Derbyshire v Northamptonshire at Derby

Derbyshire have a chance to extend their winning run and go top against the men from Northampton. After Dominic Cork led them by spectacular example in their first two matches, including a last gasp two-run victory over Durham in the most exciting finish of the season so far, they will hope to overcome the visitors. Both Stephen Stubbings and overseas player Michael Di Venuto have so far impressed with the bat.

Northants' opening game of the season was at Northampton and went true to form for that ground, with well over 1,000 runs scored for the fall of just 13 wickets, Mike Hussey, Mal Loye and Russell Warren all piled on the runs but perhaps of more significance is the fact that both John Blain and the young Carl Greenidge, who moved from Surrey in the winter, bowled with considerable success. Northants are hard pressed to gain results at home - especially early in the season - and must therefore fight hard for away victories if they are to bounce back into Division One.

Nottinghamshire v Essex at Nottingham

Notts welcome Essex after being steam-rollered at Lords in Gus Fraser's championship farewell. If they are to pursue promotion they will need to find runs from sources other than Darren Bicknell, but with Chris Read coming in at number eight their batting is capable of greater resiliance. South African born Greg Smith (31) took four wickets as well as scoring 50 in a lost cause against Middlesex.

Essex hope to return immediately to the top division, and having replaced one prolific batsman in Stuart Law with another in keeper/batsman Andy Flower, they may well have got a better deal than the ECB, as Andy is clearly flowering while their other stumper Foster is out of action, having been kept from playing by ECB order for the first part of the season. Essex are without the services of promising young seamer Ricky Anderson, and may lack the bowling to knock sides over twice. But they have signed Jon Dakin from Leicestershire and Middlebrook from Yorkshire to back up their veterans and tyros.

Worcestershire v Glamorgan at Worcester

Worcestershire, having begun the season well in both competitions, will be hoping to repeat their victory in the B&H match at Cardiff this week. Veteran David Leatherdale, together with Ben Smith and young Stephen Peters, formerly of Essex, have begun the season well with the bat and the bowling of overseas player Andy Bichel has been ably backed up by Kabir Ali and Gareth Batty, another new signing who moved from Surrey over the winter in pursuit of a regular first-team place. Batty, a 24-year-old off-spinning all-rounder from Bradford, impressed for Surrey in his few first-team appearances last season as well as in the seconds.

Glamorgan will be hoping that Simon Jones can repeat his career best 6-45, and that overseas player Mark Kasprowicz produces a better return on their investment this match. A side with limited bowling particularly needs its batting to stand firm. What runs they have scored this season have been spread around, although they will be hoping that the ECB don't notice that their county and B&H batting averages are topped by their 20-year-old England Under-19 wicket-keeper, who ran up a century in defeat at Derby.

                          
                          P   W  L  D Bat Bowl Deduct Points
Middlesex                 2   2  0  0  8   6    0.00   38.00
Derbyshire                2   2  0  0  3   6    0.00   33.00
Worcestershire            2   1  0  1  8   4    0.00   28.00
Gloucestershire           2   0  1  1  6   6    0.00   16.00
Essex                     1   0  0  1  4   3    0.00   11.00
Northamptonshire          1   0  0  1  5   2    0.00   11.00
Durham                    2   0  2  0  2   6    0.00    8.00
Glamorgan                 1   0  1  0  0   3    0.00    3.00
Nottinghamshire           1   0  1  0  0   3    0.50    2.50

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