Rothesay County Championship 2025 – Friday 11th April Matches Tips and Betting Preview

The Rothesay County Championship continues on Friday when the second round of matches in the new season get underway across the two divisions and with the weather once again set fair we should be in for more great cricket.

Once again it is the Indian Premier League that gets the TV attention this week so if you do have a bet on any of these matches then you will need to lose up the live stream which is being provided by the home county.

Division One

Two counties were able to force wins in the opening week of the season. Nottinghamshire were one of those and they will want to back that up when they welcome an Essex side who had the better of their draw with the champions Surrey last week to Trent Bridge. Hampshire are the other team who won in the first round of matches and they go in search of two wins from two when they head to The Oval to take on Surrey. Three other matches take place this week with Sussex and Somerset looking to build on draws when they meet in Hove while Warwickshire make the trip up to Chester-le-Street to take on Durham and the other game sees the two relegation favourites meeting at Headingley where Yorkshire host Worcestershire.

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Division Two

Kent were the big winners in Division Two last week and they are at home for the first time this season when they entertain promotion rivals Middlesex in the pick of the matches in the second division. Lancashire are the team who will be expected to dominate this division this term and they are also at home for the first time this season when they host Northamptonshire at Old Trafford. Derbyshire picked up a rare win in red ball cricket last week and they will look for another when they head to Grace Road to take on local rivals Leicestershire while Gloucestershire and Glamorgan will look to bounce back from opening week defeats when they face off in Bristol.

Betting

While we wait for the teams to get up to full strength with overseas players only just arriving or in some cases still yet to arrive, I’ll largely keep my powder dry here but there is one bet that I like the look of in the early phase of these matches which comes in the form of the first 10 overs of the Lancashire first innings against Northamptonshire where the line of 29.5 is a little on the low side to me as I expect a fast start from the Red Rose.

Northamptonshire will head to Old Trafford without their best new ball bowler in Ben Sanderson and in the first innings against Kent their new ball bowlers the two Northants new ball bowlers went for 4.60 and 5.33 an over throughout the innings. That doesn’t bode well and we know there won’t be a huge amount in the pitch early on at Old Trafford. Michael Jones will go for his shots while Keaton Jennings is an international cricketer playing in Division Two and if one of those fail Josh Bohannon is no slouch either. I expect Lancashire to catch fire early doors and score at a rate of at least three an over across the opening 10 overs of their first innings.

Tips

Back Lancashire – First Innings First 10 overs – Over 29.5 runs for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with William Hill

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