2018 County Championship Explained
The 2018 County Championship, known as the 2018 Specsavers County Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the 119th cricket County Championship season. As in 2017, Division One has eight teams and Division Two has ten teams, with two teams relegated and two promoted at the end of the season.[1]
The first round of matches began on 13 April and the final round of matches were scheduled to end on 27 September. Most of the matches of the Championship were played as day matches, although each team played one day-night match during the season.[2] [3] [4]
In September 2018, the match between Somerset and Lancashire at Taunton finished as a tie. It was the first tie in a County Championship game since 2003,[5] Somerset's first tied match since 1939 and Lancashire's first since 1952.[6] By winning their game against Worcestershire between the 10th and 13 September, Surrey took an unassailable lead at the top of Division One, making them champions.[7]
Teams
The 2018 Championship was divided into two divisions, Division One with eight teams and Division Two with 10. Teams in both divisions played a total of 14 games, with all Division One teams playing each other twice, while Division Two teams played five others twice and four once.
Division One
Team promoted from Division Two in 2017
| Team | Primary home ground | Other grounds | Coach | Captain | Overseas player(s) |
|---|
| Essex | County Ground, Chelmsford | — | Anthony McGrath | Ryan ten Doeschate |  Neil Wagner
 Peter Siddle
 Murali Vijay |
| Hampshire | Rose Bowl, Southampton | — | Craig White | James Vince | Hashim Amla
Dale Steyn[8] |
| Lancashire | Old Trafford, Manchester | Trafalgar Road Ground, Southport | Glen Chapple | Liam Livingstone (Apr.–Jul.)
Dane Vilas (Jul.–) | Joe Mennie
Keshav Maharaj |
| Somerset | County Ground, Taunton | — | Jason Kerr | Tom Abell | Matt Renshaw
 Azhar Ali |
| Surrey | The Oval, London | Woodbridge Road, Guildford | Michael Di Venuto | Rory Burns | Dean Elgar
Theunis de Bruyn
Aaron Finch |
| Yorkshire | Headingley, Leeds | North Marine Road Ground, Scarborough | Andrew Gale | Gary Ballance (Apr.–May.)
Joe Root (May)
Steven Patterson (Jun.–Jul., Sep.)
David Willey (Aug.–Sep.)
Adam Lyth (Sep.) | Cheteshwar Pujara[9]
Kane Williamson
Jeet Raval |
| Nottinghamshire | Trent Bridge, Nottingham | — | Peter Moores | Steven Mullaney | Ross Taylor
Kraigg Brathwaite |
| Worcestershire | New Road, Worcester | — | Kevin Sharp | Joe Leach (Apr.–Jun.)
Brett D'Oliveira (Jun.–) | Travis Head
Callum Ferguson
Wayne Parnell
Ravichandran Ashwin | |
Division Two
Team relegated from Division One in 2017
| Team | Primary home ground | Other grounds | Coach | Captain | Overseas player(s) |
|---|
| Middlesex | Lord's, London | Merchant Taylors' School Ground, Northwood
Uxbridge Cricket Club Ground, Uxbridge | Richard Scott (Apr.–Jul.)
Richard Johnson (Jul.–) | Dawid Malan
Sam Robson (Apr.) | Hilton Cartwright |
| Warwickshire | Edgbaston, Birmingham | — | Jim Troughton | Jeetan Patel | Jeetan Patel |
| Derbyshire | County Ground, Derby | Queen's Park, Chesterfield | Kim Barnett (Apr.–Jul.)
Vacant (Jul.–Aug.)
Dave Houghton (Aug.–) | Billy Godleman | Duanne Olivier
Lockie Ferguson |
| Durham | Riverside Ground, Chester-le-Street | — | Jon Lewis | Paul Collingwood | Aiden Markram[10]
Tom Latham
Axar Patel[11] |
| Glamorgan | Sophia Gardens, Cardiff | Penrhyn Avenue, Rhos-on-Sea
St Helen's, Swansea | Robert Croft | Michael Hogan | Shaun Marsh
Usman Khawaja
Stephen Cook |
| Gloucestershire | County Ground, Bristol | College Ground, Cheltenham | Richard Dawson | Chris Dent | Daniel Worrall |
| Kent | St Lawrence Ground, Canterbury | Nevill Ground, Royal Tunbridge Wells | Matt Walker | Sam Billings
Joe Denly (Apr.–May) | Matt Henry |
| Leicestershire | Grace Road, Leicester | — | Paul Nixon | Michael Carberry (Apr.–May)
Paul Horton (May–) | Varun Aaron
Mohammad Abbas |
| Northamptonshire | County Ground, Northampton | — | David Ripley | Alex Wakely | Rory Kleinveldt
Doug Bracewell
Seekkuge Prasanna |
| Sussex | County Ground, Hove | Arundel Castle Cricket Club Ground, Arundel | Jason Gillespie | Ben Brown | Ishant Sharma | |
Results
Fixtures for the 2018 County Championship were announced on 29 November 2017, with the previous season's champions Essex beginning the defence of their title against Yorkshire at Headingley.[12]
In total, 56 matches were played in Division One, with 70 played in Division Two.
Division One
September
Division Two
September
Standings
Teams receive 16 points for a win, 8 for a tie and 5 for a draw. Bonus points (a maximum of 5 batting points and 3 bowling points) may be scored during the first 110 overs of each team's first innings.
Division Two
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 | | width=60 | 100s | width=60 | 50s |
|---|
| Rory Burns | Surrey | 14 | 22 | 1,359 | 64.71 | 193 | 4 | 7 |
| James Hildreth | Somerset | 14 | 26 | 1,089 | 45.37 | 184 | 3 | 6 |
| Ollie Pope | Surrey | 13 | 16 | 986 | 70.42 | 158 | 4 | 1 |
| James Vince | Hampshire | 14 | 25 | 962 | 40.08 | 201 | 3 | 2 |
| Daryl Mitchell | Worcestershire | 14 | 26 | 957 | 36.80 | 178 | 4 | 1 | |
Source: ESPNcricinfo[13] Most wickets
| width=125 | Players | width=125 | Team | width=60 | Matches | width=60 | Overs | width=60 | Wickets | width=60 | Average | width=60 | BBI | width=60 | 5w | width=60 | 10w |
|---|
| Tom Bailey | Lancashire | 14 | 439.4 | 64 | 19.65 | 5/53 | 1 | 0 |
| Morné Morkel | Surrey | 10 | 315.4 | 59 | 14.32 | 6/57 | 4 | 0 |
| Jamie Porter | Essex | 13 | 432.3 | 58 | 24.63 | 7/41 | 3 | 1 |
| Graham Onions | Lancashire | 12 | 379.3 | 57 | 21.77 | 6/55 | 2 | 0 |
| Simon Harmer | Essex | 13 | 526.2 | 57 | 24.45 | 6/87 | 3 | 0 | |
Source: ESPNcricinfo[14] Division Two
Most runs
| width=125 | Player | width=125 | Team | width=60 | Matches | width=60 | Innings | width=60 | Runs | width=60 | Average | width=60 | | width=60 | 100s | width=60 | 50s |
|---|
| Ian Bell | Warwickshire | 14 | 23 | 1,027 | 54.05 | 204 | 5 | 2 |
| Wayne Madsen | Derbyshire | 14 | 27 | 1,016 | 37.62 | 144 | 2 | 7 |
| Will Rhodes | Warwickshire | 14 | 23 | 972 | 44.18 | 137 | 4 | 4 |
| Jonathan Trott | Warwickshire | 14 | 23 | 935 | 46.75 | 170 | 2 | 6 |
| Ben Brown | Sussex | 14 | 24 | 912 | 43.42 | 116 | 1 | 7 | |
Source: ESPNcricinfo[15] Most wickets
| width=125 | Players | width=125 | Team | width=60 | Matches | width=60 | Overs | width=60 | Wickets | width=60 | Average | width=60 | BBI | width=60 | 5w | width=60 | 10w |
|---|
| Matt Henry | Kent | 11 | 382.4 | 75 | 15.48 | 7/42 | 5 | 3 |
| Ollie Robinson | Sussex | 14 | 485.0 | 74 | 18.66 | 7/58 | 4 | 1 |
| James Harris | Middlesex | 12 | 384.5 | 61 | 20.54 | 7/83 | 3 | 0 |
| Ben Sanderson | Northamptonshire | 13 | 422.0 | 60 | 16.70 | 5/16 | 2 | 0 |
| Chris Rushworth | Durham | 12 | 386.4 | 60 | 20.01 | 8/51 | 3 | 1 | |
Source: ESPNcricinfo[16] Notes and References
- Web site: Rules and Regulations: First-Class Cricket. English Cricket Board. 12 April 2018.
- Web site: Schedule- 2018 County Championship Division One . Cricbuzz. 5 April 2018.
- Web site: Schedule- 2018 County Championship Division Two. Cricbuzz. 5 April 2018.
- Web site: County Championship Fixtures 2018. English Cricket Board. 12 April 2018.
- News: County Championship: Lancashire bowl out Somerset for 77 to tie at Taunton . BBC Sport . 6 September 2018.
- Web site: Keshav Maharaj takes 11 wickets as spin decides dramatic tie . International Cricket Council . 6 September 2018.
- Web site: Specsavers County Championship Division One at Worcester, Sep 10-13 2018 Match Report ESPNCricinfo. ESPNcricinfo. 13 September 2018 . 14 September 2018 .
- Web site: Steyn signs county contract with Hampshire. Cricinfo. 6 April 2018.
- Web site: Pujara to prepare for England tour with Yorkshire stint. Cricinfo. 6 April 2018.
- Web site: Aiden Markram signs for Durham ahead of 2018 season. Cricbuzz. 26 February 2018 . 5 April 2018.
- Web site: Axar Patel gains county contract with Durham . ESPNcricinfo . 10 April 2018 .
- News: County Championship: Champions Essex to start 2018 season at Headingley . BBC Sport . 22 April 2018 .
- Web site: MOST RUNS - SPECSAVERS COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP DIVISION ONE, 2018 . ESPNcricinfo .
- Web site: MOST WICKETS - SPECSAVERS COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP DIVISION ONE, 2018 . ESPNcricinfo .
- Web site: MOST RUNS - SPECSAVERS COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP DIVISION TWO, 2018 . ESPNcricinfo .
- Web site: MOST WICKETS - SPECSAVERS COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP DIVISION TWO, 2018 . ESPNcricinfo .
