Backing against Yorkshire isn’t a profitable strategy in this format of the game and I’m not going to do it here. If anyone can beat them it probably is Middlesex so I’m happy to leave that game alone while Nottinghamshire should beat Durham but are too short.
In the relegation battle I’m going to go with Hampshire again. They did me a good turn in the last round of matches and I’m happy to stay loyal to them particularly with their good record at Taunton.
Hampshire haven’t lost any of their last nine away games in Taunton which is a really good record when you think Somerset have traditionally been better than them in this format. Hampshire’s batsmen seem to enjoy Taunton, as most do in fairness, but their bowling attack gets the job done here too.
Despite the flat wicket at Taunton, which admittedly isn’t as flat as 10 years ago, Somerset have struggled for runs in recent times and in a huge pressure match that has to be a real concern. Away from the Overton’s I’m not sure they have the required bowling depth either.
Hampshire have really upped their game in this format recently and with Fidel Edwards in good form with the ball and Ryan McLaren hitting the ground running I expect the visitors to win this.
In the second division nothing really stands out between Derbyshire and Essex. Both are struggling sides with plenty to sort out off the field at the minute so I’ll leave that game alone.
I nearly decided to take Kent in the other game especially with Glamorgan being without Jacques Rudolph but the Welsh side still have a pretty strong bowling attack and I don’t like taking on bowling attacks at this time of the year so I’ll just stick with Hampshire this week.
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