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County Championship betting tips
- Surrey to win Division One – 13/8 BoyleSports
- Hampshire Division One Winner w/o Surrey – 13/2 BetVictor
- Jamie Smith Division One Top Batter – 18/1 BetVictor
The English cricket season starts anew on Friday with all 18 counties dodging the rain clouds to kick off the County Championship action.
Reigning champions Surrey are aiming to pull off a third successive Division One title win after retaining the crown last season and are favourites with cricket betting sites.
However, several teams appear ready to challenge Surrey’s dominance, including last year’s runner-up Essex, Hampshire, and Lancashire.
Division Two winners Durham are back on the scene in the top division, eight years removed from their controversial relegation for financial reasons and they could also spring a surprise. Here are our predictions for the 2024 campaign.
2024 County Championship season preview: Surrey on the march again
Betting sites are bullish regarding Surrey’s chances of a three-peat, offering odds of 13/8 for the reigning champions to complete another run to the crown.
Surrey have been so much of a dominant force many online bookmakers are providing Division One winner markets without Gareth Batty’s men. Given their strength in both disciplines, it’s hard to look past them for the title.
The London outfit fall into a nice middle ground where some of their best players have failed to make the grade at international level, but are still outstanding operators at county level with Rory Burns, Dom Sibley, Tom Curran and Jamie Overton falling into that category.
Only Ollie Pope has cemented his spot in the England line-up, while Will Jacks, Sam Curran, Ben Foakes and Gus Atkinson are among the squad players.
Surrey also have quality overseas players in the form of Kemar Roach and Sean Abbott, with Dan Worrall also on hand among a collection of bowlers that features Jordan Clark and Tom Lawes too.
It was a pretty formidable line-up without the addition of Dan Lawrence, who further bolsters a team that seem destined for another title tilt. The only weakness is the lack of a frontline spinner with Amir Virdi not getting a look in last season.
They are reliant on a battery of quick bowlers, but there is a lot of depth for Batty to use.
The hope for the challengers would be to expose Surrey’s batting line-up. Burns was average last year, and they relied on Jamie Smith, Foakes and Sibley for most of the top order runs, but Lawrence’s arrival will make it tougher for teams to skittle them twice.
Backing Surrey at 13/8 with BoyleSports could be a sound option given the top quality of their side and the strength in depth.
County Championship Tip 1: Surrey to win Division One – 13/8 BoyleSports
Hampshire may be best of the rest
As far as the challengers go, there are a host of teams that are pretty even behind the champions and that makes the without Surrey winners market an intriguing betting heat.
Essex will embark on their first season without Sir Alastair Cook for over 20 years following his retirement. The county also lost the services of Lawrence to Surrey. And although they’ve since signed Dean Elgar and Jordan Cox, Cook and Lawrence will be tough to replace.
Essex do have one of the strongest bowling attacks on paper with Simon Harmer excelling with the ball alongside quicks Jamie Porter and Sam Cook. Depth could be an issue with so much dependent on Harmer, Porter and Cook remaining healthy for the entire campaign.
Hampshire could be ones to watch after signing Ali Orr to support James Vince and Nick Gubbins in the batting ranks.
Their bowling attack is arguably just as potent as Essex’s, featuring overseas players Mohammad Abbas and Kyle Abbott, rising star John Turner and the ever-reliable spinner Liam Dawson.
If Hampshire can keep their attack together and their batting remains as consistent as it was last season with Vince and Gubbins joined by Orr at the top of the order, then the South Coast outfit could be a threat to Surrey or at least a strong contender in the market without the champions.
Somerset are banking on potential rearing its head for their challenge. Shoaib Bashir impressed for England in India, but will have to raise his game to take County Championship wickets on surfaces that don’t encourage spin bowling.
James Rew had a breakthrough campaign in 2023 and all eyes will be on him to build on his success. But, there's a feeling that Somerset have missed their window for now.
Warwickshire are an ageing team that will be reliant on a veteran seam attack, while their batting ranks were hardly encouraging in 2023.
Nottinghamshire follow the same pattern, while Lancashire are talented and made a good overseas signing with Australia's Nathan Lyon, but new head coach Dale Benkenstein has not pulled up trees in his other roles.
Durham could be an exciting watch and have the potential to shake up the Division One hierarchy.
Batters Alex Lees, David Bedingham and Ollie Robinson tormented Division Two attacks and are joined by Colin Ackermann.
Their bowling line-up features England internationals Matthew Potts and Brydon Carse along with Aussie quick Scott Boland and left-arm spinner Callum Parkinson. Head coach Ryan Campbell plays fearless cricket and momentum could be on their side.
While we are bigger fans of Hampshire at 13/2 with BetVictor in the w/o Surrey market, don't overlook Durham as an outsider at 15/2.
County Championship Tip 2: Hampshire Division One Winner w/o Surrey – 13/2 BetVictor
Which batter will rise to the top?
Josh Bohannon finished as Division One’s leading run scorer last season. Alex Lees was the highest run scorer in the country, although his 1,347 runs came in Durham’s surge to the Division Two title.
Both players stepped out for England Lions during the winter and will harbour ambitions of playing for the full England line-up during the summer. Bohannon may have a stronger shout unless there is an injury to either Zak Crawley or Ben Duckett.
Only five players surpassed 1,000 runs last season, highlighting the quality of the bowling in Division One.
Rew is perhaps the name to watch as he plays on a good batting track at Taunton and will likely play all 14 of Somerset’s matches this season given he is not quite ready for an England call-up,
At 33/1 he is a good shout on betting apps in the top runscorer market, while Durham batter Bedingham is another good player in the middle order at 30/1 that could be primed to showcase his talent after earning his South Africa Test cap over the winter.
Jamie Smith could be primed for a season that takes him into the England line-up. He has been knocking on the door for two years and Jonny Bairstow’s form over the winter could see him edge out the Yorkshireman and his Surrey team-mate Ben Foakes for the wicket-keeper spot.
After scoring 736 runs last season with two centuries, Smith could be in line to break the 1,000-run mark. He's a shorter price than Rew for the individual honour and it would be no surprise if two of the most exciting players in the country weren't battling it out for the prize.
County Championship Tip 3: Jamie Smith Division One Top Batter – 18/1 BetVictor
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Last Updated: 5th April 2024, 07:42 AM
