A big week in the Vitality County Championship begins on Sunday when the last round of matches until the last block of the season are played out up and down the country ahead of the Test match summer beginning a week later.
Even though the T20 World Cup has come to an end there is no TV coverage of any of these games so it is the live streams which are provided by the home county which will allow us to follow whichever match you take an interest in.
Division One
There is no doubt where the attention is going to be in the top division this week. That will be at The Oval where the top two in the table meet in a huge clash when the leaders and champions Surrey play host to an Essex side who will go above them in the table should they win the game. Somerset will have an eye on events in the capital because they are in third place in the league and will be looking to take advantage of whoever slips up in the big game when they host Warwickshire in Taunton. Durham have made their way up to fourth in the table and they host second bottom Worcestershire at the Riverside while Hampshire will be looking to make up for failing to get the final wicket against Warwickshire last week when they host bottom of the pile Kent. The other match comes from Southport as Lancashire take on Nottinghamshire.
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Division Two
Sussex are the leaders in Division Two and were involved in that incredible match against Leicestershire last week and they will be hoping to have an easier time of it when they head to Wantage Road to take on Northamptonshire. Middlesex are in second spot in the table and they go to Leicestershire who will be looking to bounce back from that loss at Hove last week. There is a bit of distance between the top two and the rest now and Yorkshire in third will be hoping to close that gap when they head to bottom of the table Derbyshire while in the other match Glamorgan in fourth make the short trip to Cheltenham to take on second bottom Gloucestershire.
Betting
Sussex allowed things to get tight against Leicestershire although the Louis Kimber innings was an incredible one so it wasn’t all on the league leaders. I expect them to have a bit more of their own way of it in Northamptonshire though. Northants have Ben Sanderson back this week which will help initially but the loss of Liam Patterson-White really just means their attack is of the same standard and if the dry spell has dried the pitches out the latter would probably have been more useful than the former.
Sussex have a decent bowling attack and they have bolstered their batting with Daniel Hughes coming into the squad to get a hit out before the T20 returns at the end of the week. It is expected to be dry this week so the Sussex spinners are going to come into the game as well and they just look the better all-round team. With Northants going well in the T20 they might have more than half an eye on a huge clash with Lancashire on Friday night so I like Sussex in this one.
Tips
Back Sussex to beat Northamptonshire for a 3/10 stake at 1.80 with Boylesports
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