Championship race hots up

Murali Kartik will follow his C&G final appearance with his first Championship match of the season against Warwickshire © Getty Images

This week signals the start of the run to the County Championship. In the first division Sussex and Lancashire are tied at the top on 189 points, and both will be looking for a large points haul from their home fixtures against Hampshire and Warwickshire respectively.

Lancashire received a significant boost when Heath Streak, Warwickshire's captain and leading wicket taker this summer, was ruled out of the match at Blackpool which starts on Wednesday. Streak, who took 6 for 73 in Warwickshire's last match against Hampshire, is recovering from a disc injury and will not be risked. Dougie Brown, the experienced all rounder who has 31 wickets at 29 this summer, is missing with a back strain, and James Anyon and Michael Powell are also out.

For Lancashire, Gary Keedy, the left-arm spinner who has claimed an impressive 60 wickets this summer but missed Saturday's C&G Trophy Final against Sussex because of injury, remains absent with a knee problem.

Murali Kartik, the Indian slow left armer, is set to play his first Championship game of the season with Lancashire hoping he will have a similar impact to 2005 when he claimed 16 wickets in the last two matches.

Sussex start their crunch tie against Hampshire, at Hove, on Thursday fresh from their C&G Trophy triumph at Lord's and with their confidence sky-high

At the other end of the table, Yorkshire take on Middlesex at Scarborough with both teams desperate for a victory as they battle to beat the drop. Matthew Hoggard, whose 10 wickets against Pakistan cost a disappointing 47 apiece, will return to the Yorkshire side in place of Jason Gillespie.

Gillespie, who has had a poor summer with the ball claiming only 31 wickets, has returned home for the infamous Australian 'boot camp' ahead of the Ashes, but will be back for Yorkshire's last two championship matches against Durham and Nottinghamshire. Nick Thornicroft, the young fast bowler who spent a spell on loan at Essex last summer, has been named in the 12 and Simon Guy will continue behind the stumps.

In the second division Surrey, Essex, Worcestershire and Derbyshire continue their pursuit of promotion, with Worcestershire and Essex meeting at New Road on Wednesday. Essex will be without Alistair Cook and the inspirational Darren Gough who are on England duty.

They welcome back the former England fast bowler Alex Tudor, who has claimed 23 wickets from eight Championship matches. Varun Chopra, who has impressed this summer while averaging 37 and scoring his maiden first-class century on debut, also returns.

Surrey - well set for promotion despite their recent defeat to Essex - will be looking to clinch their return to the top flight against Glamorgan at the Oval on Wednesday.

Mark Cosgrove, Glamorgan's Australian batsman, is looking to score the 165 runs he needs to reach 1,000 for the season in his final match for the county. Cosgrove, signed as a replacement for the injured Matthew Elliott, has averaged 55 in a successful summer, and returns to Australia this weekend for a short training camp ahead of joining up with the rest of Australia's 18-man party for their tri-nation series against West Indies and India in Malaysia.

The New Zealand seamer James Franklin has recovered from the back strain that caused him to miss the last four-day match at Taunton, and David Harrison, who has not lived up to expectations this summer with a paltry 21 wickets at 44, has recovered from a thigh strain. Huw Waters, the former England U-19 pace bowler who claimed his maiden five wicket haul this summer, is in the 12, along with the16-year-old James Harris, who will become Glamorgan's fourth youngest player if he plays.

Derbyshire, still with a chance of promotion, are without Michael di Venuto and Graeme Welch for their clash against Northants. di Venuto has a groin problem and Welch an achilles injury.