Hello lovely Below The Liners! It’s been too long. I write this chugging past the Etihad stadium on a snug Transpennine express and lo the sky is pinking up, the rain has stopped and there is hope.
By now you’ll have read Ali Martin’s season previews and seen which team his dark magic has cursed (Somerset), done your fantasy teams (thank you Mes, please find him BTL for advice), and hopefully pencilled in a match or two for the year. A huge welcome back to old-timers, and a happy hello to anyone new – I hope you settle in just fine.
On the first day of the Championship last year – a balmy April 13 – there were six games due to start. Four were abandoned without a ball bowled, one suspended for bad light, while at Southampton James Vince made a hand-to-heart 76.
A little bit of last-minute admin you may have missed – Lancashire have signed Nottinghamshire’s Mark Footitt on loan for a month while Northants have borrowed Luke Wood for the first two rounds of matches. Ned Eckersley heads to Durham while a young seamer at Sussex, Will Sheffield, signs his first pro contract.
Now to business. Six games are due to get underway today – there has never been an earlier start to the season. You’ll have to wait to see Champion county Surrey, who put their feet up alongside newly-promoted Warwickshire, wooden spoonists Glamorgan, Gloucestershire, and relegated Lancashire and Worcestershire. But there is plenty to keep an eye on- with a particularly tasty fixture at Trent Bridge where I hope to be by the time you read this. Remember, it’s three up, one down this summer, with a newer, more tightly stitched Dukes ball that should make wickets harder to come by. Shall we play?
DIVISION ONE
Nottinghamshire v Yorkshire: Joe Root v Stuart Broad and a tantalisingly juicy fixture to start the season. Notts, who avoided relegation by a tooth comb, are not unfancied for the title this year – (if they won, it would be coach Peter Moores third Championship with three different counties) – thanks to their thorough end-of-season poaching campaign. They picked up Zak Chappell from Leicestershire, Northant’s Ben Duckett and Worcestershire’s Joe Clarke. Ali has tipped Ben Slater, who moved from Derby, as one to watch. They also boosted their squad with James Pattinson, who has flown over from Australia for seven games. Yorkshire’s Kolpak signing Duanne Olivier, who limped off in a warm-up match, has sensational Test figures and can bowl at over 90 mph – though never before in an early English April. Adil Rashid is out with a shoulder injury.
Hampshire v Essex Hampshire captain James Vince moves up to the opening spot in a fluorescent wave to the England selectors. New recruits Keith Barker (ex-Warwickshire), James Fuller (Middlesex) and young Aneurin Donald from Glamorgan wait for their chance to shine. South African batsman Aiden Markram is due to make his Hampshire debut – he is available for the first month of the season, with power to add if he is not picked for South Africa’s World Cup squad.
2018 bronze-medallists Essex are boosted by the permanent presence of Alastair Cook, who started the pre-season with a hundred. They will be without Peter Siddle, who arrives from Australia today, and Matt Coles, sidelined with an ill-timed groin strain. Expect bucketfuls of early-season wickets for Jamie Porter.
Somerset v Kent The weather forecast is dreadful, but Somerset must be favourites if they get on the field. Second last year but challenging till high summer, they won’t yet have the advantage of a square-turning Ciderabad pitch, and there is no place for Dom Bess in the squad for this match. Pakistan batsman Azhar Ali returns for the whole summer, and ex-Yorkshire seamer Jack Brooks could make his Somerset debut.
Matt Renshaw, who had such a wonderful half-season for Somerset last year returns to Taunton with his new county Kent –who needed boosting in the batting department . This is the first Championship meeting between the two sides since 2010 – when the old warhorse Marcus Trescothick and still-England-overlooked James Hildreth both made hundreds.
DIVISION TWO
Derbyshire v Durham Derby, whose lovely ground was bathed in sunshine for the pre-season opener, host Durham under the grainy captaincy of Cameron Bancroft. Dave Houghton returns to The County Ground, this time as Director of Cricket, and will be hoping that some of his young players on the fringes of the first team come good. Batsman Tom Lace was their one winter signing in tricky financial times after the bankruptcy of their main sponsor. Durham are without captain courageous Paul Collingwood, but Jack Burnham returns after a 12-month ban for drug use.
Northamptonshire v Middlesex Middlesex’s bowling has a huge boost with the return of Steven Finn, after enduring both knee injury and a benign tumour, and Toby Roland Jones after a stress fracture of the back. May the force be with them both. Dawid Malan and Nick Gubbins have points to prove to England and new Middlesex coach Stuart Law, while Max Holden, who made his maiden century last September, is knocking on the door. Jason Holder and Zimbabwean speedman Blessings Muzarabani have arrived at Wantage Road while the third of the talented Curran brothers, Ben is hoping to carve out a career for himself as a batsman.
Sussex v Leicestershire This is Jason Gillespie’s second season at charge at Sussex and his only overseas signing was Pakistani left-arm seamer Mir Hamza, who flew in on Monday. Stiaan van Zyl has a chance to play his first match since a horrible knee-injury spoilt his season last May. Chris Jordan will flounce his petticoats at the England selectors after a successful winter.
Times are tight at Leicestershire and they lost eight players over the winter. Young batsman Hasan Azad has signed a first contract and is joined by Will Davis and Chris Wright from Derby and Warwickshire and Aaron Lilley from Lancs.