Worcestershire could worry Essex to enhance survival hopes

Division One and Two matches
10.30am Tuesday

Worcestershire triumphed in the T20 Blast final on Saturday and they are worth a wager to carry over the feelgood factor into their crunch Championship Division One clash at Chelmsford.

The Pears will believe they need to beat Essex to avoid four-day relegation and they battled hard in defeat to champions Surrey last week. Losses to Hampshire and Lancashire before that were disappointing but they enjoyed a thumping victory over Yorkshire last month.

Essex have won two of their last three matches to almost guarantee safety but they lost to Notts and Somerset last month and to Surrey a fortnight ago and they have struggled for batting consistency.

Surrey secured the pennant with a ninth straight win at Worcester but in Division Two the title battle between Warwickshire and Kent is still raging while Sussex can stay in the promotion hunt with a home victory over the leaders.

The Spitfires should add to the pressure on Warwickshire at Hove with a win over stragglers Glamorgan. But since losing at Lord’s, the Bears have enjoyed three sizeable successes and they were two wickets shy of beating Durham. Sussex need to pick themselves up from their T20 final loss on Saturday night.

In the Asia Cup in Dubai, Hong Kong are 33-1 to upset India.
Pakistan beat Hong Kong by eight wickets on Sunday and apart from rested skipper Virat Kohli, this is the strongest-available India 50-overs outfit.

Recommendations
Worcestershire
1pt 11-8 Betfred, BoyleSports, Hills
Warwickshire
2pts 81-100 188Bet

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