The county cricket season continues on Sunday as the latest round of fixtures in the Specsavers County Championship take place up and down the country as the early tables begin to take shape and carry some significance.
There are three matches in Division One with a very tasty looking match at Edgbaston and there also four games from Division Two with each one having plenty of significance given that only one side are to be promoted this season.
Division One
The pick of the matches in this division is one the between Warwickshire and Yorkshire at Edgbaston. Those two sides are fancied to fight for the title this year and whoever wins that will have an early advantage in the race for the title.
Warwickshire have a couple of injury concerns to their bowling attack which isn’t helpful but Yorkshire still look a little short having failed to bowl Hampshire out twice last week.
Surrey and Somerset meet in the first match of the season at The Oval on Sunday in a match I would expect Surrey to win but I’ve not yet got to grips with either side just yet. Surrey’s bowling attack needs to settle down a little before I get involved in their matches from the off.
The other match sees Durham hosting Middlesex in what should be another corker of a contest. Middlesex dominated a match against Warwickshire last week and will be full of confidence from that display. Durham were frustrated by the weather in their attempts to beat Somerset in the opening week of the season.
With the form Middlesex showed with the bat last week I like them here I have to say. They will always be competitive with the ball given the quality of the seamers they have and it can be with the bat they have the edge. Durham don’t always bat well and while Ben Stokes is back I’m not convinced they can put up the number of runs or indeed restrict Middlesex to low enough scores to win.
Division Two
The four fixtures in Division Two this week come from Derby, Bristol, Grace Road and Chelmsford and should provide us with some excellent cricket as the hunt for results goes on.
Essex host Northamptonshire which could have seen an immediate return to Chelmsford for Monty Panesar but he is playing for Bedfordshire instead. I expect Essex to win that match but at 8/15 with the potential for Northants to bowl first I’m not really interested there.
Derbyshire go up against Glamorgan who really struggled last week. I’m not totally convinced by Derbyshire just yet so I’ll watch that one and see how it goes and the same plan applies to the Gloucestershire vs Worcestershire match, especially with Worcestershire’s opening match washed out a couple of weeks ago.
I will play one in this division though and it comes with a Leicestershire side who I expect great improvements from this season. They host Kent who have had an up and down start to the season it must be said.
First of all their opening match was completely washed out in Worcester and since then Rob Key has made the shock move of retiring from cricket to leave a bit of a hole in their batting line up. With Sam Billings at the IPL that wasn’t really needed.
Leicestershire are much stronger this season than they were last and they showed that in beating Glamorgan emphatically last week. When you think they won that without Ned Eckersley, who remains out here, you can see why there is plenty of optimism around Grace Road.
I don’t think there is a whole lot between these two with the ball but Leicestershire might just be more settled and acclimatised with the bat having had a game in the middle under their belts. That could be crucial so I’ll take the home side here.
Tips
PUSH – Back Middlesex to beat Durham for a 4/10 stake at 1.91 with Winner Sports
Back them here:
PUSH – Back Leicestershire to beat Kent for a 4/10 stake at 2.10 with Paddy Power
Back them here:
