(Leicester)

Leicestershire are strengthened by the arrival of Brad Hodge, who has been playing for Australia A in their series against South Africa A. He will replace John Sadler or Damien Brandy. Devon Malcolm may play if he is out of the doghouse for arriving late from the Caribbean. Essex have Nasser Hussain back and, this not being Surrey. he is guaranteed his place.

LEICESTERSHIRE (from): T R Ward, J L Sadler, D L Maddy, B J Hodge, D I Stevens, P A Nixon, J N Snape, D G Brandy, P A J DeFreitas, D S Brignull, C E Dagnall, D D Masters, D E Malcolm.

ESSEX (from): D D J Robinson, W I Jefferson, N Hussain, A Flower, A P Grayson, A Habib, R C Irani, J S Foster, J M Dakin, J D Middlebrook, G R Napier, S A Brant, J P Stephenson.

Surrey v Warwickshire

(The Oval)

Upstaged by Lancashire in their opening match and with the wrong sort of noises coming out of the dressing-room, Surrey have had a difficult start. Mark Butcher, Alec Stewart and Azhar Mahmood are in; Graham Thorpe and Rikki Clarke are out. Ian Salisbury has a finger injury but Martin Bicknell plays his first championship match of the season. Time for Surrey to beat the only side that defeated them at the Oval on the way to the championship last season.

SURREY: M A Butcher, I J Ward, M R Ramprakash, A J Stewart, A D Brown, A J Hollioake, Azhar Mahmood, A J Tudor, M P Bicknell, Saqlain Mushtaq, J Ormond.

WARWICKSHIRE (from): N V Knight, M A Wagh, I R Bell, J O Troughton, D P Ostler, T Frost, D R Brown, N M K Smith, A F Giles, M M Betts, M A Sheikh, M W Clark, A Richardson, N A Warren.

Sussex v Kent

(Hove)

Allowing Middlesex to win their match at Lord’s after dominating the first three days could return to haunt Sussex if, as expected, they spend the season fighting relegation. They are expected to be unchanged but need much more from the leg spin of Mushtaq Ahmed, who managed only one for 97 in the successful Middlesex run chase. Ben Trott may force his way into the Kent XI after bowling well on Sunday in the win over Leicestershire in the National League.