County Championship Preview for matches starting Tuesday 19th July 2022

A rare Tuesday start for the next round of county championship matches starts this week with leaders Surrey taking on in form Essex at the Kia Oval in Division One.

Surrey currently lead the table by 15 points over Hampshire with Essex beginning to put together a run of form that has seen them win their last three championship matches.

The hosts will be looking for their sixth win of the campaign after a thrilling four wicket victory over Somerset at Taunton in their last championship match.

For Essex, they will go into the game on the back of a comprehensive nine wicket victory over Gloucestershire at Chelmsford inside three days with Simon Harmer picking up 13 wickets in the match.

Second placed Hampshire travel to the delightful setting of Cheltenham College to face Gloucestershire.

Hampshire picked up their sixth win of the championship season last week to keep the pressure on Surrey by beating Warwickshire by eight wickets at the Ageas Bowl.

Bottom of the table Gloucestershire are still yet to pick up their first win in the championship, having lost six and drawn three of their nine games played.

Third in the table Lancashire will be hunting down their fourth win in the championship this season when they face Northamptonshire at Northampton.

Lancashire head into the game on the back of a high scoring drawn match against Somerset at Southport, whilst the hosts will be buoyed by their first victory in this season’s championship after crushing Kent by 203 runs at Canterbury last week.

At Taunton Somerset, who are struggling at the wrong end of the table with two wins so far face Yorkshire who have registered just a single win so far in the division.

Two other sides who are also struggling in the table meet at Edgbaston where Warwickshire are up against Kent.

Five points separate both of these sides in the table, with both having won just once in the championship.

In Division two leaders Nottinghamshire go into their game against Derbyshire at Derby with a healthy 21-point lead over Middlesex.

Having already been triumphant five times in the championship so far, Notts will be looking to make it six and will be up against a Derbyshire side who have won just two matches so far.

Middlesex will be looking to get back to winning ways again after suffering a seven-wicket loss to Worcestershire at Merchant Taylors School in their last championship match.

Their opponents at Lords tomorrow are Sussex who were involved in another high scoring game recently against Leicestershire that saw almost 1,600 runs shared between the sides.

Bottom side Leicestershire who are stranded at the bottom of the table, will be looking to break their duck and are up against Glamorgan at Leicester in a match that will start on Wednesday.

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