TWO of the County Championship division one’s bottom three face each other over the next four days as Essex host Yorkshire at Chelmsford. 

Essex currently sit eighth in the table with just the one win from their first four games of the new campaign, while the visitors from the White Roses sit just one place below in ninth, also with one win under the belt so far this season. 

And it is Chris Silverwood’s side who are the favourites to pick up their second win of the season, with the home side 8/11 favourites with Betfair to secure maximum points. 

Former Essex coach Anthony McGrath brings his charges south for the next four days, and the bookmakers make them an 11/10 shot to take the victory back to the North.

Essex were beaten by three wickets last time out as they were turned over by Somerset in the County Championship, off the back of picking up their first win of the season when beating Worcestershire by 28 runs. 

Yorkshire meanwhile are also arriving off the back of a defeat as they were beaten by Warwickshire by five wickets up at Headingley and haven’t tasted victory since their second outing of the campaign when they saw off Worcestershire by a whopping 504 runs. 

The visitors will be without their England stars in former captain Joe Root and current England T20 skipper Harry Brook, while Essex are likely to be without the services of Jordan Cox, who has started the season in fine fettle, after he picked up an abdominal injury which has also ruled him out of national team selection for the upcoming Test against Zimbabwe. 

The home side could also be without seamer Sam Cook, who has been called up the England squad for the upcoming Test.

The home side are currently on a run of just three Championship losses at home since 2019.