GT wrote:Chapple and Keedy.
They're both already in the team as well as Anderson, and both seem to produce the goods year in year out in any case without having yet inspired a championship success. Who's going to step in to replace Anderson and provide something extra? Time for Mahmood to have a big season if Lancs are to make a real challenge.
I can see Sussex going down this year. They only just stayed up last time and played very negatively and nervously against the doomed Surrey at the end of last season. (13 overs an hour in one session, more than half bowled by spinners.) Their three times championship winning side has grown old together and they haven't brought on the next generation. Durham and Notts look strong again, while Hampshire might be a surprise package if they carry on where they left off last year after shaking off the post-Warne era lethargy.
Kent are bookies favourites for Division 2 (although their bowling attack looked pretty ordinary on paper for their last match) with Middx & Surrey joint second favourites, but that division looks fairly open to me. Surrey look a bit too dependent for runs on the remnants of their last championship winning side (Butcher, Ramprakash, Batty) while younger homegrown batsmen like Evans, Spriegel and Chris Murtagh find their feet, and have a weak tail with no convincing lower-middle order batsmen unless NZ overseas player Grant Elliott is an unqualified success. Andre Nel should be a matchwinner at that level if he stays fit though, and there's the likelihood of Harbhajan boosting our chances later in the season.
Essex have enough good young players to be in with a shout; I think those four Home Counties sides have the best top order batting resources and ought to fill the top four places come September.
