County Cricket 2008 Division 1 preview

As the County season is about to properly start, here’s my preview of County Championship Division One.

• Durham
  Positives: Should profit from the runs of Neil McKenzie and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, and Harmison is likely to play more often than usual now he’s not an automatic pick for England.
  Negatives: Ottis Gibson has retired, and Harmison or Onions will need to step up and take loads of wickets to balance out the loss.

• Hampshire
  Positives: Shane Bond has overcome that pesky ban on ICL players. Um, that’s it.
  Negatives: No Warne. Also, no Udal, and Danger Anus will be off in India for some of the season.

• Kent
  Positives: Joe Denly looks exciting, plus they are Champions of the most popular form of cricket at the moment (that’s Twenty20, not Brockian Ultra-Cricket)
  Negatives: The bowlers are OK, but they aren’t of the standard that many other county attacks offer.

• Lancashire

Positives: Ashes Hero Freddie Flintoff will actually play some games for Lancashire this year, and there are still more than enough wise old heads to suggest a decent chance of silverware.
Negatives: The psychological damage of last year will be hard to overcome, and the average age of the side is about 56.

• Nottinghamshire
  Positives: David Hussey, future Australia star, will score runs aplenty when he’s available, plus there will be occasional cameos from new signing Stuart ‘Ricky’ Broad.
  Negatives: Stephen Fleming’s captaincy skills will be missed, and there are a few concerns about the bowling when Sidebottom and Broad are away on England duty.

• Somerset
  Positives: Marcus Trescothick won’t be called away on England duty anymore, Justin Langer won’t be hopping off to the IPL (for this season, anyway), and Andy Caddick is still going.
  Negatives: Still quite reliant on Caddick and other old warhorses when it comes to bowling.

• Surrey
  Positives: Ramprakash will be out to add to his Transformer collection by reaching 100 first-class hundreds, plus Saqlain Mushtaq is back.
  Negatives: Have lost Rikki Clarke to Derbyshire.

• Sussex
  Positives: Have held on to Mushtaq Ahmed despite that ICL business, plus Matt Prior is now a man with something to prove after being dropped by England.
  Negatives: Naved-ul-Hasan has left for Yorkshire.

• Yorkshire
  Positives: Adil Rashid is coming of age, and the Hoggster will be out to earn himself an England recall.
  Negatives: Some doubts remain about the top order.

There may be a Division Two preview tomorrow, but there may not be if I can’t be bothered.