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DIVISION ONE
Durham
Captain Alex Lees Coach Ryan Campbell Last season 5th
Finished mid-table last season thanks to their habit of routing teams at home: they claimed three of their four wins at the Riverside, all of them by an innings. Meanwhile David Bedingham hit the most runs (1331) in Division One, with an average of (78.29), including the most sixes (25) and the most fours (147), and they have since strengthened their batting by signing Emilio Gay, who averaged 57.43 for Northamptonshire last season, and Will Rhodes, who scored 1,020 runs at 48.57 for Warwickshire, while another year’s experience can only benefit the promising 20-year-old, 6ft 7in opener Ben McKinney. The only problem is England keep pinching their seamers, with Matt Potts and Brydon Carse both likely to be involved with the Test side and Mark Wood out until July after knee surgery. Simon Burnton
Prediction 5th
Essex
Captain Tom Westley Coach Chris Silverwood Last season 4th
Essex boasted four of the top nine wicket-takers in last season’s Division One with Jamie Porter topping the lot with 56, though a plan to further boost their bowling ranks by signing the Indian seamer Shardul Thakur for the start of the season collapsed when he was given a chance to play in the IPL instead. While their batting is not quite as strong, only one player in the championship scored more runs last year than Dean Elgar, the former South Africa captain who is back for more, and only one (of those who played more than three matches) averaged more than Jordan Cox. The return of Chris Silverwood, who led them to the title in 2017, as coach further adds to the sense of optimism. SB
Prediction 3rd
Hampshire
Captain Ben Brown Coach Adrian Birrell Last season 2nd
Third in 2022 and 2023 and runners-up last year – when they lost only once all season, to eventual champions Surrey – Hampshire attempt to take that final step without their former captain and talisman James Vince, who has quit red-ball cricket. Vince was their top scorer in each of the past four seasons, last year contributing 986 runs at an average of 49.3, and having also lost the bowling of Mohammad Abbas, Hampshire will need others to step up. The Australian Jack Edwards, a fast-bowling all-rounder, looks a good signing but will play only until the end of May; a lot rests on the experience of Liam Dawson and the promise of Tom Prest. SB
Prediction 4th
Nottinghamshire
Captain Haseeb Hameed Coach Peter Moores Last season 8th
Dodged the drop by a single place last year, but they look stronger this summer with Kyle Verreynne, impressive in his three games in 2024, back for all but two of them this time (if unlikely to improve on last summer’s average of 248), and two bowlers with realistic Test ambitions returning from injury in Josh Tongue – who says he is not just back to his pre-injury form but “better and better” – and Dillon Pennington. The latter is hoping to build on a breakthrough campaign in which he took 31 wickets before pulling a hamstring in the Hundred. Fergus O’Neill will bolster the bowling at the start of the season, and Mohammad Abbas for six games across May and September. SB
Prediction 7th
Somerset
Captain Lewis Gregory Coach Jason Kerr Last season 3rd
After a season of frustration in 2024 – Somerset came second in both white-ball competitions and third in the championship – Somerset will look to snaffle some silverware this year, with their ranks buoyed up by the returns of Will Smeed – who unretired from red-ball cricket, declaring “it would be crazy to not want to be a part of that team” – and of Matt Henry, who had a productive six-game spell in 2023 and has signed up for the first seven matches. The New Zealander will help to balance a bowling attack with enough spin-bowling options in Jack Leach and Archie Vaughan, the 19-year-old son of Michael who took 15 wickets at 20.13 last year (11 of them in one game against Surrey, ) to do without Shoaib Bashir, who has been loaned to Glamorgan. SB
Prediction 2nd
Surrey
Captain Rory Burns Coach Gareth Batty Last season 1st
Inevitably favourites after winning the title in each of the past three seasons – no side has won four in a row since Surrey themselves did the, er, seven-peat between 1952 and 1958 – Surrey have become a formidable machine since Gareth Batty’s appointment as coach in 2022 and don’t seem to be fading. England’s focus on high speed suggests they will choose not to steal away Surrey’s outstanding bowler, Dan Worrall, once the Australia-born seamer, who has taken 139 first-class wickets at 21.17 since he arrived at the Oval, qualifies for his adopted country this month. The arrivals of New Zealand all-rounder Nathan Smith and Matt Fisher from Yorkshire would help to cover for the 33-year-old’s potential loss, plus Kemar Roach is back for the first four games. SB
Prediction 1st
Sussex
Captain John Simpson Coach Paul Farbrace Last season 1st Div Two
Sussex are looking for evolution rather than revolution on their return to the top flight after a 10-year absence, adding to the squad only a few emerging talents and bringing back most of the overseas players who helped them win Division Two last year. They are bolstered by the Australian seamer Gurinder Sandhu, signed after it turned out that India’s Jaydev Unadkat wouldn’t turn up until September. John Simpson had a brilliant campaign last year, his first after arriving from Middlesex to captain the side, and will need to keep up that stellar standard both with the bat (he averaged 74.81 across 20 innings) and with his leadership if his side – for all that their coach, Paul Farbrace, says they are “aiming to win” the title – are not to end up in a survival battle. SB
Prediction 9th
Warwickshire
Captain Alex Davies Coach Ian Westwood Last season 7th
Mark Robinson paid the price for one underwhelming season too many as he was sacked as coach in February, with the Bears’ chief executive, Stuart Cain, saying: “It’s no secret we’ve been disappointed in our men’s performance in recent years.” Ian Westwood has replaced him, and though the retirement of keeper Michael Burgess and Will Rhodes’ move to Durham will smart there has also been some canny recruitment, with New Zealand’s Test captain, Tom Latham, secured for the entire summer (once he recovers from the hand he broke in training last week). Beau Webster, now a fully fledged Australia Test all-rounder, returns to the Midlands in May having spent the summer of 2016 playing for Knowle and Dorridge in the Birmingham and District Premier League. SB
Prediction 6th
Worcestershire
Captain Brett D’Oliveira Coach Alan Richardson Last season 6th
Did not win any of their first eight games last season, but then a run of three on the spin dragged them away from relegation worries. This season looks likely to be tougher still: in 2024 their three most productive bowlers each took precisely 27 wickets but of that trio Nathan Smith is now at Surrey and Joe Leach has retired, leaving a lot of pressure on Tom Taylor. They have signed the all-rounder Ben Allison, back after brief loan spells in each of the past two years, and 20-year-old spinner Fateh Singh, who is aiming to contribute across all formats but has only ever bowled in one first-class innings (in which Yorkshire scored 726 for 7 declared), plus the New Zealand seamer Jacob Duffy for the first half of the season. SB
Prediction 10th
Yorkshire
Captain Jonny Bairstow Coach Anthony McGrath Last season 2nd Div Two
Anthony McGrath has returned to the club he once captained after nine years in various coaching roles at Essex, arriving with eye-catchingly high ambitions: “The expectation is that we’ve got to try and win it,” he said. “Teams have come up from Division Two before and won it. There’s no reason why not.” Jonny Bairstow, freshly appointed as captain, similarly says “you never say never”. Yorkshire’s promotion season was one of two distinct halves: five draws, two defeats and no wins in their first seven games, five wins, two draws and no defeats in their last seven. Ben Coad had the best season of his career, taking 56 wickets, while Adam Lyth scored 1,215 runs; they may well flourish back in the top flight but winning it seems a bit of a push. SB
after newsletter promotion
Prediction 8th
DIVISION TWO
Derbyshire
Captain Wayne Madsen Coach Mickey Arthur Last season 8th
Another season of puffing around the bottom of the table did at least bring Derbyshire their first home championship victory for five years: a thrashing of Glamorgan. It was, however, their only win of the summer, and the new year brought a new (old) captain: 41-year-old Wayne Madsen, whose hand was on the tiller during the 2012 promotion run. That year Usman Khawaja was the overseas player, in 2025 Blair Tickner returns, as does the left-handed Australian opening batter Caleb Jewell – something of a wildcard. England Lion Harry Moore, 6ft 7in and still a teenager, could bring some dynamite to the doldrums. Tanya Aldred
Prediction 8th
Glamorgan
Captain Sam Northeast Coach Richard Dawson Last season 6th
The off-season was dominated by the surprise dismissal of coach Grant Bradburn – he was recently censured by the Cricket Discipline Commission – but Glamorgan have coaxed Richard Dawson into taking over as interim coach. He inherits a mixed bag: a talented, if occasionally misfiring, batting lineup and a bowling attack reliant on Timm van der Gugten, though Sri Lankan fast bowler Asitha Fernando slots in for an early summer stint. Mason Crane should benefit from having a spin bowler as head coach. The club are still hoping that the planets will align for Marnus Labuschagne to return to his spiritual home. TA
Prediction 7th
Gloucestershire
Captain Cameron Bancroft Coach Mark Alleyne Last season 7th
A tricky red-ball season, dominated by money worries and a change of chief executive, not to mention Arron Banks lurking in the background, disguised the fact that there is a talented group of young cricketers at Bristol. Cameron Bancroft takes over as captain this year after the resignation of Graeme van Buuren, and he will be joined by another Aussie, titanic all-rounder Cameron Green, for five games starting in mid-April. There was nothing left in the pot for recruitment so Green’s salary has been met by a mysterious club benefactor. On the minus side Zafar Gohar has fled the nest to Middlesex. TA
Prediction 6th
Kent
Captain Daniel Bell-Drummond Coach Adam Hollioake Last season 10th Div One
Adam Hollioake has landed at Kent with a bang, saying: “I don’t know why [life has brought me to Canterbury], because the crowd always hated me here.” But after relegation, and only one championship win in a dismal campaign, Hollioake’s no-excuses culture could be just the ticket. Daniel Bell-Drummond continues to juggle with limited resources: Wes Agar returns and Chris Benjamin makes the jump from Warwickshire to line Kent’s once overflowing wicket-keeping pot – Sam Billings is on a white-ball only deal. After totting up only 12 batting points last summer, Hollioake’s first job is reminding his charges how to build an innings. TA
Prediction 3rd
Lancashire
Captain Keaton Jennings Coach Dale Benkenstein Last season 9th Div One
After a car-crash 2024, culminating with relegation on the penultimate day of the season, the only way is up at Old Trafford. Both coach and captain survived the winter and hopes are strong that they can bounce straight back to Division One as they did after relegation in 2004, 2012, 2014 and 2018. A team of talented young things is bolstered by the re-oiled cogs of Jimmy Anderson, on a one-season contract, plus the returning Anderson Phillip, a bright spark in last year’s September gloom. Marcus Harris comes for the summer, bringing experience and runs, while Rocky Flintoff hovers in the wings. TA
Prediction 1st
Leicestershire
Captain Peter Handscomb Coach Alfonso Thomas Last season 5th
The big question is whether Leicestershire can still be in contention for promotion when Shan Masood arrives at Grace Road after the first half of the championship. Lewis Hill stepped down after a tough summer and the experienced Peter Handscomb, who averaged 74 last year, slips into the captaincy chair. He will need to coax more out of young charges: Rishi Patel, Rehan Ahmed (still only 20) and 6ft 7in left-armer Josh Hull, who was a casino pick for one Test last year before promptly falling victim to a quad injury. TA
Prediction 5th
Middlesex
Captain Toby Roland-Jones Coach Richard Johnson Last season 3rd
After pulling off the overseas signing of the season with Kane Williamson, there is real hope that, after all the off-field drama, promotion is within Middlesex’s grasp. Joining Williamson (who will be available for five games) is slow left-armer Zafar Gohar, who arrives from Bristol just as he becomes locally qualified, South Africa’s Dane Paterson (first seven rounds), while the promising Ben Geddes hot-foots it over from the Oval where he struggled to make his mark. The club will miss Ethan Bamber (who joins Warwickshire) but the academy production line may bear fruit, with the England U19 speedster Naavya Sharma signing a rookie contract. TA
Prediction 2nd
Northamptonshire
Captain Luke Procter Coach Darren Lehmann Last season 4th
“I hate draws,” said Darren Lehmann, soon after he stepped into his head coach boots. He may have to grit his teeth – nine of Northants’ 14 games were drawn last year – but strange things can happen when a force of nature blasts through the dressing room door. Northants lost two of their bigger names over the winter – Jack White to Yorkshire, and Emilio Gay to Durham – but the leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal returns for the second half of the season after his tour-de-force cameo in 2024. And fingers are crossed for George Scrimshaw, whose move from Derbyshire was spoiled by injury after two championship games. TA
Prediction 4th
