At last Yorkshire are welcoming back some Test batsmen. This must be a blessing and a bit of a headache. For the first time this season Adam Lyth and Gary Ballance are available when Yorkshire take on Middlesex at Headingley. It is the most compelling match of the round as Middlesex are top of the table and the champions, Yorkshire, 16 points behind with a game in hand. Moreover, these are the two remaining unbeaten sides in Division One.
The headache is how Yorkshire fit both players in. It would be unthinkable to omit the highly promising Alex Lees, while Jack Leaning has had a brilliant start to the season. Andrew Gale left himself out against Middlesex last year; the game was lost and he vowed not to do that again. Will Rhodes may have to give way, along with someone else.
With Joe Root, Liam Plunkett and Adil Rashid away on England ODI duty, they will probably find a way to squeeze them all in. The firepower will be slightly reduced in this contest since Steve Finn will also be absent, but the match will be competitive nonetheless and the outcome will have a bearing on the destination of the pennant. This is one of two championship games Ballance has to recover his touch before the first Test against Australia.
Elsewhere in the First Division, the ever-resilient Durham have won more games than the rest and they host Somerset at Chester‑le‑Street. At the toss Paul Collingwood will be shaking hands with Marcus Trescothick, sharing 78 years, bags of experience and a devotion to the game that never seems to wane. Collingwood has been doing quite a lot of coaching recently (with England and Scotland). Perhaps he has been listening to himself; certainly he has been in vintage form. Meanwhile, Trescothick has been sharpening up his wicket-keeping skills in the T20. Rest assured he will be giving the gloves back to Alex Barrow for four-day cricket.
The south coast derby at Hove has Hampshire anxiously seeking their first victory in the top division. Their coach, Dale Benkenstein, has acknowledged that the gap in standard between the two divisions seems to be widening.
In the Second Division, Lancashire, under the astute guidance of Ashley Giles, have a substantial lead. They travel to Bristol. Leicestershire, giddy after their first Championship victory – over Essex – in 993 days, play Surrey at Grace Road. There, the luxurious press box may not be full now that Kevin Pietersen has withdrawn from Championship cricket.
Today (11am): First Division Durham v Somerset, Sussex v Hants, Yorks v Middlesex. Second Division Gloucs v Lancs, Kent v Derbyshire, Leics v Surrey, Northants v Essex.
