Lancashire will be without Alviro Petersen for their final match of the season, as they travel to Edgbaston for a vital meeting with Warwickshire.
Petersen, who has scored 1,134 Championship runs this season, has returned home to South Africa for personal reasons, leaving Lancashire with a hole to fill for Tuesday's trip to Birmingham, with both teams still relegation candidates heading into the final round of matches.
The Red Rose county enter this match on the back of a hard-fought draw against budding county champions Middlesex, with Rob Jones scoring a maiden first-class hundred to steer Lancashire to within 11 points of confirming their first-division status.
The success of young Jones at the top of the order has been timely, especially now that Petersen has left the country, but the 20-year-old batsman picked a good time to register his first century for Lancashire when they found themselves 6/4 and 32/5 against a Middlesex side vying to upset Yorkshire's plans to record three successive County Championship titles.
Jones could also be facing a hefty responsibility next season after Lancashire's teenage opening batsman Haseeb Hameed was selected for the winter tour to Bangladesh in the same week that he received his County Cap. Warwickshire's absence in the last round of matches allowed Lancashire to take a valuable six-point lead over their upcoming opponents and Lancashire also have the added advantage of winning more matches over the course of the season.
With that in mind, both teams will be keen to extinguish any chances of joining Nottinghamshire in Division Two next summer, although Lancashire are without a win in their last 10 attempts in red-ball cricket. Matthew Parkinson claimed 5-49 on his Lancashire debut when the sides last met in June at Old Trafford, but a rearguard from Ian Bell and Jonathan Trott ensured that the match ended in a draw.
Buoyant from their One-Day Cup success against Surrey, the Bears will be hoping to record their first win since the start of July when they beat Surrey by ten wickets at Guildford inside three days. Dougie Brown's side might have been further away from the prospect of relegation had they been able to win at Taunton at the start of September, but they were unable to capitalise on bowling Somerset out for 95 in their first innings, as they suffered a 31-run defeat chasing 184 to win.
Warwickshire, who were champions back in 2012, are still not safe from relegation, although a victory against Lancashire would preserve their first-division status despite an indifferent season. Lancashire, meanwhile, would settle for a seven-point draw, as a maximum haul of 13 points for a draw would still see Warwickshire finish below Ashley Giles' side on virtue of games won.
In addition to Petersen's absence, Lancashire are also without Jos Buttler from their match against Middlesex, as the England ODI captain rests ahead of the tour to Bangaldesh and latterly India this winter. Varun Chopra, who was due to leave Warwickshire at the end of the season, has joined Essex earlier than expected, meaning that the Bears are without his experience at the top of the innings.
Warwickshire 13-man squad: Ian Bell (c), Tim Ambrose (wk), Keith Barker, Rikki Clarke, Sam Hain, Oliver Hannon-Dalby, Ateeq Javid, Alex Mellor, Jeetan Patel, Josh Poysden, Jonathan Trott, Chris Wright, Ian Westwood.
Lancashire 13-man squad: Steven Croft (c&wk), Tom Bailey, Nathan Buck, Jordan Clark, Haseeb Hameed, Kyle Jarvis, Rob Jones, Simon Kerrigan, Danny Lamb, Arron Lilley, Liam Livingstone, Luke Procter.
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