Surrey will be the first team to win four county titles for 70 consecutive years, when the domestic red ball game began Friday’s 2025 season.

The last county to achieve this feat? Surrey himself in seven consecutive championships between 1952 and 1958.

Although England’s men are with the first Zimbabwe, then India’s busy summer test summer as tourists, early season focus will be firmly on who can put themselves in the frame for choice, while also bidding in September in September.

The first division of 2025 brings some counties back to the top for the first time in many seasons, as well as a group of perennial challengers for Lord’s Taverners Trophy.

Will a surprise challenger destroy the balance of power in recent seasons? Let’s take a look at how the movement develops…

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It’s hard to surpass Surrey It will be done again in 2025.

Although club legend Alec Stewart continues to serve as cricket director as part-time posts for high-performance cricket consultant, head coach Gareth Batty can still call for a senior squad that can post big totals and take 20 wickets repeatedly.

On bowling, many eyes will be Dan Worrall, now qualified in England As Australia’s birth gap hopes to add to the 139 championship wickets he has accumulated over the past three seasons, it could shut it down with a test party call.

With the bats, former England openers Rory Burns and Dom Sibley are expected to enter the run again and lead the way.

If anything, Ollie Pope and Jamie Smith will provide mid-order support, while Dan Lawrence hopes to reintegrate himself into the exam after the interim opening game against Sri Lanka last summer.

The push title will be Somerset, Despite defeating Surrey in the penultimate round, he became a “near” again last season.

If appropriate, Will Smeed will be available in all formats, while Bats have upgraded their contracts with only white balls, and New Zealand seaman Matt Henry will be their overseas spearhead in the first half of the season when he arrives in mid-April.

Coupled with the double spin threat from Jack Leach and emerging Archie Vaughan, they have proven prolific enough to force England to tweak Shoaib Bashir lends to Glamorgan The drivers should fit in well to eventually win the first championship of all time.

In the case of another potential challenger Durham There should be a chance to build on top divisions in the second season.

They took some shrewd English qualification signings from Northamptonshire, the opener of Emilio Gay under the dynamic coach Ryan Campbell of the opener.

England’s seamen Matthew Potts and Brydon Carse may be famous with the exciting left-arm fast James Minto, who are still only 17 years old, and their debut against Surrey last season caught the attention.

Neil Wagner also signed overseas bowlers to add some valuable early experience.

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In the middle of the package, hopefully there is little choice between four people.

Warwickshire It should be better than their 2024 victory, with New Zealand Captain Tom Beau Webster and Pakistani seaman Hassan Ali reaching Edgbaston in New Zealand Captain Tom Beau Latham.

Jacob Bethell, Dan Mousley and Sam Hain will also be three potential England pick contenders to keep an eye on the campaign.

Yorkshire In three seasons, back to top flight for the first time, there are a lot of changes in winter on the court and on the court.

Jonny Bairstow is named Red Captain After Shan Masood moved to Leicestershire, Anthony McGrath returned to his former county as a first team coach, who helped Essex get a title title and finished second in his time in charge.

Despite losing Matthew Fisher to Surrey in the seam bowling department, they should still have enough play to win more games than attracting or losing. Bairstow is at the top of the batting order with Dawid Malan and Adam Lyth, and occasional cameos from Harry Brook and Joe Root should provide a lot of runs.

Struggle

Some names at the bottom might be surprising, but highlight the distance of the department.

Hampshire Without the experience of James Vince, last season’s runner-up will be hard to imitate, not only the club captain, but also in terms of his running weight.

The 34-year-old former England international made a decision in January Exit red ball cricket and move to Dubai Follow off-field personal issues and increase his chances of playing T20 franchise cricket.

In terms of bowling, there will be interest in seeing a group of emerging seafarers including Sonny Baker, who joined from Somerset and awarded the England development contract in the winter, performing without Mohammad Abbas.

Slow left militaryman Liam Dawson will undoubtedly be the top of the bowling average as he continues to be the MR reliable for Hampshire, while Mark Stoneman also joined from Middlesex to replace Vince in the batting department.

Nottinghamshire It’s hard to predict, but adding six ABBA games above between May and September could make them perform better than expected.

If they can stay healthy, tall seamen Olly Stone and Dillon Pennington have been awarded test covers in recent years, or once the edge of choosing a hat, will also add more potency.

Haseeb Hameed’s opening time as England may have come and go in the Bazball era, but he can still provide a prolific season when it comes to running. Joe Clarke is another guy who meets the intermediate standards, but hasn’t yet come up with a strong enough case with his consistent running weight to make it difficult for him to ignore the test options.

Essex Have been there in recent years or have been arithmetic or aggressive, but this season may get even harder.

After a period of economic and administrative turmoil, there is a lack of depth.

Simon Harmer looks like the move of Indian all-around Shardul Thakur, who is known as the late injury replacement for the IPL, is like a lonely overseas signing.

Former England coach Chris Silverwood is back as the director of cricket, replacing his former assistant McGrath and will win the county’s first title 25 years before 2017.

But if prolific Sam Cook finally gets a test call, or new ball partner Jamie Porter gets injured, his seam bowling department will appear stretched.

Due to some experienced batsmen, they should have enough time to stay up late.

Sussex It has returned to the first division for the first time since 2015.

Charming Paul Farbrace is awesome to do in rebuilding a county that requires hard resets in many departments. But, for a very fast evergreen team, will top cricket bring too many challenges to a lot of challenges?

Captain John Simpson will be the experienced hand to lead his troops, while overseas signing Daniel Hughes from Australia and West Indies will add sparks.

Things would look brighter if they could have Ollie Robinson recover from hernia surgery in the park when a former England seaman recovered from hernia surgery. Meanwhile, if his long road back to England had no obstacles in the test return rate, a certain Jofra Archer might also have the chance to steam from the seabed of Hove.

at last, Worcestershire Survive comfortably in 2024 to record best results since 1997, but testing is likely to take place this season.

CEO Ashley Giles has a lot of competition with both on-site and off-site, as the county’s future on the new road seems uncertain from a financial and environmental perspective.

Last season, the retirement of the club’s staunch Joe Leach left them without amulets, and Brett D’Oliveira hopes to fill that gap as he continues to serve as captain.

It could be a tough watch for Pear fans who want an exciting group of youngsters, including seamen Ethan Brookes and Ben Allison Plus top hitters Adam Hose and Kashif Ali, to provide the game-winning contribution.

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Open fixture

All competitions start at 11 a.m. Friday, April 4:

Chelmsford: Essex vs Surrey

Bowl Utility: Hampshire and Yorkshire

Trent Bridge: Nottinghamshire vs Durham

Taunton: Somerset and Worcestershire

Edgbaston: Warwickshire vs Sussex