England’s all-time main Take a look at wicket-taker James Anderson has prolonged his profession for no less than one other season and there’s a good likelihood he’s toasting a promotion on the finish of it.
Lancashire appear the standout group in County Championship Division Two and will guarantee they solely spend one season exterior the highest flight following relegation on the finish of 2024.
Anderson – whose new deal at Emirates Outdated Trafford will take him past his forty third birthday – will sit out the primary month of the season with a calf criticism however a seam-bowling assault containing Tom Bailey, West Indies’ Anderson Phillip and kids Tom Aspinwall and George Balderson has depth.
Runs shouldn’t be an issue with membership captain Keaton Jennings an everyday supply of these – he scored in extra of 1,000 within the prime tier final time period – and new recruit, Australia worldwide Marcus Harris, having beforehand churned out Championship runs for Gloucestershire and Leicestershire, averaging 48 on this competitors.
Assist will likely be supplied by Josh Bohannon, Luke Wells, wicketkeeper-batter Matty Hurst and 16-year-old Rocky Flintoff – son of England legend Andrew – who turned England Lions’ youngest centurion when he impressed in Australia this winter.
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Rocky Flintoff, the 16-year-old son of former England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff, scored a century for the Lions in opposition to a Cricket Australia XI in Brisbane this winter
Contenders
Lancashire are the favourites, then, however Middlesex, Northamptonshire and Kent – the latter got here down with Lancashire final season – will likely be focusing on promotion, too.
Middlesex’s hopes of claiming a spot within the prime two – they completed third final time period behind Yorkshire and Sussex – will likely be boosted by the arrival of New Zealand’s Kane Williamson for no less than 5 matches with the 34-year-old having scored over 9,000 Take a look at runs.
New Zealand’s Kane Williamson will play no less than 5 County Championship matches for MIddlesex
Williamson will complement a potent batting line-up together with Max Holden, Sam Robson, Luus du Plooy and Ryan Higgins, with the latter a twin risk after contributing 1,133 runs – together with 5 centuries – and 30 wickets in 2024 throughout a stellar all-round marketing campaign.
The Lord’s facet have seen seamer Ethan Bamber be a part of Division One Warwickshire however South Africa’s Dane Paterson will change him early season and the stalwart Toby Roland-Jones is coming off the again of a 52-wicket season, whereas the spin ranks have been bolstered by the acquisition of left-armer Zafar Gohar from Gloucestershire.
Northamptonshire, now coached by former Australia supremo Darren Lehmann, have seen England batting hopeful Emilio Homosexual depart for Durham and seamer Jack White transfer to Yorkshire however nonetheless have Ricardo Vasconcelos and Luke Procter to attain runs, whereas the dependable Ben Sanderson continues to steer the seam assault.
India spinner Yuzvendra Chahal will return as one among Northamptonshire’s abroad gamers from June
Plus, India leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal will return for the run-in, out there for the ultimate seven video games, after bagging 21 wickets in 4 matches final season. He may take pleasure in bowling on tiring pitches.
A top-two end could also be past Northants if Lancashire and Middlesex are at their greatest and the identical may apply to Kent, who could face a season of consolidation after a relegation season in 2024 once they gained only one red-ball match and no batter averaged 40.
The highest six, together with Zak Crawley, Daniel Bell-Drummond, Ben Compton and Joe Denly, ought to discover issues simpler in Division Two however will they’ve the ammunition within the bowling division?
Early-season seam recruits Keith Dudgeon (South Africa) and Kashif Ali (Pakistan) are untried in county cricket, so lots of the heavy lifting could must be finished by spinner Matt Parkinson.
Adam Hollioake has been appointed Kent coach forward of the brand new season
The appointment of former Surrey and England captain Adam Hollioake – and one-time cage fighter – as head coach can also be a captivating one.
Pretenders
The opposite 4 sides – Gloucestershire, Glamorgan, Derbyshire and Glamorgan – will likely be hoping to launch promotion pushes in addition to guarantee they keep away from the wood spoon.
Derbyshire suffered that destiny in 2024, choosing up only one win throughout their 14 video games and bagging simply 20 batting bonus factors alongside the way in which, the fewest within the division.
Wayne Madsen, now 41, topped 1,000 runs final time period and should should be as prolific as soon as once more for Derbyshire to contend, though Zak Chappell – 54 wickets final season – and New Zealander Blair Tickner might be potent with the ball.
Pakistan captain Shan Masood might be a shrewd acquisition for Leicestershire
It might be that Leicestershire are best-placed of the outsiders to press for promotion with Pakistan Take a look at captain Shan Masood arriving from late Could – again for his fourth straight season of county cricket after spells with Derbyshire and Yorkshire – and becoming a member of a batting line-up that includes Peter Handscomb and Rishi Patel.
Glamorgan and Gloucestershire got here sixth and seventh respectively final time period and of the 2, it might be that the latter have a bit of extra about them in 2025, together with a speedy tempo assault of Marchant de Lange, Ajeet Singh Dale and Zaman Akhter.
Cameron Bancroft, fellow Aussie Cameron Inexperienced – who is accessible for 5 video games throughout April and Could – and James Bracey must also present regular runs for the Bristol-based outfit.
Australia’s Cameron Inexperienced will likely be at Gloucestershire for a brief spell
Glamorgan’s batting needs to be underpinned by Colin Ingram, Sam Northeast and Kiran Carlson – the primary two eclipsed 1,000 runs final time period and the latter remodeled 900 – whereas England spinner Shoaib Bashir is on their books for the primary three video games, on mortgage from Somerset as cowl for the injured Mason Crane.
New coach Richard Dawson, appointed when earlier incumbent Grant Bradburn was sacked after a misconduct cost, additionally has Sri Lanka seamer Asitha Fernando for the primary seven video games. Promotion could also be an excessive amount of to ask for, with development absolutely the primary purpose.
County Championship – opening fixtures
All matches start at 11am on Friday April 4
- Derbyshire vs Gloucestershire (Derby)
- Glamorgan vs Gloucestershire (Cardiff)
- Middlesex vs Lancashire (Lord’s)
- Northamptonshire vs Kent (Northampton)
