Warwickshire v Sussex (Wed 25 Apr – Sat 28 Apr) The winners of last season's County Championship title and C&G Trophy make a spring visit to Edgbaston hoping to carry on where they left off last year and banish the problems of the winter.
 | | Catch Matt Prior at Edgbaston |
Surprisingly club captain Chris Adams was the one to provide the disruption by initially accepting the job as Yorkshire's director of cricket before performing a remarkable u-turn, deciding to stay on the south coast for a record tenth season as skipper. This surely cannot have helped team morale which was so central to last year’s success; if there is a good time to play Sussex, April could be it. The rest of the squad remains pretty much the same, however, and the Bears will do well to be wary of Pakistan overseas duo Naved-ul-Hasan and Mushtaq Ahmed returning in attack from a well rested summer due to their country's early World Cup exit. Keep an eye-out for glove-man Matt Prior who needs to start scoring big if he is to be in consideration for England this summer. Let's hope he doesn't realise this before the beginning of May and Warwickshire can repeat last July's victory at Edgbaston. Warwickshire v Hampshire (Wed 30 May – Sat 2 Jun) Star-spotting will be the order of the day just after Whitsun as the Bears welcome a giant of the world game, leg-spinner Shane Warne. Without the restraints of international call-ups, the all-time leading Test wicket-taker is a fearless leader for the Hawks and is ideally suited to the longer format, capable of tearing through even the best team's tail. This may well result in them finishing the campaign on top of the pile for the first time since 1973.
 | | Bears have been Warned |
Look out too for Warne's former Australian team-mate Stuart Clark who is still potent with the new ball even after a summer at the World Cup. Hampshire have notorious problems with their openers so Heath Streak and South African Dale Steyn will need to make an impact early on in order for the Bears to gain a decent footing. Don't bet against new signing Kumar Sangakkara weighing in with some of his infamous verbal sledging against his Aussie opponents either. Warwickshire v Worcestershire (Fri 15 Jun – Mon 18 Jun) Make the most of the summer weekend and take your Dad on the Sunday for Father's Day as the Warwick/Worcester derby returns to the CC Division 1.
A man who may well be old enough to be your Dad looks the main threat to the Bears. At the grand old age of 40, former England international Graeme Hick is still batting as well as in his heyday. Scoring 1,023 Championship runs in 2006, he signed a contract extension during the winter and will be intent on adding to his 132 first class centuries.
Former South African under-19 batsmen Jonathon Trott is sure to use this fixture as a way to eclipse the old guard and highlight the coming of a new generation to the England selectors.
 | | No Hick-Ups wanted for Bears |
Up against him in the attack, the addition of a 25-year-old left-arm paceman Doug Bollinger with a modest first class record of 63 wickets at a rate of 42.79 doesn't mean Worcestershire have any reason for putting the champagne on ice. Be sure to listen out for the icy reception given to England under-19 batsman Moeen Ali who travelled down the M5 this winter to join his brother Kabir at Worcester. Remember you can listen to all Warwickshire's matches this season via Radio WM. | 
