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Derbys v Northants (Derby)

Team news: Derbyshire, having lost to Warwicks, have brought in Paul Aldred and Ian Blackwell to replace Robin Weston and Trevor Smith. Northants keep the team who beat Lancashire in their last match.

Men to watch: Derbyshire's Adrian Rollins with 274 runs, average 91.33, including three fifties and Dominic Cork, nine wickets at 20.22. Against Warwicks he took 5-88, while Phillip DeFreitas had match figures of 8-170. Northants' leading batsman is Robert Bailey (423 runs at an average of 70.50) and their leading bowler is the ex-Derbyshire favourite, Devon Malcolm, with 21 wickets at 21.90. In 1997 he took 4-82 against Northants.

Essex v Yorkshire (Chelmsford)

Team news: Yorkshire expect to field the same XI who lost to Middlesex and have Victor Craven as 12th man.

Men to watch: For Essex, Paul Prichard has returned to form, having scored 279 runs at 46.50 including a century and two fifties. With the ball Mark Ilott has an average of 16.11, having taken 18 wickets. Anthony McGrath leads the Yorkshire batting averages (75.66) helped by his 142 not out against Middlesex. Chris Silverwood has 11 victims and is averaging 20.91. Yorkshire have won the last two fixtures by one and two wickets respectively.

Lancashire v Notts (Old Trafford)

Team news: Lancashire have added Chris Schofield, left-hand bat and leg-break bowler, to their squad. Nottinghamshire will play Guy Welton and Richard Stemp. They replace Usman Afzaal and Noel Gie from the team who played at Trent Bridge.

Men to watch: Mark Chilton is the leading scorer with 219 runs (43.80) and Glen Chapple has 12 wickets at 23.91. For Notts, Jason Gallian and Paul Johnson average over 40 with the bat and Vasbert Drakes has 15 wickets at 16.33. In the 1997 fixture, at Old Trafford, the now Lancashire captain, John Crawley, scored 51 not out and 101 but ended on the losing side.

Middx v Hampshire (Lord's)

Team news: For Hampshire, Shaun Udal returns after being rested, replacing Matthew Keech. Peter Hartley is in the squad after recovering from a knee injury.

Men to watch: Justin Langer is the Middlesex's leading run scorer with 501 and an average of 125.25. Phil Tufnell is the leading bowler with 13 wickets (22.38). Hampshire's leading run scorer is Will Kendall on 272 (68.00) and Alex Morris, 14 wickets at 14.42, has an economy rate of 2.69 runs per over. In this fixture last year 1222 runs were scored, of which 195 were extras.

Somerset v Leics (Taunton)

Men to watch: Jamie Cox, Somerset's new captain and overseas player, is leading by example. He has scored 268 runs at 67.00 and has been well backed up by Andy Caddick, who has 13 wickets (21.76) and an economy rate of 2.09. Somerset have not won this fixture in the Nineties, losing twice in the last three years by an innings.

Sussex v Gloucestershire (Hove)

Team news: Sussex will field the side who have played in two of their three championship matches. Alex Edwards is 12th man.

Men to watch: Sussex's new boy, Richard Montgomerie, leads their batting averages with 227 runs at 56.75 but no Sussex player has yet taken 10 wickets. Matt Windows leads the batting for Gloucestershire with 270 runs and Ben Gannon, after his debut match against Glamorgan, heads the bowling averages with seven wickets at 19.57. Jason Lewry, who took a hat-trick in last year's fixture, started light training yesterday after recovering from a back injury.

Warwicks v Worcs (Edgbaston)

Team news: Warwickshire have one enforced change from the team who beat Derbyshire, Tony Frost has a back problem and is replaced by Michael Powell. Trevor Penney will keep wicket. Worcestershire have Paul Pollard and Phil Newport in a 12-man squad, Newport is likely to replace Jason de la Pena.

Men to watch: Warwickshire's Dougie Brown has an average of 66.00 with the bat and Ashley Giles 22.22 with the ball. Alamgir Sheriyar has 16 wickets to his credit, 10 from the last match, which ended in defeat, against Hampshire. Last year's victory was Warwickshire's first in this fixture for 18 years.