2018 County Championship

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]

2018 County Championship
Administrator(s)England and Wales Cricket Board
Cricket formatFirst-class cricket (4 days)
Tournament format(s)League system
ChampionsSurrey
Participants18

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 be played in Division One, with 70 played in Division Two.

April

May

June

July

August

September

April

May

June

July

August

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.

Statistics

Division One

Most runs

Player Team Matches Innings Runs Average HS 100s 50s
Rory Burns Surrey 14 22 1359 64.71 193 4 7
James Hildreth Somerset 14 26 1089 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: ESPN Cricinfo[15]

Most wickets

Players Team Matches Overs Wickets Average BBI 5w 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: ESPN Cricinfo[16]

Division Two

Most runs

Player Team Matches Innings Runs Average HS 100s 50s
Ian Bell Warwickshire 14 23 1027 54.05 204 5 2
Wayne Madsen Derbyshire 14 27 1016 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: ESPN Cricinfo[17]

Most wickets

Players Team Matches Overs Wickets Average BBI 5w 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: ESPN Cricinfo[18]

See also

References

  1. "Rules and Regulations: First-Class Cricket". English Cricket Board. Retrieved 12 April 2018.
  2. "Schedule- 2018 County Championship Division One". Cricbuzz. Retrieved 5 April 2018.
  3. "Schedule- 2018 County Championship Division Two". Cricbuzz. Retrieved 5 April 2018.
  4. "County Championship Fixtures 2018". English Cricket Board. Retrieved 12 April 2018.
  5. "County Championship: Lancashire bowl out Somerset for 77 to tie at Taunton". BBC Sport. Retrieved 6 September 2018.
  6. "Keshav Maharaj takes 11 wickets as spin decides dramatic tie". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 6 September 2018.
  7. "Specsavers County Championship Division One at Worcester, Sep 10-13 2018 | Match Report | ESPNCricinfo". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 14 September 2018.
  8. "Steyn signs county contract with Hampshire". Cricinfo. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
  9. "Pujara to prepare for England tour with Yorkshire stint". Cricinfo. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
  10. "Aiden Markram signs for Durham ahead of 2018 season". Cricbuzz. Retrieved 5 April 2018.
  11. "Axar Patel gains county contract with Durham". ESPNCricinfo. Retrieved 10 April 2018.
  12. "County Championship: Champions Essex to start 2018 season at Headingley". BBC. Retrieved 22 April 2018.
  13. Specsavers County Championship Division One Table - 2018, CricInfo.
  14. Specsavers County Championship Division Two Table - 2018, CricInfo.
  15. "MOST RUNS - SPECSAVERS COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP DIVISION ONE, 2018". ESPN Cricinfo.
  16. "MOST WICKETS - SPECSAVERS COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP DIVISION ONE, 2018". ESPN Cricinfo.
  17. "MOST RUNS - SPECSAVERS COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP DIVISION TWO, 2018". ESPN Cricinfo.
  18. "MOST WICKETS - SPECSAVERS COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP DIVISION TWO, 2018". ESPN Cricinfo.
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