Somerset and Notts chase history, Bears also in hunt

Somerset, Nottinghamshire and Warwickshire are all just five points apart heading into the final two games of the County Championship. Each of these teams have realistic hopes of winning the title this September 27th. No team plays each other in the final two rounds, so points will be spread across six matches. Bonus points, unexpected rain and bad light, make predicting the champion difficult.

Somerset, the current leaders, have never won the Championship before, despite the efforts of their "Cider Boys" - Ian Botham, Joel Garner and Viv Richards - in the 1970s and 1980s. They've reached the final two rounds on six occasions between 2001 and 2019. This season, Somerset has made progress with key players Tom Abell, Lewis Gregory, Craig Overton and Jack Leach. Leach has taken 31 wickets at 18.64 runs.

Nottinghamshire are the underdogs who managed to prevent Surrey from winning four titles in a row. Joe Clarke has been their standout batter with 1,240 runs, while Olly Stone and Dillon Pennington's bowling attack has troubled all batting sides. Nottinghamshire's last title came over a decade ago and their previous seven came more than five years apart.

Warwickshire, on the other hand, aren't chasing a title for the sake of tradition. They have a chance to break into the big time, as they've won the Championship once since 2021 and are hoping for a ninth title. Captain Ed Barnard praised their strong attack spearheaded by Ethan Bamber.