Tough Pro40 start for Sussex
Murray Goodwin will hope to carry on from where he left off in the NatWest Pro40 when defending champions Sussex travel to Division Two winners Essex for a floodlit encounter on Monday July 13.
The final NatWest Pro40 season kicks off with four consecutive floodlit matches, with Warwickshire taking on newly-relegated Middlesex, Worcestershire hosting Yorkshire and Northamptonshire going to Derbyshire in the opening week.
In total, the 40-over format plays host to 27 matches under the lights as the nights start to draw in towards the end of the summer.
Sussex will want to make it two out of two in 2009 to become the last winners of the NatWest Pro40
Another match to look out for is Surrey against Middlesex at Guildford on July 19, with each hoping to get one over on their London rivals.
Durham play Yorkshire at Scarborough on the same day, with the possibility of Steve Harmison bowling to Michael Vaughan.
Several other outgrounds are being used in the second half of the season, with Horsham, Colwyn Bay and Southend all hosting 40-over matches on Sunday August 9, and Colchester and Chesterfield in demand two weeks later.
The final day of the season - Sunday September 27 - sees 16 of the 18 counties in NatWest Pro40 action, with every team wanting to become the last to win the title in what is the last year of the 40-over competition.
