England’s all-time leading Test wicket-taker James Anderson has extended his career for at least another season and there is a good chance he is toasting a promotion at the end of it.
Lancashire seem the standout team in County Championship Division Two and should ensure they only spend one season outside the top flight following relegation at the end of 2024.
Anderson – whose new deal at Emirates Old Trafford will take him beyond his 43rd birthday – will sit out the first month of the season with a calf complaint but a seam-bowling attack containing Tom Bailey, West Indies’ Anderson Phillip and youngsters Tom Aspinwall and George Balderson has depth.
Keaton Jennings is Lancashire’s captain and a run-scoring opener
Runs should not be a problem with club captain Keaton Jennings a regular source of those – he scored in excess of 1,000 in the top tier last term – and new recruit, Australia international Marcus Harris, having previously churned out Championship runs for Gloucestershire and Leicestershire, averaging 48 in this competition.
Support will be provided by Josh Bohannon, Luke Wells, wicketkeeper-batter Matty Hurst and 16-year-old Rocky Flintoff – son of England legend Andrew – who became England Lions’ youngest centurion when he impressed in Australia this winter.
Rocky Flintoff, the 16-year-old son of former England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff, scored a century for the Lions against a Cricket Australia XI in Brisbane this winter
Contenders
Lancashire are the favourites, then, but Middlesex, Northamptonshire and Kent – the latter came down with Lancashire last season – will be targeting promotion, too.
Middlesex’s hopes of claiming a spot in the top two – they finished third last term behind Yorkshire and Sussex – will be boosted by the arrival of New Zealand’s Kane Williamson for at least five matches with the 34-year-old having scored over 9,000 Test runs.
New Zealand’s Kane Williamson will play at least five County Championship matches for MIddlesex
Williamson will complement a potent batting line-up including Max Holden, Sam Robson, Luus du Plooy and Ryan Higgins, with the latter a dual threat after contributing 1,133 runs – including five centuries – and 30 wickets in 2024 during a stellar all-round campaign.
The Lord’s side have seen seamer Ethan Bamber join Division One Warwickshire but South Africa’s Dane Paterson will replace him early season and the stalwart Toby Roland-Jones is coming off the back of a 52-wicket season, while the spin ranks have been bolstered by the acquisition of left-armer Zafar Gohar from Gloucestershire.
Northamptonshire, now coached by former Australia supremo Darren Lehmann, have seen England batting hopeful Emilio Gay depart for Durham and seamer Jack White move to Yorkshire but still have Ricardo Vasconcelos and Luke Procter to score runs, while the reliable Ben Sanderson continues to lead the seam attack.
India spinner Yuzvendra Chahal will return as one of Northamptonshire’s overseas players from June
Plus, India leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal will return for the run-in, available for the final seven games, after bagging 21 wickets in four matches last season. He could enjoy bowling on tiring pitches.
A top-two finish may be beyond Northants if Lancashire and Middlesex are at their best and the same could apply to Kent, who may face a season of consolidation after a relegation season in 2024 when they won just one red-ball match and no batter averaged 40.
The top six, including Zak Crawley, Daniel Bell-Drummond, Ben Compton and Joe Denly, should find things easier in Division Two but will they have the ammunition in the bowling department?
Early-season seam recruits Keith Dudgeon (South Africa) and Kashif Ali (Pakistan) are untried in county cricket, so a lot of the heavy lifting may have to be done by spinner Matt Parkinson.
Adam Hollioake has been appointed Kent coach ahead of the new season
The appointment of former Surrey and England captain Adam Hollioake – and one-time cage fighter – as head coach is also a fascinating one.
Pretenders
The other four sides – Gloucestershire, Glamorgan, Derbyshire and Glamorgan – will be hoping to launch promotion pushes as well as ensure they avoid the wooden spoon.
Derbyshire suffered that fate in 2024, picking up just one win across their 14 games and bagging just 20 batting bonus points along the way, the fewest in the division.
Wayne Madsen, now 41, topped 1,000 runs last term and may need to be as prolific once again for Derbyshire to contend, although Zak Chappell – 54 wickets last season – and New Zealander Blair Tickner could be potent with the ball.
Pakistan captain Shan Masood could be a shrewd acquisition for Leicestershire
It may be that Leicestershire are best-placed of the outsiders to press for promotion with Pakistan Test captain Shan Masood arriving from late May – back for his fourth straight season of county cricket after spells with Derbyshire and Yorkshire – and joining a batting line-up featuring Peter Handscomb and Rishi Patel.
Glamorgan and Gloucestershire came sixth and seventh respectively last term and of the two, it may be that the latter have a little more about them in 2025, including a speedy pace attack of Marchant de Lange, Ajeet Singh Dale and Zaman Akhter.
Cameron Bancroft, fellow Aussie Cameron Green – who is available for five games across April and May – and James Bracey should also provide steady runs for the Bristol-based outfit.
Australia’s Cameron Green will be at Gloucestershire for a short spell
Glamorgan’s batting should be underpinned by Colin Ingram, Sam Northeast and Kiran Carlson – the first two eclipsed 1,000 runs last term and the latter made over 900 – while England spinner Shoaib Bashir is on their books for the first three games, on loan from Somerset as cover for the injured Mason Crane.
New coach Richard Dawson, appointed when previous incumbent Grant Bradburn was sacked after a misconduct charge, also has Sri Lanka seamer Asitha Fernando for the first seven games. Promotion may be too much to ask for, with progression surely the main aim.
County Championship – opening fixtures
All matches begin at 11am on Friday April 4
- Derbyshire vs Gloucestershire (Derby)
- Glamorgan vs Gloucestershire (Cardiff)
- Middlesex vs Lancashire (Lord’s)
- Northamptonshire vs Kent (Northampton)
