Champions Warwickshire looking to retain crown

Can Shane Warne's presence help big-spending Hampshire to County Championship title in 2005? © Getty Images

In winning the Frizzell County Championship last year, Warwickshire confounded the pundits and defied all pre-season predictions. This year however, Nick Knight's largely unchanged side are sure to be pre-season favourites as they set about the defence of their title - bet365 are offering them at 11/4.

Click here to bet on the 2005 County Championship at bet365

The competition will be fierce and the odds suggest that the main contenders will come from the old guard: Surrey, Sussex and Kent. Surrey rarely find themselves far off the pace - this season they have built on their strong top order by adding a spinner in Harbhajan Singh who will surely take wickets all summer long. Surrey are priced at 10/3 for the title.

The outsiders may well come from the three teams promoted from Division Two last season, with Hampshire, under the astute captaincy of Shane Warne, the most likely candidates. Joining Warne are two other Ashes hopefuls, Kevin Pietersen and Simon Katich, who will both start the season looking to score heavily in order to stake their claim for an international place. Hampshire may well surprise a few people in the first part of the year, but the challenge will lie in how well they can cope with losing some, or all, of their stars when England v Australia kicks off in July.

2004 Season County Championship Division 1 Averages

bet365 odds
Warwickshire - to win outright: 11/4
Surrey - to win outright: 10/3
Hampshire - to win outright: 12/1

In Division Two, last season's pre-season favourites for Championship glory, Lancashire, will be looking to bounce straight back into the top flight. They should prove too strong for many of their rivals, with Stuart Law and Brad Hodge providing the runs and Muttiah Muralitharan bamboozling the opposition batsmen. As a result, Bet365 are offering only evens on Lancashire winning the Division.

The promotion race is going to be keenly contested however, with a number of teams challenging to be in Division One next season. Led by their former and current overseas Test captains, Sanath Jayasuriya and Graeme Smith, Somerset will be eager to return to the top division after a number of disappointing seasons out of the elite, but they will be pushed all the way by Yorkshire and Essex. bet365 places Somerset at 10/1 for the Division Two title.

2004 Season County Championship Division 2 Averages

bet365 odds
Lancashire - to win outright: 1/1
Yorkshire - to win outright: 6/1
Essex - to win outright: 8/1
Somerset - to win outright: 10/1

Please note that odds are correct at time of publication and are subject to change.

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