County Championship Division One and Two previews

Thursday will see the opening day of the third round of county championship matches with the weather starting to get increasingly warmer.

In Division One, five rounds of matches will commence on Thursday with leaders Surrey taking on bottom of the table Somerset at the Kia Oval.

Surrey who opened up their campaign with a draw against Warwickshire at Edgbaston, registered their first win of the season in emphatic style with an innings victory against Hampshire last week.

For Somerset, the West Country side will be looking to break their duck after a terrible start to the season which has seen them lose both games to Hampshire by an innings and a narrow loss to Essex last weekend.

At Canterbury, Kent will be entertaining Hampshire. The hosts will be looking for their first win in the championship and also looking to bounce back after suffering a ten-wicket defeat at the hands of Lancashire last weekend.

At Edgbaston, Warwickshire will face Essex. The home side opened up their season with a drawn game against Essex in the opening match of the season. Essex come into the game on the back of a thrilling one wicket victory over Somerset at Taunton.

At Old Trafford, Lancashire will face Gloucestershire, with the hosts buoyed by their ten-wicket victory over Kent in their opening match of the championship season. Gloucestershire will be entering their third championship game of the new campaign, and will be looking to bounce back after their recent six wicket defeat to Yorkshire .

The final game in Division one sees Northamptonshire up against Yorkshire at Northampton. The hosts have only played one game so far, which resulted in a draw against Gloucestershire. For Yorkshire, they will be looking to build on the success of their opening match against Gloucestershire at Bristol.

Division Two will also see four matches which will start on Thursday.

Surprise leaders Glamorgan are up against Middlesex at Cardiff. The Welsh side moved to the top of the table after their recent victory over Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge. Middlesex have featured in just one championship game so far, which ended in a draw against Derbyshire at Lords.

At Chester-Le-Street, Durham face Nottinghamshire. The hosts hare still looking for their first win of the season after drawing their opening two games. Nottinghamshire are looking for their second victory after a ten wicket win over Sussex, they came down to earth after losing to Glamorgan at Trent Bridge last weekend.

At Worcester, both sides will be looking to open their account, with Worcestershire and Sussex still hunting for their first success of the campaign. Worcestershire drew their opening match against Leicestershire while Sussex have played two games so far with a draw and a loss to their name.

Leicestershire are up against Derbyshire starting on Thursday with both sides looking for their first win of the season. Both teams have managed draws in their opening two matches.

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