[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

The first weekend of the season has thrown up a rather topsy-turvy state of affairs, as three counties who've struggled to one extent or another in recent seasons - Worcestershire, Leicestershire and Sussex - sit atop Division Two gazing down at more fancied sides below. One of those teams is Durham, edged out in a close encounter on the south coast last weekend following a second-innings collapse. Perpetually tipped to be there or thereabouts since their controversial relegation in 2016, it's never quite happened for a variety of reasons, and the departure of Chris Rushworth has only made matters worse for the northerners. Wicketkeeper Sean Dickson's exit has been more than compensated for by the signing of Ollie Robinson (without whom the disastrous second innings last weekend would have been far worse), and until England come calling for Matthew Potts again they retain a reliable wicket-taking threat, but a lot of pressure will fall on Ben Raine, Brydon Carse and overseas man Matthew Kuhnemann to make good on the Rushworth shortfall at some point.

For Worcestershire, after a near-perfect performance at Derby the team almost picks itself. Again, the option will be open for Josh Baker to come in for Adam Hose depending on pitch conditions, the former Warks man having provided an all-too-brief cameo last weekend that will hopefully be improved on in future showings, but makes him the most likely sacrifice for a bit of early-season spin right now. We're also liable to see a return for Dillon Pennington, possibly in place of Josh Tongue, but with the weather threatening much of the first two days, a positive result could be hard to come by.


Probable Worcestershire XI: Libby, Pollock, Ali, Haynes, Hose, D'Oliveira, Roderick, Waite, Leach, Gibbon, Pennington