Surrey v Lancashire at the Oval

No two counties will be looking forward to the return of the four-day game more than these. Both have won their first two games and Surrey will be looking for someone to take their frustrations out on after being dumped out of the B&H Cup at the group stage.

Surrey have not lost to the Red Rose side since 1998 at Old Trafford, when Adam Hollioake set their hosts a target and Andrew Flintoff hammered a lightning 61, including 34 of 38 runs from an Alex Tudor over. Since then Tudor has held something of an Indian sign over his England colleague, taking his wicket four out of the six times he has batted in their county championship meetings.

Lancashire will be hoping that their massively changed batting will assist them. Byas, Law and Alec Swann are formidable additions to their squad and should more than make up for the loss of John Crawley. They may miss Murali, but they won't mind Saqlain's absence either. Murali has, thanks to Surrey's legion of Left handeders and wagging tail, found this fixture less to his liking than the Pakistani hero.

This is a potential decider between the top two sides in the table at this early stage. Surrey will be confident coming into this game with a perfect 40 out of 40 (minus 0.25 for the ridiculous offence of bowling slowly when winning a game that was a spectactors delight with two sessions to spare).

The home side's sharper bowling attack could be the deciding factor if, as forecast, the weather holds. Lancs Squad: Warren Hegg (captain), Alec Swann, Mark Chilton, David Byas, Stuart Law, Andy Flintoff, Graham Lloyd, Glen Chapple, Kyle Hogg, Chris Schofield, Peter Martin, Gary Keedy.

Hampshire v Kent at Southampton

In a far from ideal piece of scheduling, these two sides met at Canterbury in the first round. An excellent wicket combined with some fine batting and bowling that lacked penetration to see just eleven wickets fall in the first three days. Needless to say the result was a draw.

The Southampton Rose Bowl will hopefully prove a little more bowler friendly, as it did when Hampshire collapsed in their round two defeat. Both sides will be looking to win this game to kick start their seasons, and build up enough points to avoid the drop. Interestingly Hants look to have the stronger bowling while the visitor's batting line-up seems set to resume the formidable form which was key to their 2001 season. Hants must start scoring runs at home if they are to retain their first division place next season.

Leicestershire v Warwickshire at Leicester

Leicestershire, who saw such an extraordinary turnover in players during the off season, have returned from away trips in the first two rounds with a respectable 26 points, despite losing in the final session to title contenders Lancashire. DeFreitas has been in good form this year with the ball, and Vince Wells has shone with the bat, But Darren Maddy has been the surprise turn of the summer. Not only has he batted well, but he took career-best match figures of 9-74 for Leicestershire in their round-two defeat of Hants.

Warwicks have played just one match so far this summer, when they were beaten by Lancashire, after falling apart in their second innings. Nick Knight and Neil Smith led their batting, and Alan Richardson was their shock bowling success with eight wickets. If it hadn't been for a fine partnership between Warren Hegg and David Byas, they could well have created an upset.

Somerset v Yorkshire at Taunton

Somerset, last year's second-placed team, welcome reigning champions Yorkshire with both sides eager to register a first win of the season. Yorkshire in particular will want to put the memory of their drubbing by Surrey behind them. Taunton is known as a high-scoring ground, and with the whole of Somerset's top nine making runs against Sussex the home side will be looking to rack up the bowling points once again.

They welcome Andy Caddick back into the side after his contracted player break. Yorkshire's bowlers are not accustomed to teams scoring heavily against them, and will have a point to prove after the way in which they were dismembered in the season's opener. Their batsmen who fought so superbly for championship winning runs on Headingly's difficult wickets will have a point to prove too in this contest which will rival that at the Oval for intensity and interest.

Somerset Squad: Marcus Trescothick (captain) Jamie Cox, Mike Burns, Peter Bowler, Keith Parsons, Ian Blackwell, Rob Turner, Keith Dutch, Matthew Bulbeck, Andy Caddick and Simon Francis, Matt Wood

                          P   W  L  D  Bat Bowl  Deduct Points
Surrey                    2   2  0  0  10   6    0.25   39.75
Lancashire                2   2  0  0   4   6    0.00   34.00
Leicestershire            2   1  1  0   9   6    1.00   26.00
Hampshire                 2   0  1  1   7   5    0.00   16.00
Sussex                    2   0  1  1   6   5    0.00   15.00
Somerset                  1   0  0  1   5   3    0.00   12.00
Kent                      1   0  0  1   5   1    0.00   10.00
Warwickshire              1   0  1  0   2   3    0.00    5.00
Yorkshire                 1   0  1  0   0   3    0.00    3.00

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