Essex have suffered a blow ahead of their LV= County Championship Division Two clash with Surrey at the Kia Oval with the news that opening batsman Tom Westley has broken a thumb.
The 26-year-old suffered the problem during practice and has been ruled out for several weeks, handing a first-team opportunity to Kishen Velani.
Essex, aiming for a seventh consecutive Championship win following their thrilling triumph over Kent in their opening match of the season, are again without England Test skipper Alastair Cook while Ravi Bopara and Ryan ten Doeschate are away on Indian Premier League duty.
On the challenge of facing Surrey, who will again field Kevin Pietersen and Kumar Sangakkara, head coach Paul Grayson said: “Obviously they have got some class players in their team but we’ve got good players ourselves.
Gutted to be out of action for a while after breaking thumb in practice! Good luck to the lads on Sunday #Eagles
— Thomas Westley (@Westley21) April 23, 2015
“But we are looking forward to the game and whoever plays the best cricket over the four days will come out on top. Hopefully that will be us and if we can keep our consistency going, then we’ll be absolutely fine.”
Pietersen, with 998 runs to his name in 16 first-class innings, requires just two more in his next knock to break the record for the fastest Surrey batsman to 1,000, surpassing Mark Ramprakash and Zander de Bruyn who completed the milestone in 18 innings.
Stuart Meaker has been added to the XI that drew with Glamorgan at the SWALEC Stadium, meaning Chris Tremlett remains sidelined with a hamstring complaint.
Cricket director and head coach Ashley Giles has named a 14-man squad for Lancashire’s clash with Kent at Emirates Old Trafford.
Nathan Buck,Jordan Clark and Karl Brown have joined the same side that defeated Derbyshire at the 3aaa County Ground.
Kent, who have not won in their last seven Championship games in Lancashire, welcome former West Indies international Brendan Nash back from illness and include young paceman Matt Hunn in their travelling party that is missing England spinner James Tredwell.
Kent head coach Jimmy Adams said: "We've put the Essex game to one side and move on.
"The guys have trained well this week and we're keen to get some more points on the board before our first home game next week.
"Many of the lads made contributions with bat and ball at Essex so we are looking to build on that at Lancashire, which should be another tough test."
Seamer Clint McKay is expected to make his Leicestershire debut versus Northamptonshire at Grace Road.
The Australian missed the Foxes’ draw with Glamorgan, which extended their winless streak in the Championship to 33 matches, because it clashed with his wedding back in his homeland.
Josh Cobb could face his former employers, who he left in the close season, while Northants also recall Scotland international Kyle Coetzer.
Derbyshire, docked one point for a slow over-rate against the Red Rose, and Gloucestershire name unchanged squads for their clash at the Bristol County Ground, where the visitors have won only once in nine visits.
#PREVIEW: We look ahead to #LVCC clash with Gloucestershire, plus latest team news #GLOvDERhttp://t.co/SvaG2SeUAnpic.twitter.com/6UkTaKsXhY
— Derbyshire CCC (@DerbyshireCCC) April 25, 2015
LV= County Championship Division Two facts
Surrey v Essex
* Essex have won their last six Championship matches; they have not won seven in a row since 1995/96.
* Four of the last six Championship fixtures between these teams have been drawn, with one win apiece.
* Three of the four players to hit at least 20% of balls faced this season for a boundary play for Essex (Jesse Ryder, Graham Napier and Monty Panesar).
* Kumar Sangakkara has scored 348 runs in his last three Championship innings.
* Jaik Mickleburgh needs 34 runs to reach 4,000 in first-class cricket.
Lancashire v Kent
* Lancashire have won three and drawn four of their last seven Championship home games against Kent.
* Darren Stevens is the only player to score at least 900 runs and take 60+ wickets since the start of last Championship season.
* Simon Kerrigan did not concede a boundary in the 20.1 overs he bowled against Derbyshire. Kyle Jarvis recorded his maiden Championship five-wicket haul in that match.
* Kent have won the toss in five of the last six meetings between these teams.
Leicestershire v Northamptonshire
* The last four Championship meetings between these teams have been drawn, with Leicestershire winning the toss and electing to bowl on each occasion.
* Muhammad Azhar Ullah (83.3%) has the highest Division Two dot-ball percentage this season, minimum 10 overs bowled.
* David Willey (49.3%) has the lowest Championship dot-ball percentage this season of anyone facing at least 50 balls.
* Since the start of last season Charlie Shreck (239) has scored more Championship runs than anyone else batting at number 11.
* Neil Pinner has scored 96% of his runs in boundaries this season, the highest percentage of anyone facing at least 50 balls.
Gloucestershire v Derbyshire
* The last eight Championship clashes between these teams have produced three wins apiece and two draws.
* Gloucestershire have lost one of their last nine against Derbyshire at Bristol (won four, drawn four).
* Tom Taylor recorded first-class career-best figures of 6-61 in Derbyshire’s match against Lancashire.
* Gareth Roderick has reached 50 in six of his last 10 Championship innings.
* Roderick took six catches in Northamptonshire’s first innings, the seventh instance of a Gloucestershire keeper taking six or more catches in a first-class innings.