Tuesday 3 October 2017 16:07, UK
Essex defied the odds to romp to the County Championship title, beating Lancashire into second but Durham's troubles persist.
DERBYSHIRE
Specsavers County Championship: 8th in Division Two
NatWest T20 Blast: Quarter-finals (lost to Hampshire)
Royal London One-Day Cup: 7th in North Group
Main man: Wayne Madsen
Young star: Matt Critchley
After failing to win a Championship game throughout last season as they propped up the division, the only way was up for Derbyshire this season. Victory over Gloucestershire to end the season was their third of the season and lifted them to eighth in the standings. Progress, however minimal.
There was, though, tangible progress in the shortest form of the game as the arrival of South African leg-spinner Imran Tahir helped them reach the last eight of the Blast. Defeat to Hampshire in the quarters was tough to take but their improvement was clear for all to see.
It wasn't all positive in white-ball cricket though as Derbyshire ended their One-Day Cup campaign with just two wins in eight games. That six batsmen averaged 40 or above suggests it was the bowling that was letting them down.
Wayne Madsen remains a reliable performer, averaging in the high 40s in both white-ball competitions while 21-year-old Matt Critchley continued to show signs of promise across all formats.
DURHAM
Specsavers County Championship: 9th in Division Two
NatWest T20 Blast: 9th in North Group
Royal London One-Day Cup: 5th in North Group
Main man: Paul Collingwood
Young star: Paul Coughlin
With financial penalties and points deductions to contend with, Durham were always going to be in for a difficult season.
The evergreen Paul Collingwood kept churning out the runs, 1,087 of them in the Championship alone, but with only three wins to their name, even if had they not started on -48 points, they would have finished a lowly seventh.
Ten defeats in 14 games left the Jets bottom of the North Group in the T20 Blast, a year on from making an appearance in the final, and that a respectable fifth place finish in the Royal London One-Day Cup represented the highlight only shows the struggles faced by the north-east side.
All-rounder Paul Coughlin excelled in every form of the game but has joined the Lancashire-bound Graham Onions and Keaton Jennings in opting to ply his trade elsewhere next season. The prospect of a return to the top flight looks a long way off.
ESSEX
Specsavers County Championship: Champions
NatWest T20 Blast: 8th in South Group
Royal London One-Day Cup: Semi-finals (lost to Nottinghamshire)
Main man: Jamie Porter
Young star: Dan Lawrence
Dismissed at the start of the season as relegation fodder by many, this writer included, Essex proved everyone wrong by not only romping to a first County Championship title in 25 years but by going unbeaten in doing so, too.
The runs of Alastair Cook were a huge help early in the season, while overseas left-arm quicks Mohammad Amir and Neil Wagner also made significant contributions during their respective stints, but previously less-heralded names such as Jamie Porter (75 wickets), Simon Harmer (72 wickets) and Dan Lawrence (761 runs) were consistently excellent performers throughout the summer.
In white-ball cricket, Cook was again integral, hitting three centuries, as Essex topped the Royal London One-Day Cup South Group before losing to eventual winners Nottinghamshire in the semis.
The only real failure of a hugely successful season came in the T20 Blast, although despite finishing second-bottom of the group, the Eagles were just two points off a top-four place.
GLAMORGAN
Specsavers County Championship: 7th in Division Two
NatWest T20 Blast: Semi-finals (lost to Birmingham)
Royal London One-Day Cup: 4th in South Group
Main man: Colin Ingram
Young star: Kiran Carlson
It was a familiar story for Glamorgan in red-ball cricket. For the fifth time in six seasons they ended the year with three County Championship wins (they pushed the boat out to record four in 2015) having never really threatened to challenge for promotion.
With such predictability in the longest format, excitement at the Swalec Stadium came in the form of white-ball cricket and largely from seeing how many times Colin Ingram could clear the ropes (59 for those who are interested, 29 in the One-Day Cup and 30 in the Blast).
The South African made five centuries across the two white-ball competitions as Glamorgan narrowly missed out on the knockout stages of the One-Day Cup but made it all the way to Finals Day in the T20 Blast, only to lose their semi-final with Birmingham.
Hope for the future comes in the form of Kiran Carlson, the teenager finishing the season strongly with a big hundred and a half-century in Glamorgan's last home match of the season.
GLOUCESTERSHIRE
Specsavers County Championship: 6th in Division Two
NatWest T20 Blast: 9th in South Group
Royal London One-Day Cup: 7th in South Group
Main man: Liam Norwell
Young star: Craig Miles
It was a largely disappointing summer for Gloucestershire as they plateaued in the Championship and failed to replicate the white-ball form they have shown in recent years.
Last year's sixth place in Division Two was replicated, albeit with one fewer win in two fewer games, but the exploits of Liam Norwell, 59 wickets at 17.38, gave fans of the west country club something to cheer at least.
In the Blast, Gloucestershire went from topping the South Group in 2016 to taking the wooden spoon this summer with a dismal campaign yielding only four wins.
In the One-Day Cup, while Michael Klinger again showed his class in 50-over cricket, just three wins from eight games was never going to be enough to progress from the group.
HAMPSHIRE
Specsavers County Championship: 5th in Division One
NatWest T20 Blast: Semi-finals (lost to Nottinghamshire)
Royal London One-Day Cup: 6th in South Group
Main man: Kyle Abbott
Young star: Mason Crane
After being given a top-flight reprieve at the end of last season, shrewd recruitment over the winter saw Hampshire make a flying start to the summer. Yet for all the early positivity, for the second year running they headed into the final day of the season knowing relegation was a very real possibility.
In the end they held on for the draw they needed at already-relegated Warwickshire and secured a fifth-placed finish. The bowling attack was a strength throughout the season with Kolpak addition Kyle Abbott proving why South Africa were so disappointed to lose him by taking 60 wickets at 18.20.
James Vince's Ashes call-up may have come as a surprise following an underwhelming red-ball season but in white-ball cricket he shone. Hants didn't make it out of the group in the One-Day Cup but Vince averaged 77.16, hitting a century and three fifties in seven innings.
He added another five half-centuries in the T20 Blast as he captained the side to the semi-finals, where they were beaten by Notts. The Blast was also where Mason Crane gave a glimpse of what he is capable of, the leggie taking 18 wickets at 17.33 and also had the best economy rate of any of the Hampshire bowlers.
KENT
Specsavers County Championship: 5th in Division Two
NatWest T20 Blast: 6th in South Group
Royal London One-Day Cup: 9th in South Group
Main man: Joe Denly
Old star: Darren Stevens
Kent were unable to realise their pre-season ambitions of finally securing promotion to back to Division One and face an eighth successive season in the second tier.
As ever, they were in the mix for promotion for much of the campaign but faded in the final weeks of the season to finish a distant fifth despite the best efforts of Joe Denly. The 31-year-old enjoyed the season of his life, scoring four Championship hundreds with another two in the T20 Blast, where the Spitfires missed out on the quarter-finals by the narrowest of margins.
His only dip in form coincided with the One-Day Cup and while his fellow opener Daniel Bell-Drummond notched two tons, it is little surprise that Denly's poorest run was also Kent's - seven defeats in eight games condemning them to last place in the South Group.
Meanwhile, you will have noticed we have altered our tried and tested formula to highlight the impact, once again, of Darren Stevens. The 41-year-old all-rounder averaged 41.58 with the bat and 18.08 with the ball in four-day cricket and added a hundred and a fifty in the 50-over format for good measure.
LANCASHIRE
Specsavers County Championship: 2nd in Division One
NatWest T20 Blast: 7th in North Group
Royal London One-Day Cup: 4th in North Group
Main man: Liam Livingstone
Young star: Matt Parkinson
Having been tipped for a season of struggle, Lancashire instead ended the summer having recorded their highest finish since winning the County Championship title in 2011.
It was a largely positive first season in charge for Glen Chapple as Liam Livingstone backed up an impressive winter with the England Lions by making the No 3 spot his own in first-class cricket, hitting two centuries - before rounding off the season by claiming a maiden first-class five-for against Surrey.
Leg-spinner Matt Parkinson also enhanced his reputation, taking 14 wickets at 22 in the Championship, but it was in T20 cricket that he really impressed. He took another 14 wickets at 13.85 with an economy rate of just 6.06.
On the whole it was a fairly mediocre white-ball campaign for Lancashire, failing to get out of the group in either the One-Day Cup or the Blast as they struggled for consistency. The additions of Graham Onions and Keaton Jennings, plus another year of experience for talented youngsters like Parkinson, could see that change next season.
LEICESTERSHIRE
Specsavers County Championship: 10th in Division Two
NatWest T20 Blast: Quarter-finals (lost to Glamorgan)
Royal London One-Day Cup: 6th in South Group
Main man: Mark Cosgrove
Young star: Callum Parkinson
After the relative success of 2016, a season that saw them claim four County Championship wins and finish seventh, Leicestershire were found wanting once more as they finished bottom of the table for the fourth time in five years.
In fact, they actually managed to plumb new depths as an extended second tier meant a third winless campaign in five left them in 10th, rather than their customary ninth position.
As ever, white-ball cricket provided them with an escape from their red-ball woes and in the T20 Blast the batting performances of Mark Cosgrove and Luke Ronchi helped them finish above much-fancied Yorkshire and defending champions Northants to reach the quarter-finals.
Meanwhile, mixed results in the One-Day Cup, three wins and four defeats, left them three short of the points total required to advance from the North Group as they finished in sixth.
