Northants open up County Championship campaign with home clash against Kent

The Australian takes over the Northants head coach reins in February, and he has been handed a home game first up.

The fixtures were released this week for both the Championship and One Day Cup campaigns, with the Vitality Blast programme having already been announced last week.

Following on from the early April opener against Kent, Lehmann and his players will be going on a bit of a road trip as they face three successive away games.

On April 11 they go Lancashire, a week later it is a trip to Derbyshire (April 18) and then, after a free week, they travel to Grace Road to take on Leicestershire on Friday, May 2.

Northants are finally back on home soil on May 9 when they face a quickfire return date with Lancashire, before they embark on a trip to Wales to play Glamorgan on May 16.

The final match in May is another date at Wantage Road, with Gloucestershire the visitors on Friday, May 23.

There are two four-day matches in June, with Middlesex coming to Northampton on the Sunday the 22nd and the County going to Kent a week later on the 29th.

July sees a trip to Middlesex on Tuesday the 22nd, with Derbyshire at Wantage Road a week later.

Due to The Hundred, there is no first-class cricket for Northants throughout the month of August, with the season ending with a triple header in September.

Northants will host Glamorgan on Monday, September 8, go to Gloucestershire seven days later (Sept 15) and then end the season with a home date against Leicestershire on Wednesday, May 24.

August will be once again taken up by the Metro Bank One Day Cup, and Northants have been drawn in a tough-looking group alongside Lancashire, Yorkshire, Warwickshire, Durham, Sussex, Kent, Middlesex and Somerset.

As with the Blast and the Championship, the fixtures are again lop-sided, with the Steelbacks facing three away matches in their first four outings.

They open with a trip to Lancashire on Tuesday, August 5, before a Friday home date with Yorkshire (Aug 8).

They then go to Warwickshire (Aug 10) and Durham (Aug 15) before three home games in a row against Sussex (Aug 17), Kent (Aug 21) and Middlesex (Aug 24).

Lehmann's side wrap up their group with a trip to Somerset on August 26. The knockout matches will then be held on August 28 and 31, with finals day scheduled for Saturday, September 20.

Northants County Championship fixtures 2025

April 4: Kent (h); April 11: Lancashire (a); April 18: Derbyshire (a); May 2: Leicestershire (a); May 9: Lancashire (h); May 16: Glamorgan (a); May 23: Gloucestershire (h); June 22: Middlesex (h); June 29: Kent (a); July 22: Middlesex (a); July 29: Derbyshire (h); Sept 8: Glamorgan (h); Sept 15: Gloucestershire (a); Sept 24: Leicestershire (h)