County Championship - Month 1

The domestic season may have got off to a warm, sunny but ridiculously early start but, given the appalling weather this week, it was just as well! Heavy rain just about everywhere, not just in the western half of the country, prevented any results in the County Championship. Indeed, not a ball was bowled in the matches at Bristol and The Oval. So where does this leave the league tables? Division One is headed by Warwickshire, with two wins in their three matches. Jonathan Trott, Rikki Clarke and Keith Barker have made some telling contributions already, keeping them ahead of Somerset and Notts. Chris Read's side have won two low-scoring affairs and rain spared them a likely drubbing against Somerset, for whom Nick Compton added a second double-century of the season to put him way ahead of anyone else in the runs column so far. Andre Adams is once again proving what a worthy performer he is for Notts, while Vernon Philander is close to replicating his international form for the Cidermen, who are missing most of their other frontline seamers as well as the irreplaceable skipper Marcus Trescothick. Other veterans Alan Richardson (Worcestershire) and Jonathan Lewis (Surrey) have also been amongst the wickets but their respective sides have had limited success in April. Durham are propping up the table, largely the result of the abandonment of their game against Surrey. Perhaps surprisingly, the only team to have lost two games are the champions Lancashire. Apart from Prince and Croft last week, no batsman has passed 60 in an innings thus far. They must hope to turn things around at home to Notts this week, weather permitting. In the second tier, Derbyshire have been the surprise form team with two victories out of three. However, Kent's win over Northants and three draws means they lead the table by four points. Their seamer Matt Coles is also the leading wicket-taker in the whole Championship with 21, and he has contributed an unbeaten century, too. Poor Glamorgan have suffered three straight defeats and an abandonment. While their bowlers have been successful, so have the opposition's. Only Wright and Walters have scored more than 100 runs in their six innings to date, which simply isn't good enough. Provided the rains subside at Cardiff, they will face Essex, and last season's skipper and opening batsman Alviro Petersen later this week, and that won't be easy. David Masters will fancy his chances of adding to his wicket tally.