County Championship Preview- Matches starting 19th May

Another round of county championship matches commences on Thursday, with the championship in full swing. In Division One the current leaders Surrey don’t feature in this round of matches, with second placed Lancashire in action looking to reduce the gap at the top.

The Red Rose county will be looking to cut the gap on the current leaders who as it stands holds a twenty point lead.

Lancashire face Essex at Old Trafford, looking for their third win of the season. The hosts come into the game on the back of a draw in the roses’ match against Yorkshire.

Essex will be hoping to pick up their second victory in the championship and also looking to improve their current form as they have struggled so far at the start of the championship campaign.

Matt Parkinson, not considered in the squad for the opening tests of the summer, has already taken 23 wickets for Lancashire and is thriving on pitches that have so far favoured batters.

Third placed Hampshire make the trip to Taunton to face an ever improving Somerset side. The West country club started off the season with three losses, but since then they have picked up two thumping victories both by an innings against Warwickshire and last week an innings and 246 runs victory over Gloucestershire at Bristol.

Yorkshire face Warwickshire at Headingly with the Tykes currently sitting in fourth place in the table with one victory to their name. Their opponents on Thursday Warwickshire are just behind them in the table, but the gap is 14 points.

The only other fixture in Division One will see two sides who have yet to put on the board their first victory of the season.

Northamptonshire entertain Kent at Northampton with both sides coming into the game after drawn matches last week. Kent were thankful for the rain which almost certainly saved them from a heavy defeat against Surrey at Beckenham.

Northants were involved in a high scoring draw at Edgbaston with almost 1,200 runs scored with only ten wickets taken over the four days.

In Division Two, leaders Middlesex are up against Durham at Lords. The current leaders sit at the top of the table with a nine point cushion over Nottinghamshire.

Rain saved Middlesex from potentially losing their first championship match of the season after the game against Nottinghamshire at Lords ended in a draw.

Durham, come into the match in good spirits after picking up their first win of the championship season, after defeating Glamorgan by 58 runs at Chester-le-Street.

Nottinghamshire are back at Trent Bridge, where Derbyshire are the visitors. The visitors weren’t in action last week and will be looking to try and get their second championship win of the new season. Leading run score in the division Shan Masood, who is edging towards 1,000 runs for the season is in sparkling form, having already hit 826 runs at an average of 118.00

Bottom of the table Leicestershire are still looking for their first win in the championship and on Thursday are up against Worcestershire at Worcester.

The East Midland side are already trailing Sussex by 12 points and are desperate for that first victory. Leicestershire will be led for the first time this season by new four day captain Callum Parkinson who has replaced Colin Ackerman as the new white ball skipper.

Both sides drew their recent games last month, with Worcestershire hunting down their second win of the campaign.

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