With the World Cup just over two months away, a few eye-catching performances in the One-Day Cup would be timely indeed for any player with international aspirations.

Despite once again running alongside cricket’s newest format, the One-Day Cup – this time with a new title sponsor as Metro Bank replaces Royal London – remains a significant competition for the 18 counties.

It provides them with a chance to test some of their younger players in a competitive environment and, of course, there is a nice piece of silverware available, should they make it to the final.

As usual, some clubs have been affected more than others in terms of the number of players who will be absent taking part in The Hundred.

But there is a chance of a fresh start for those who didn’t do themselves justice in the T20 Blast and are, perhaps, struggling in the County Championship – like One-Day Cup holders Kent, who will start their defence of the trophy against Yorkshire at Scarborough on Tuesday.

“It’s been tough in the Championship for the last two or three weeks, so to take a sideways step into a different competition can help,” head coach Matt Walker told BBC Radio Kent.

“We’ve got a great three or four weeks here to have a real good crack at 50-over cricket and try to replicate what we did last year.”

He added: “It was a very strange campaign last year with a pretty slow start, turning it round at the back end of the pool stages and going on to win it.

“It’s nice to go into the competition as champions, I don’t really think that pressure will be a problem, it should give the lads a lot of confidence.”

Rain hits warm-up games

The 18 teams were all scheduled to face National County opposition on Sunday but Wales against Warwickshire at Caldicot was washed out.

Eight others saw some play but ended as no results, including Kent’s game with Hertfordshire at Watford in which the Cup holders reached 311-4 after an opening stand of 167 between Jack Leaning (106) and Ben Compton (93), and Yorkshire’s match against Cheshire in which the hosts made 268-9 despite Dom Bess’ 4-41.

“It’s a month we all look forward to because we’ve got quite a young squad, so there’s lots of opportunities to be had – it’s an exciting time,” Yorkshire batter James Wharton told BBC West Yorkshire Sport.

“I think we’re blessed with the number of all-rounders we’ve got, so we bat very deep. It also means we’ve plenty of lads out there as (bowling) options out there for the skipper.”

Leicestershire’s Colin Ackermann hit 116 off 113 balls but they lost to Staffordshire by two runs via the DLS method and Surrey’s Josh Blake made 96 off 96 as they beat Suffolk by 101 runs in another rain-affected game.

Derbyshire beat Lincolnshire by six wickets, thanks to opener Harry Came’s unbeaten 125 off 118 balls, while free-scoring teenager James Rew scored 80 off 57 as T20 Blast champions Somerset defeated Devon by four wickets at Bovey Tracey CC.

How it works

The 18 counties are split into two groups of nine and all play eight qualifying group games – four at home and four away.

There will be some different match-ups this year with eight teams having been switched from the 2022 group-stage line-up.

Kent have Leicester, Middlesex, Nottinghamshire and Surrey in their group this time, while the opponents for 2021 winners Glamorgan will include Durham, who they beat in the final two years ago.

Group A: Essex, Hampshire, Kent, Lancashire, Leicestershire, Middlesex, Nottinghamshire, Surrey, Yorkshire.

Group B: Derbyshire, Durham, Glamorgan, Gloucestershire, Northamptonshire, Somerset, Sussex, Warwickshire, Worcestershire.

• Only the top three counties in each group qualify for the knockout stages.
• The second-placed team will host the third-placed team in a play-off ‘quarter-final’ on 25 August.
• The two top counties in each group progress straight to a home semi-final on 29 August, to play the winners of the play-off games.
• The final is again at Trent Bridge, on Saturday, 16 September.

First round of fixtures

Tuesday 1 August (11.00 BST):

Ageas Bowl: Hampshire v Middlesex

Sedbergh School: Lancashire v Essex

Scarborough: Yorkshire v Kent

Riverside: Durham v Worcestershire

Cheltenham: Gloucestershire v Derbyshire

One-Day Cup winners since 2014

Who’s playing? Who’s not playing?

Derbyshire

Wicketkeeper Brooke Guest will captain Derbyshire, who are hoping to reach the knockout stage for the first time since 2014.

Away at The Hundred: George Scrimshaw (Welsh Fire), Wayne Madsen (Manchester Originals), Zak Chappell (Oval Invincibles), Leus du Plooy (Southern Brave)

Durham

Away at The Hundred: Mark Wood (London Spirit), Ben Raine (Manchester Originals), Ben Stokes, Brydon Carse, Matthew Potts, Bas de Leede, Ollie Robinson (Northern Superchargers), Nathan Sowter (Oval Invincibles)

Essex

Essex have brought in Australian all-rounder Beau Webster, who has been playing club cricket for Upminster and appears for Melbourne Stars in the T20 Big Bash.

Away at The Hundred: Dan Lawrence, Adam Rossington, Michael Pepper, Matt Critchley (London Spirit), Paul Walter (Manchester Originals), Sam Cook (Trent Rockets)

Glamorgan

Glamorgan will be without batter David Lloyd, who they have allowed to join Derbyshire on loan for the competition.

Away at The Hundred: Dan Douthwaite, Chris Cooke (Welsh Fire)

Gloucestershire

Gloucestershire have a number of injuries in their squad and have signed Ireland’s Harry Tector to boost numbers for their opening game against Derbyshire at Cheltenham.

Away at The Hundred: David Payne (Welsh Fire), Miles Hammond (Birmingham Phoenix)

Hampshire

Away at The Hundred: Nathan Ellis, Liam Dawson, Mason Crane, Chris Wood (London Spirit), Ross Whiteley (Oval Invincibles), Brad Wheal, John Turner (Trent Rockets), Benny Howell (Birmingham Phoenix), James Vince, James Fuller, Joe Weatherley (Southern Brave)

Kent

Holders Kent have brought in leg-spinner Matt Parkinson on loan from Lancashire, prior to his permanent move to Canterbury in 2024. They have also signed Australian all-rounder James Bazley, who has been playing club cricket in the county after appearing for Brisbane Heat in last winter’s Big Bash.

Away at The Hundred: Zak Crawley, Daniel Bell-Drummond (London Spirit), Sam Billings, Jordan Cox, Tawanda Muyeye (Oval Invincibles),

Lancashire

The main change for Lancashire is their decision to put former England seam bowler Graham Onions in charge with head coach Glen Chapple and assistant Carl Crowe both involved in The Hundred. Batter Steven Croft will be part of Onions’ backroom team.

Away at The Hundred: Luke Wells (Welsh Fire), Jos Buttler, Phil Salt, Tom Hartley, Richard Gleeson (Manchester Originals), Luke Wood (Trent Rockets), Liam Livingstone (Birmingham Phoenix)

Leicestershire

Australian Peter Handscomb remains at Grace Road for the One-Day Cup after India’s Ajinkya Rahane decided to take a break from the game. The Foxes have added teenage leg-spinner Uttam Ramji to their squad – he has spent the last three winters as a net bowler for IPL side Rajasthan Royals.

Away at The Hundred: Callum Parkinson (Northern Superchargers), Rehan Ahmed (Southern Brave)

Middlesex

Away at The Hundred: Stevie Eskinazi (Welsh Fire), Max Holden (Manchester Originals), Tom Helm (Birmingham Phoenix)

Northamptonshire

Away at The Hundred: David Willey (Welsh Fire), Saif Zaib (Northern Superchargers)

Nottinghamshire

Haseeb Hameed will again skipper Notts, having guided them through to the knockout stages in 2022.

Away at The Hundred: Joe Clarke, Jake Ball (Welsh Fire), Alex Hales, Samit Patel, Matt Carter, Tom Moores (Trent Rockets), Ben Duckett (Birmingham Phoenix)

Somerset

With Tom Abell away at The Hundred, Somerset have named batter Sean Dickson as captain, with James Rew – arguably the stand-out young player in this season’s Championship – as his deputy. They also have a new face in the squad, having signed all-rounder Curtis Campher, who has represented Ireland in all three formats.

Away at The Hundred: Tom Abell, Ben Green, Roelof van der Merwe (Welsh Fire), Tom Lammonby (Manchester Originals), Tom Banton (Northern Superchargers), Lewis Gregory, Tom Kohler-Cadmore (Trent Rockets), Will Smeed (Birmingham Phoenix), Craig Overton (Southern Brave)

Surrey

Away at The Hundred: Dan Worrall (London Spirit), Laurie Evans, Jamie Overton (Manchester Originals), Reece Topley (Northern Superchargers), Sam Curran, Will Jacks, Jason Roy, Tom Curran, Tom Lawes, Gus Atkinson (Oval Invincibles), Jamie Smith (Birmingham Phoenix), Chris Jordan (Southern Brave)

Sussex

Tom Haines will captain Sussex, who hope to have ex-England bowler Steven Finn and Ali Orr, who became the first Sussex player to score a double-century in List A cricket in their run to the semi-finals last season, back from injury. India Test batter Cheteshwar Pujara also returns to the club for the cup campaign

Away at The Hundred: Ravi Bopara (London Spirit), Jofra Archer (injured), Tymal Mills, George Garton (Southern Brave)

Warwickshire

Warwickshire have drafted young Zimbabwe all-rounder Michael Booth and academy players Kai Smith and Theo Wylie into their One-Day Cup squad on short-term rookie deals.

Away at The Hundred: Danny Briggs (Oval Invincibles), Sam Hain (Trent Rockets), Chris Woakes, Moeen Ali, Chris Benjamin, Dan Mousley, Jacob Bethell, Henry Brookes (Birmingham Phoenix), Alex Davies (Southern Brave)

Worcestershire

Worcestershire have brought in Lancashire batter Rob Jones on loan prior to his move to New Road next season. He is in good form, having recently hit 111 against Essex in a Championship game at Blackpool.

Away at The Hundred: Josh Tongue, Mitch Stanley (Manchester Originals), Adam Hose (Northern Superchargers)

Yorkshire

Shan Masood is available to captain Yorkshire after completing Test duty with Pakistan. They will also benefit from the presence of head coach Ottis Gibson, who relinquished a role with Northern Superchargers in The Hundred to focus on the county.

Away at The Hundred: Jordan Thompson (London Spirit), Jonny Bairstow (Welsh Fire), Adil Rashid, Harry Brook, Adam Lyth (Northern Superchargers), Joe Root, Dawid Malan (Trent Rockets), Jafer Chohan, Matt Fisher (Southern Brave)