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The title race in the top flight of the County Championship is building up into a thrilling battle, but top two Yorkshire and Sussex sit out the action this week.

That gives third-placed Hampshire the perfect opportunity to put themselves right in the shake up, especially as they have two games in hand on the Tykes and one on bitter rivals and reigning champions Sussex.

And it's Hampshire's game with Surrey, which starts on Thursday, which is the focus of our attention.

Given that they've got home advantage, have lost just once this season and won the reverse fixture at the Oval back in April it's a real surprise to see Hampshire on offer at as big as 8/11 in places.

The chief reason for that 'generosity' is the fractured rib suffered by Shane Warne last time out against Lancashire which looks set to rule their inspirational skipper out for the rest of the season.

And while that's clearly a massive blow, it's still hard to believe that it closes the gap between this pair as much as the prices suggest.

For while Hampshire are closing in on top spot - their one and only defeat came back in June - Surrey are battling to avoid the drop.

They've won just two games all season and they were comprehensively outplayed when the two sides met earlier in the campaign.

Hampshire's winning margin of just 35 runs seriously flatters Surrey - they were 278 runs in arrears in the first innings and Hampshire declared on 224-1 when they batted a second time.

Psychologically that win should also be important for the south-coast side because their record against Surrey in recent years had been awful.

Dropping down to Division Two and there's a case to be made for siding with Middlesex in their match with promotion-chasing Notts at Lord's.

It's must-win territory for Ed Smith's side who start the game in fourth place but with a match in hand on the leading trio.

And now isn't a bad time to be playing Notts who have really struggled in recent weeks.

They did at least get back to winning ways last time against Northants but that was a real scrambled effort and no wonder because their bowling has been decimated by injuries.

They've been forced into three loan signings already to try and plug the gaps and one of those, Durham's Mark Davies, played a starring role last week with 7-59 in the first innings.

However he's since been recalled by his county while Mark Ealham (hamstring) and AJ Harris (back strain) are the latest men on the treatment table.

The biggest loss though is Ryan Sidebottom whose absence on international duty has coincided with their dip in fortunes.

All of which means that Middlesex, who have been in decent nick themselves recently, might just be worth support at 5/4 with BetFred and Blue Square.

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