It's that time of the year again where the English Domestic has started. The Counties are a couple of games into the 4-day format, but on Sunday sees the return of the Clydesdale Bank 40 competition.
Last season saw Warwickshire upset the odds as they beat favourites Somerset where England International Ian Bell made a fantastic century off 95 balls to lead Warwickshire to victory in a relatively low scoring affair. You can see Warwickshire in action on the opening day of the season as they start their campaign off with a tough game v Hampshire, which sees the CB40 Champions meet the T20 Champions. (Live on Sky Sports, Sunday from 1pm)
Somerset are favourites to win the trophy and they so nearly did last season. You can pick up a best price of 8/1 (Victor Chandler + Stan James). Stan are currently offering 4 places on the each way terms at 1/5 of the odds. Somerset have the players to win this competition with the likes of the experienced Marcus Trescothick in their ranks.
Trescothick a former international, is a powerful striker of a cricket ball and makes runs in all forms of the game. They also have the talented player James Hildreth who was the second leading run scorer in the competition last season and had a very impressive season last year in all forms of the game and isn't far off an International call-up. Another player to watch out for is young Jos Butler, who impressed last season in his break through season.
Warwickshire are currently 12/1 with (Coral and William Hill), however, they are likely to be missing the likes Jonathan Trott and Ian Bell through England duty for most of the seaso but should they progress it is likely these two key players will part take in their campaign and they may play the opening few before the England Test Series with Sri Lanka starts in May. Warwickshire have a fairly difficult group, which sees them drawn with Hampshire, Surrey and Durham, which are main threats and it will be fairly difficult for them to progress.
