Watch highlights of the previous round of LV= County Championship games
Australia all-rounder Glenn Maxwell is set to make his LV= County Championship debut as Division Two leaders Hampshire face second-placed Worcestershire at New Road from tomorrow.
Both are yet to taste defeat this term and the visitors are buoyed by having Maxwell, who made his Hampshire bow in NatWest T20 Blast action on Thursday, available for a four-day debut, with fellow overseas player Kyle Abbott rested.
Furthermore, Michael Carberry will return having missed Hampshire’s last two championship encounters due to England limited-overs duty.
Worcestershire, who are playing in the NatWest T20 Blast today, are depleted by the absence of Moeen Ali, the all-rounder having been chosen by England in their Investec Test squad.
At the other end of the table, second-bottom Leicestershire are hosting basement club Derbyshire– who have named an unchanged squad – at Grace Road.
This fixture was due to be in the opening round of matches but was postponed after Derbyshire wicketkeeper Tom Poynton was involved in a car crash in which his father, Keith, died. Tom has since been ruled out for the season.
Leicestershire are without seamers Nathan Buck and Ollie Freckingham through finger and side injuries respectively.
Ben Raine and Anthony Ireland come into a squad featuring Charlie Shreck, who suffered a back injury that restricted him to just three overs in his county’s last championship outing.
LV= County Championship facts
Worcestershire are unbeaten in their last nine championship matches. They last went 10 games without defeat in 2002-2003, when they played 16 consecutive fixtures without losing.
In the two-division championship era only two players have scored more than 2,000 runs at an average above 35 and taken more than 200 wickets at an average below 25. Both played for Gloucestershire: Ian Harvey and Will Gidman.