Surrey to commence County Championship title defense against Essex

Surrey, having secured the 2024 County Championship by a 17-point margin over Hampshire with eight wins and only two losses from 14 matches, is set to launch its campaign for a fourth consecutive County Championship title with an challenging away fixture against Essex. A team has not achieved four successive titles since Surrey accomplished the feat by winning the trophy seven times consecutively between 1952 and 1958. Meanwhile, Hampshire, last season’s runners-up, will host promoted Yorkshire for their opening game, while Sussex, who earned promotion as champions, will travel to face Warwickshire. The initial round of Division Two matches, also commencing on 4 April, includes relegated Lancashire’s trip to Lord’s to play Middlesex, and Kent’s return to the second tier with an away game against Northants. Worcestershire is scheduled to play its first three games on the road before its inaugural New Road fixture of the season against Durham, which begins on 25 April. In the One-Day Cup, 2024 champions Glamorgan will compete against Hampshire in Neath on Tuesday, 5 August. The women’s 50-over competition is slated to start in April, with both finals scheduled for the weekend of 20-21 September. The men’s final will once again be held at Trent Bridge, with the women’s championship match taking place at Utilita Bowl the following day. “This is the start of an exciting new era for domestic cricket and women’s cricket as we elevate and embed women’s teams in the county structure.” “There will be more women’s professional players than ever before, more games at HQ venues and more women’s matches under lights as we further build the profile of women’s cricket across England and Wales,” stated Beth Barrett-Wild, ECB women’s professional game director. The County Championship will maintain the same schedule as the current year, featuring eight rounds of Friday to Monday games throughout April and May. This will be followed by a break, then a two-week resumption at the end of June, with both weeks starting on Sundays. Another set of back-to-back matches will occur at the end of July, preceding the red-ball campaign’s conclusion with the final three rounds of games in September. These concluding rounds are scheduled to commence on 8, 15, and 24 September, with the season’s final day falling on Saturday, 27 September, which is two days earlier than in 2024. Kookaburra balls will again be utilized for the Championship matches in June and July, while the Dukes ball will be retained for the initial and concluding rounds of the season. Sussex will rejoin the top flight for the first time since 2015, having finished 20 points ahead of Yorkshire at the top of Division Two. The Tykes, who will be led by Anthony McGrath as their new head coach, succeeding Ottis Gibson, secured their promotion through a series of victories in the latter half of the summer. Essex has yet to announce a replacement for McGrath, who departed after nine seasons at Chelmsford, and relegated Kent has not yet appointed a successor to former head coach Matt Walker. The men’s One-Day Cup group stage has undergone another restructuring, involving Derbyshire, Hampshire, and Worcestershire exchanging places with Sussex, Warwickshire, and Yorkshire. Group A includes: Notts Outlaws, Essex, Worcestershire, Surrey, Gloucestershire, Glamorgan, Hampshire, Leicestershire Foxes, Derbyshire Falcons. Group B comprises: Kent Spitfires, Yorkshire, Somerset, Lancashire, Durham, Warwickshire, Northamptonshire Steelbacks, Middlesex, Sussex Sharks. The winners of each group will progress directly to the semi-finals, while the teams finishing second and third will compete in a quarter-final to secure a spot in the last four. Similar to the T20 Blast, the women’s competition will feature distinct tournaments: one for the eight fully professional county teams and a League 2 tier for 10 other sides. In the main women’s competition, each of the eight teams will play the other seven both at home and away, with the top four advancing to the semi-finals. League 2 will consist of 10 teams, each playing nine group stage games, and the top four will again move on to the knockout stage. Next season marks a transition for the women’s game away from regional teams, following five seasons of the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy, which was won by Sunrisers in 2024. All games are scheduled to begin on 4 April 2025 at 11:00. Division One fixtures: Essex v Surrey Hampshire v Yorkshire Nottinghamshire v Durham Somerset v Worcestershire Warwickshire v Sussex Division Two fixtures: Derbyshire v Gloucestershire Glamorgan v Leicestershire Middlesex v Lancashire Northamptonshire v Kent One-Day Cup fixtures for Tuesday, 5 August 2025: Chester LS: Durham v Sussex Neath: Glamorgan v Hampshire Cheltenham: Gloucestershire v Derbyshire Falcons Sedbergh: Lancashire v Northamptonshire Steelbacks Sookholme: Notts Outlaws v Essex Scarborough: Yorkshire v Warwickshire One-Day Cup fixtures for Wednesday, 5 August: Radlett: Middlesex v Somerset Guildford: Surrey v Leicestershire Foxes Women’s competition fixtures for Wednesday, 23 April 2025: Chester LS: Durham v Essex Beckenham: Surrey v Somerset Trent Bridge: The Blaze v Lancashire Edgbaston: Warwickshire v Hampshire