Essex and Middlesex are both set to be boosted by the return of star names from the Indian Premier League for their next fixtures in the NatWest T20 Blast.
Ravi Bopara is due back in the next 24 hours after Sunrisers Hyderabad failed to qualify for the semi finals, and Essex expect him to make his first appearance of the season for the Eagles against Glamorgan in Cardiff on Friday night.
Eoin Morgan, who was a team-mate of Bopara's in Hyderabad and has been reappointed England's one-day captain by Andrew Strauss last week, has plenty of time to reacclimatise before Middlesex play their next Blast game, against Kent Spitfires at Lord's on Thursday week.
It will be a big boost for everyone to have Ravi back, said Paul Grayson, the Essex head coach.
We've had quite a few injuries which forced us to blood more young players than we'd probably have chosen on the opening weekend of the tournament. Hopefully we'll benefit from that in the long-term but after a couple of losses obviously we need to get ourselves on the board which makes the Glamorgan game an important one.
Ravi is a popular and important member of the side, and we should have a few more bodies back if Jesse Ryder and Mark Pettini can get over the injuries that have ruled them out of our Championship match against Glamorgan.
We were also lucky to have Ryan ten Doeschate back from the IPL over the weekend. He's the leader of our one-day side and he's picked up so much from playing over in the IPL which can benefit us all.
The Blast is a huge competition for us at Essex with the great crowds we get at Chelmsford, and after a slow start we're all determined to make up for lost time.
Glamorgan had a sensational opening win against Surrey at the Kia Oval, when they piled up a record T20 score of 240 for three, and are set to receive a boost themselves with a debut for the aggressive South African all-rounder Wayne Parnell.
Supporters of both Somerset and Lancashire will both be monitoring the outcome of the Bangalore-Rajasthan IPL game with interest.
Somerset's blockbuster signing Chris Gayle plays for the Royal Challengers, meaning a defeat for them could allow him to arrive in time for their Blast opener at home to Mahela Jayawardene's Sussex Sharks on Friday.
But a Bangalore victory could free up Lancashire's new signing James Faulkner for their game against Durham at Emirates Old Trafford on Friday night.
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