HEREFORDSHIRE can look forward to facing almost entirely different opposition across the three formats when their National Counties season gets under way at the end of April.

With the T20 and one-day groups having been redrawn, the only opponents who remain from the 2023 season are Oxfordshire, whom Herefordshire faced last season in the one-dayers and championship but this year will be lining up in the T20 competition in a group which also contains Wales and Shropshire.

Shropshire also form part of Herefordshire's 50-over group which contains Norfolk, Suffolk and Staffordshire.

And in the championship, after relegation last season from Division 1 of the Western Division, Herefordshire will face Shropshire, again, Wiltshire and Wales in their bid to regain top-flight status.

This year's ECB Showcase game will see Herefordshire face first-class opponents Gloucestershire in two T20 clashes at Eastnor on Wednesday, May 22.

"We are looking forward to the new season with the prospect of new opposition in the multi day format," said Herefordshire Cricket Ltd's general manager Richard Cox.

"It will be good to see the return of Matt Pardoe to the captaincy after missing the final couple of games last season now that he is living back in the region.

"The prospect of a different Showcase game this year vs Gloucestershire will allow us to better hone our skills in a format that tends to lose out to the weather early in the season and frees up space for our multi-day cricket matches later on in the year."

Fixtures: T20: April 28, Wales (a); May 5, Shropshire (a); May 6, Oxfordshire (h).
50-overs: May 12, Norfolk (a); June 9, Staffordshire (h); June 16,
Shropshire (a); June 23, Suffolk (h).
Championship: July 7-9, Wiltshire (a); July 14-16 Wales (h); August
11-13, Dorset (a); August 18-20, Shropshire (h).
ECB Showcase: May 22, Gloucestershire (h).