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 third round.

Division One

Durham v Sussex - (Chester-le-Street, LV= Match of the round)

Something’s got to give here. Durham won their first match against Somerset down in Taunton, and Sussex made it two from two by beating Worcestershire at Hove.

They’ve had a few injury problems, especially among the seamers, but Ajmal Shahzad has made a great start to life at his fourth county, and Matt Machan made the most of his chance with a century after Michael Yardy pulled out with illness.

Chester-le-Street isn’t a straightforward place to go, so the Sussex batting is going to have its toughest test yet, because guys like Graham Onions and Chris Rushworth are so good at home.

Durham should also benefit from having a week’s break since their win at Taunton, if only because it’s given veteran Paul Collingwood time to recover from his incredible all-round performance.

Hampshire v Nottinghamshire - (Southampton)

Alex Hales had said a few things in the media about not thinking he’d been given much of a chance by England at the World Cup, so for him to prove himself under that extra pressure with a double-century against Yorkshire is a pretty good statement.

Notts ended up happy enough with a second consecutive draw but they’ll be looking for a first win against one of the promoted teams, although Hampshire will be buoyed by their battling performance against Warwickshire at Edgbaston.

That was a decent draw for them after losing their first game against Sussex, and I wasn’t surprised to hear that they kept pressing for the win late into the fourth day rather than shaking hands on the draw – they’ve always been a side that likes to force games, and that’s a good attitude for them to carry forward.

Somerset v Middlesex - (Taunton)

An early return to Taunton for Nick Compton, and for Middlesex the priority must be to try and get on the front foot.

They showed fighting spirit in batting through the last day of their first game against Notts at Lord’s for a draw, just as they had at the end of last season at Lancashire, but they’ll be hoping not to be in that position again.

Somerset had a disappointing start under Matthew Maynard with that home defeat against Durham, but I’ve heard encouraging reports that Jamie Overton was bowling rapidly again.

Yorkshire v Warwickshire – (Headingley)

Yorkshire are still punching pretty hard despite all the players they’re missing. But surely a time will come when their resources are so stretched that one of the top teams in the division can take advantage.

Warwickshire have an injury worry of their own over Tim Ambrose, who scored a century in their opening draw against Hampshire but ended up batting with a runner in the second innings.

But this sort of game gives Boyd Rankin a great chance to press the England ambitions that he says he still has, and he should be confident after a six-wicket performance.

Division Two

Gloucestershire v Derbyshire - (Bristol)

It sounds like Derbyshire fell apart on the last day of their first match, having competed strongly against much-fancied Lancashire up to that point.

Perhaps that highlighted again their reliance on Wayne Madsen, but they’ll take some encouragement nevertheless, especially from the bowling performance of Tom Taylor.

It’s a first home game for Gloucestershire after an opening draw in Northampton, and if they’re going to lift themselves out of the bottom two or three in the division, forcing results in their own backyard is a good place to start.

Lancashire v Kent - (Old Trafford)

Losing at Essex was a bad start for Kent and, although it would be harsh to judge their batting line-up on what sounds like a pretty tricky pitch, those worries about their bowling attack were reinforced by their inability to force a win as conditions got a bit easier later on.

Now they have a tough trip to Old Trafford where Lancashire, having won their first game under Ashley Giles at Derbyshire, will be relishing trying to go two from two. I can’t see Kent enjoying bowling on a flat, hard Manchester pitch.

Leicestershire v Northamptonshire - (Grace Road)

Alex Wakely has been talking about his hopes for Northants to return to the good times of 2013 as a rallying cry for the team and his captaincy, and they’ll identify this game against one of the Division Two strugglers as the perfect place to start building some momentum.

They drew their first game against Gloucestershire but David Willey produced the sort of high-impact eye-catching performance he needs to further his ambitions, with every chance of playing some sort of cricket for England this year.

Leicestershire struggled with the ball but responded well with the bat in their first game against Glamorgan, and they’ll hope that the arrival of Clint McKay will add a bit of thrust to their attack.

Surrey v Essex - (the Oval)

Surrey started their season on an intensely flat pitch at Cardiff, which rather takes the gloss off what happened in the match.

But they’ll be pleased that two of the younger lads, Zafar Ansari and Rory Burns, laid the foundation for the big guns to fill their boots, and I’m pleased for Steven Davies to have started the season with a double-century. He didn’t have a particularly good year in 2014, and he’s often accused of making pretty runs not big runs.

This is an interesting first game at the Oval against an Essex team who won their first game against Kent. Jesse Ryder is going to be a massive player for them, and should enjoy the battle.