- Round three starts tomorrow (17th April)
- Somerset travel to Hampshire
- Warwickshire at home
Friday sees the start of the next round of County Championship games. There are only two in Division one this week, with top of the table Somerset travel along the south coast to Hampshire. Whilst Essex travel to Edgbaston to face Warwickshire.
Hampshire v Somerset
Hampshire will want to retain last week’s winning momentum after beating Yorkshire by 214 runs. They were soundly beaten by Essex in round one, by an innings and 137 runs, so it was important to get the win last week.
They will be relying on Kyle Abbott again for wickets, after he took 10-70 in the match. As for runs, Jake Lehmann scored 76 and 92 and Captain Ben Brown scored an unbeaten 103 in the second innings, so both in form at the moment.
Hampshire Squad: Brown (c), Abbott, Baker, Yusuf, Dawson, Gubbins, Jack, Lehmann, Mayes, Prest, Weatherley.
Somerset currently sit top of the table, after a draw and a win against Essex last week. They won by 10 wickets, after only needing to get 47 to win inside three days. Most of Somerset’s first innings runs came from a bowler, as Craig Overton scored 141, but they will want him to more with the ball, as he only took four wickets in the match.
Somerset Squad: Overton (c), Abell, Ball, Goldsworthy, Kohler-Cadmore, Lammonby, Leach, Ogborne, Pretorius, Rew, Shaw, Smeed, Thomas
Warwickshire v Essex.
Warwickshire will want to pick up their first win of the season after losing last week to Sussex, and drawing with Surrey in Round one. The Sussex loss might hurt a little as they set the hosts a huge 327 to win, and had them at 184-5 going into the last day. However Sussex didn’t lose another wicket and won the game.
Chris Woakes has yet to provide early wickets, with only four to his name. Runs wise, Dan Mousley scored 144 in their draw with Surrey but only 13 in the match with Sussex.
Warwickshire Squad: Barnard (c), Bamber, Davies, Gilchrist, Hain, Mousley, Smith, Thompson, Webster, Woakes, Yates
Essex, on the other hand, topped the table after their innings victory over Hampshire in round one, but were beaten by Somerset last week.
Matt Critchley scored 173 against Hampshire, and 59 in the second innings against Somerset, so they will be relying on him again to score some runs.
Jamie Porter has eight wickets so far, with Sam Cook taking 7 wickets so the bowlers seem to be firing at the moment. They will however be without the services of Wiaan Mulder, who has temporarily returned home for personal reasons.
Essex Squad: Westley (c), Allison, Benkenstein, Cook, Critchley, Elgar, Harmer, Pepper, Porter, Snater, Thain, Walter
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