As part of the coverage for this year's LV= County Championship, Mark Butcher will give his views on the week's fixtures exclusively to ecb.co.uk. Here are his thoughts on the first round.
Division One
Worcestershire v Yorkshire (New Road, LV= Match of the round)
It’s a massive challenge for a newly-promoted side, to play against the champions in their first match back in Division One. But there’s no better time to catch them cold.
Worcestershire have been the kings of punching above their weight – win the toss, with conditions in your favour, and you can put any team under pressure.
Yorkshire are obviously a top side with plenty of depth, as they’ve already shown against the MCC out in Abu Dhabi. But Worcestershire will be saying that if there’s any good time to play them, this is it.
Who knows, anything’s possible. They could even have Moeen Ali as an extra bonus as he aims to prove his fitness to join England in the West Indies.
Hampshire v Sussex (Ageas Bowl)
Sussex are one of the teams I can see challenging for the title this season, so this is also a tough start back in Division One for Hampshire.
They have so much ability down there you wonder how they got relegated in the first place. It’s such a good ground, definitely a Division One setting, and you just hope they do the place justice.
With guys like James Vince, on the back of his Lions tour, they certainly have Division One players.
Sussex have their own strong batting line-up and have made a couple of interesting bowling signings, with Steve Magoffin back from Australia. Throw in the local south coast rivalry, and this could be a fascinating opener.
Middlesex v Nottinghamshire (Lord’s)
Adam Voges will be at the centre of attention, not only because he’s playing against his old county, but after his recent inclusion in the Australia squad for the Ashes tour and before that their series in the West Indies.
That didn’t surprise me to be honest – I was surprised he wasn’t part of Australia’s squad for their last tour here a couple of years ago, because he’d been a brilliant overseas player for Nottinghamshire, and showed that technically he could play the moving ball so well.
Losing him is obviously going to be a problem for Middlesex later in the season but for the moment he should come over full of confidence and full of runs, and looking to make an immediate impact – especially against his old mates.
Somerset v Durham (Taunton)
Taunton is never an easy place to go and get a result – I certainly found it difficult in my playing days. But that could be even more the case this season, because I think Somerset will really benefit from the appointment of Matthew Maynard, and especially his playing experience.
They had those years of going so close in so many different competitions, and never quite getting over the line. They fell away from that a bit last year but having Matty’s input will be invaluable, giving them coaching nous to go with the ability they have in their dressing room.
They will be strong, there’s no doubt about that. But it’s always dangerous to discount Durham too, even though they’ll obviously miss Ben Stokes and Mark Wood.
Division Two
Leicestershire v Glamorgan (Grace Road)
I’m really interested to see what happens here. Mark Cosgrove, the Australian who has joined Leicestershire as captain in a bit of a bolt from the blue, used to play for Glamorgan, which gives it an extra edge.
He only knows one way to play the game of cricket and that’s in sixth gear. Both teams will be missing an Aussie seamer, with Clint McKay still to arrive at Leicestershire, and Michael Hogan injured for Glamorgan.
They’ve signed Andy Carter on loan from Notts which they probably needed to try and fill that gap. Two full seasons without a win for Leicestershire is a heck of a long time between drinks.
The task for Cosgrove, and Andrew McDonald, is to gel the young players and a few gnarled old pros together, and get them to play consistently over the four days to force the result they want.
Northamptonshire v Gloucestershire (The County Ground)
I worry that Gloucestershire are going to find things difficult this season, having lost Alex and Will Gidman to Worcestershire and Notts respectively.
They have signed Geraint Jones who comes in as captain, which at the back end of his career is an interesting development for him.
I’m expecting Northants to have a much better season than last year, when they were massively out of their depth in Division One.
They will really welcome the fact that Alex Wakely is back, after missing the whole of last year with an Achilles injury.
With him as captain, and David Willey an all-rounder who could easily elevate himself into England contention, I expect Northants to be one of the four better teams in Division Two.