2001 Norwich Union League Explained

Administrator:	England and Wales Cricket Board
Cricket Format:	Limited overs cricket (45 overs per innings)
Tournament Format:	League system
Champions:	Kent Spitfires
Count:	5
Participants:	18
Matches:	144
Most Runs:	753 Darren Lehmann (Yorkshire)^[1]
Most Wickets:	29 Dougie Brown (Warwickshire)^[2]
Previous Year:	2000
Previous Tournament:	2000 Norwich Union National League
Next Year:	2002
Next Tournament:	2002 Norwich Union League

The 2001 Norwich Union League season was a 45 over English county cricket competition; colloquially known as the Sunday League, it featured many mid-week floodlit matches. It was contested through two divisions: Division One and Division Two. Each team played all the others in their division both home and away. The top three teams from Division Two were promoted to the first division for the 2002 season, while the bottom three sides from Division One were relegated. All eighteen counties retained the nicknames from the previous season.^[3]

Kent Spitfires won the League for the fifth time. Gloucestershire Gladiators, Surrey Lions and Northamptonshire Steelbacks were relegated from Division One, while Glamorgan Dragons, Durham Dynamos and Worcestershire Royals were promoted from Division Two.

Teams

width=175	Division One	width=175	Division Two
Gloucestershire Gladiators	Derbyshire Scorpions
Kent Spitfires	Durham Dynamos
Leicestershire Foxes	Essex Eagles
Northamptonshire Steelbacks	Glamorgan Dragons
Nottinghamshire Outlaws	Hampshire Hawks
Somerset Sabres	Lancashire Lightning
Surrey Lions	Middlesex Crusaders
Warwickshire Bears	Sussex Sharks
Yorkshire Phoenix	Worcestershire Royals

Icon
Team promoted from Division Two
Team relegated from Division One

Standings

Pos = Position, Pld = Played, W = Wins, T = Ties, L = Losses, NR = No Results, A = Abandonments, Pts = Points.
Points awarded: W = 4, L = 0, T = 2, NR = 2, A = 2

Division One

width=250	Team	width=20 abbr="Played"	Pld	width=20 abbr="Won"	W	width=20 abbr="Tied"	T	width=20 abbr="Lost"	L	width=20 abbr="No result"	NR	width=20 abbr="Abandoned"	A	width=20 abbr="Points"	Pts	width=20 abbr="Net Run Rate"	NRR
Kent Spitfires ^C	16	11	1	2	0	2	50	4.264
Leicestershire Foxes	16	11	0	4	1	0	46	7.824
Warwickshire Bears	16	8	0	5	2	1	38	1.580
Somerset Sabres	16	7	1	7	0	1	32	-4.604
Nottinghamshire Outlaws	16	7	0	8	1	0	30	-8.036
Yorkshire Phoenix	16	7	0	9	0	0	28	9.656
Gloucestershire Gladiators ^R	16	6	0	9	0	1	26	1.481
Surrey Lions ^R	16	6	0	10	0	0	24	-5.051
Northamptonshire Steelbacks ^R	16	3	0	12	0	1	14	-9.021
Source:.^[4]

Division Two

width=250	Team	width=20 abbr="Played"	Pld	width=20 abbr="Won"	W	width=20 abbr="Tied"	T	width=20 abbr="Lost"	L	width=20 abbr="No result"	NR	width=20 abbr="Abandoned"	A	width=20 abbr="Points"	Pts	width=20 abbr="Net Run Rate"	NRR
Glamorgan Dragons ^C	16	11	0	3	2	0	48	15.209
Durham Dynamos ^P	16	9	0	4	0	3	42	1.740
Worcestershire Royals ^P	16	9	0	5	1	1	40	9.617
Hampshire Hawks	16	9	0	6	0	1	38	5.289
Sussex Sharks	16	8	0	7	0	1	34	-1.103
Lancashire Lightning	16	5	0	8	1	2	26	-3.709
Essex Eagles	16	5	1	9	1	0	24	-9.923
Middlesex Crusaders	16	3	1	9	1	2	20	-8.311
Derbyshire Scorpions	16	4	0	12	0	0	16	-7.207
Source:.

Statistics

Division One

Most runs

width=125	Player	width=125	Team	width=60	Matches	width=60	Innings	width=60	Runs	width=60	Average	width=60	HS	width=60	100s	width=60	50s
Darren Lehmann		15	15	753	53.78	191	2	4
Darren Bicknell		16	15	592	39.46	115	1	6
Ali Brown		13	13	565	47.08	130	3	1
Peter Bowler		11	11	560	50.90	104	1	5
Michael Hussey		15	15	510	36.42		0	4
Source:

Most wickets

width=125	Player	width=125	Team	width=60	Matches	width=60	Overs	width=60	Wickets	width=60	Average	width=60	BBI	width=60	4W
Dougie Brown		15	116.4	29	18.24	4/56	1
James Averis		15	121.3	27	20.22	5/40	3
Martin Saggers		13	94.4	25	16.56	5/22	1
Steffan Jones		14	110.4	22	25.45	4/40	1
Source:

Division Two

Most runs

width=125	Player	width=125	Team	width=60	Matches	width=60	Innings	width=60	Runs	width=60	Average	width=60	HS	width=60	100s	width=60	50s
Richard Montgomerie		15	15	673	48.07	108	1	5
Robert Croft		15	15	570	40.71		1	5
Matthew Maynard		16	16	527	52.70		1	3
Vikram Solanki		15	14	502	41.83		0	5
Nicky Peng		13	13	495	41.25	121	2	2
Source:

Most wickets

width=125	Player	width=125	Team	width=60	Matches	width=60	Overs	width=60	Wickets	width=60	Average	width=60	BBI	width=60	4W
Andy Bichel		15	115.4	27	15.85	5/21	1
Chad Keegan		14	106.5	26	17.73	5/17	2
Chris Schofield		14	72.1	23	15.73	5/31	2
Stuart Lampitt		15	116	23	19.47	4/37	1
Source:

Notes and References

Web site: subscription . Batting and Fielding in Norwich Union League 2001 (Ordered by Runs). CricketArchive. 10 May 2016.
Web site: subscription . Bowling in Norwich Union League 2001 (Ordered by Wickets). CricketArchive. 10 May 2016.
Web site: Norwich Union League: 2001 fixtures by date. ESPNcricinfo. 10 May 2016.
Web site: subscription . Norwich Union League 2001 Points Table. CricketArchive. 10 May 2016.