The English County Cricket Championship gets underway on Friday morning and Durham are 9/2 with bet365 to regain their 2009 title.
Graham Onions and Steve Harmison will both return to Durham’s line up in Division One and will be like new additions to the squad and Durham can be expected to well improve on their 5th place of last year.
Somerset come in as 7/2 favs for the 2011 season (William Hill) and Marcus Trescothick’s side will look to avoid last year’s heartache in which they were runners up in all three formats. They will battle it out with Durham this season.
Defending Champions Nottinghamshire are 11/2 with Sportingbet while Lancashire could be worth keeping an eye on this season. After finishing 5th in 2008 and 4th twice in ’09 and ’10, Ladbrokes slap 10/1 about the newly located team. Lancs will play 5 games in Liverpool this season and just one in Manchester. Peter Moores’ men drew 5 on the unreliable Old Trafford wicket last year and could find themselves challenging if those draws turn into wins. Jimmy Anderson will miss a couple of the opening games but it’s still worth looking at an each way bet, top 3 places at quarter the odds.
In Division Two, Essex and Surrey are joint 4/1 favs ( and 888sport respectively). Essex welcome Ravi Bopara after his recovery from injury and rejection of the IPL and he will line up with Alistair Cook, giving Essex a decent chance of winning.
Andrew Strauss’ Middlesex are not fancied at 8/1 (Coral) and the England captain will be absent until at least mid-May.
Compare all English County Cricket odds and bet at the best price.
