County Championship: Lancashire fire but Leicester struggle again

DERBYSHIRE (Season grade: E)

County Championship: 8th in Division Two
T20 Blast: 9th in North Group
Royal London One-Day Cup: 7th in Group A

Main man: Mark Footitt
Young star: Alex Hughes

Season synopsis: With Messrs Guptill, Dilshan and Amla at Derbyshire for various parts of the season, the Falcons would have been hopeful of a strong campaign - but they didn't enjoy one. Just four Championship victories were secured as the East Midlanders finished second-bottom of Division Two, with Billy Godleman (1,069 runs at 44.54) - a man beginning to fulfill the early promise he showed at Middlesex - and Wayne Madsen (1,015 at 48.33) not supported enough in the batting department, and the county relying too heavily on Mark Footitt (76 wickets at 23.63) with the ball.

Despite one-day captain Wes Durston impressing with the willow in the limited-overs formats, Derbyshire missed out on a quarter-final spot in the One-Day Cup by a point and stumbled to last place in their T20 pool, with 10 defeats from 14 games. However, with New Zealand opener Hamish Rutherford secured as the club's overseas player next term following an impressive cameo spell this; another Black Cap, experienced batsman Neil Broom, arriving on a UK passport; and pace bowler Andy Carter joining from Nottinghamshire, 2016 could be brighter - if Footitt sticks around.

DURHAM (Season grade: C)

County Championship: 4th in Division One
T20 Blast: 6th in North Group
Royal London One-Day Cup: QF (lost to Nottinghamshire)

Main man: Chris Rushworth
Young star: Usman Arshad

Season synopsis: Durham do not possess the stellar names of yesteryear, so a mid-table finish in the Championship and a last-eight spot in the One-Day Cup represents reasonable success. Scott Borthwick - whose batting has now very much leapfrogged his leg-spin bowling - has been a model of consistency, plundering one ton, 11 fifties and 1,286 runs, while the metronomic Chris Rushworth collected a whopping 83 wickets, the most in either division. A tad more consistency - Durham won seven Championship games but lost eight - and a top-two spot may have been possible.

Mark Stoneman performed solidly in every competition with the bat - a fact that should not have gone unnoticed in England circles - while seamer Usman Arshad displayed his potential with 22 wickets in the Blast. England alumni Graham Onions (65 Championship wickets) and Paul Collingwood (752 runs) chipped in as well, with Collingwood's input convincing him to postpone retirement for another year. Division One will be tougher next term with Surrey and Lancashire back among the elite but Durham should hold their own. A frontline spinner would be nice, though.

ESSEX (Season grade: C-)

County Championship: 3rd in Division Two
T20 Blast: QF (lost to Birmingham)
Royal London One-Day Cup: QF (lost to Yorkshire)

Main man: Nick Browne
Young star: Jamie Porter

Season synopsis: On the face of it, Essex's season seems like a decent one, only bested by Surrey and Lancashire in the Championship's second tier and reaching the last eight of both cups. Yet, it will be a summer of change at Chelmsford, with Paul Grayson leaving his post as head coach, Reece Topley (Hampshire) and Mark Pettini (Leicestershire) heading off and former England spinner Monty Panesar another to exit. There is still plenty of talent, though, including Nick Browne, the opener amassing five tons and becoming the first Essex batsman since Ravi Bopara in 2008 to pass 1,000 runs.

Tom Westley unfurled his elegant strokes in all forms after returning from an early-season injury, while Ryan ten Doeschate and Jesse Ryder snaffled their fair share of Championship runs, too, but it was the bowling that was Essex's Achilles heel. Young quick Jamie Porter impressed in his first full season with 50 scalps and there were 44 victims for Ryder but the ageing David Masters and Graham Napier pouched just 55 between them. Topley was restricted to just two outings in the four-day arena but was a force in the One-Day Cup and Blast, so his departure will be keenly felt.

GLAMORGAN (Season grade: D)

County Championship: 4th in Division Two
T20 Blast: 6th in South Group
Royal London One-Day Cup: 8th in Group B

Main man: Colin Ingram
Young star: Craig Meschede

Season synopsis: Mid-table for the Welsh outfit in the Championship, a bright start but frustrating end in the Blast, and a One-Day Cup campaign to forget. Too many draws - eight of them - was Glamorgan's problem in four-day cricket, where Jacques Rudolph, Colin Ingram and Graham Wagg put in solid but unspectacular displays with the bat, and Wagg, Michael Hogan and Craig Meschede ended with 40-odd wickets apiece. Decent but not deadly. Still, Meschede's  haul, plus his impact with the blade, means he will be missed when he returns to parent side Somerset this winter.

One-day-wise, there was ample Ingram magic. The South African smoked three fifties in the Blast, including a 47-ball 91 at The Oval, before clobbering three hundreds and a half-century in the One-Day Cup; the latter pyrotechnics somewhat in vain with Glamorgan deducted four points, two for an unfit pitch in 2014 and two more for a dangerous track this time around. Rudolph also amassed one-day runs, while David Lloyd - no, not that one - continued his development with some neat cameos with bat and ball in the Championship, a glittering 92 against Northants the highlight.

GLOUCESTERSHIRE (Season Grade: B-)

County Championship: 6th in Division Two
T20 Blast: 5th in South Group
Royal London One-Day Cup: Winners (beat Surrey in final)

Main man: Michael Klinger
Young star: Liam Norwell

Season synopsis: Gloucestershire will remember the 2015 season fondly, having beaten Surrey by six runs in a nail-biting One-Day Cup Final at Lord's to secure their first trophy in 11 years. Geraint Jones' swansong fifty - one of four he managed in the 50-over competition - inspired the Bristolians at cricket's HQ but it was skipper Michael Klinger who fired throughout the tournament, the 35-year-old Australian, who has not given up hope of representing his country, crunching three tons and two fifties on his way to a stonking average of 106.20. We'll call his duck at Lord's a blip.

Klinger was equally run-hungry in the Blast, notching three tons and four half-centuries, but with the right-hander managing only six Championship games, it was left to Gloucester's younger batsmen to post scores, Chris Dent the pick with a trio of centuries - including a career-best 268 in the final game of the campaign against Glamorgan - and six fifties. Young seamers Liam Norwell (61 Championship wickets) and Craig Miles (46) caught the eye, too, and with left-armer David Payne also in tow, Gloucester have a battery of quicks that should help them contend on all fronts in 2016.

KENT (Season grade: C+)

County Championship: 7th in Division Two
T20 Blast: QF (lost to Lancashire)
Royal London One-Day Cup: QF (lost to Surrey)

Main man: Sam Northeast
Young star: Daniel Bell-Drummond

Season synopsis: Kent were without an overseas player in 2015 and had four-day skipper, stalwart and occasional Sky Cricket commentator Rob Key sitting out the shorter formats, so it was a season for the club's precocious talents to take a step forward. Sam Northeast was the main man, in truth, topping 1,100 runs in the Championship and dazzling in the Blast, the latter fireworks making him an undroppable member of the Sky Sports staff's fantasy T20 sides! The Harrow graduate looks the heir apparent to Key as club skipper when the veteran opener calls it quits.

There is, of course, room for improvement for Kent in Championship cricket and the same goes for Daniel Bell-Drummond, touted by Michael Vaughan as a potential member of England's 2017/18 Ashes team. The batsman is averaging below thirty this term but the Lewisham-born stroke-maker's quick-fire ton in a tour match against Australia, coupled with three scores in excess of fifty in the One-Day Cup, showcased his talent. Matt Coles prospered on his return to the club, too, nabbing 67 Championship wickets, while the evergreen Darren Stevens, now 39, was as reliable as always.

HAMPSHIRE (Season grade: B-)

County Championship: 7th in Division One
T20 Blast: SF (lost to Lancashire)
Royal London One-Day Cup: QF (lost to Gloucestershire)

Main man: Liam Dawson
Young star: Mason Crane

Season synopsis: Hampshire pulled off the great escape on the final day of the season, with victory over Nottinghamshire seeing them safe at the expense of Sussex. Former West Indies quick Fidel Edwards, in particular, proved to be a revelation, with 45 victims at 20.88 in his eight games, including 10 in that all-important win over Notts, but Hampshire flattered to deceive for large parts of the campaign. Ex-England man Michael Carberry hit 10 fifties, but no hundred, and captain James Vince averaged only 28.57, a year on from his 1,525 runs at 61 in the second tier.

Liam Dawson was consistent with bat and ball, especially in the One-Day Cup, averaging 64.80 with the bat and leading the county with 15 wickets. He was aided by some encouraging performances from 18-year-old leg-spinner Mason Crane, the youngster pouching a best of 4-30 in his seven games and also nabbing a maiden first-class five-for against Warwickshire. Perennial visitors to T20 Finals Day since 2009, Hampshire earned a spot at the August extravaganza again in 2015, but for the third time running were knocked out in the semi-finals, to winners Lancashire.

LANCASHIRE (Season grade: A)

County Championship: 2nd in Division Two (promoted)
T20 Blast: Winners (beat Northants in the final)
Royal London One-Day Cup: QF (lost to Surrey)

Main man: Ashwell Prince
Young star: Alex Davies

Season synopsis: A sparkling season for the Old Trafford clan, soured only by the sight of their great rivals Yorkshire retaining the Championship title. Ashley Giles' men secured an immediate return to the top flight, with ex-South Africa man Ashwell Prince - in his last season before retirement - scoring runs for fun and former Zimbabwe seamer Kyle Jarvis pocketing 62 wickets. Twenty-one-year-old keeper-batsman Alex Davies chalked up seven half-centuries, too, ensuring the Red Rose county did not feel the absence of England gloveman Jos Buttler too much.

Buttler did, however, play an instrumental role in his four T20 games for Lancashire, scoring a stunning fifty in the group phase as the Lightning beat Yorkshire and then clubbing another half-century as they snuck past Kent in the quarter-finals. Those knocks, combined with vital innings from Steven Croft, Prince and Karl Brown and regular wickets for Stephen Parry and James Faulkner, snaffled Lancashire a first Blast crown. Their promising youngsters, including 18-year-old batting prospect Haseeb Hameed, should do even better next time around but Prince's exit will leave a big hole.

LEICESTERSHIRE (Season grade: F)

County Championship: 9th in Division Two
T20 Blast: 7th in North Group
Royal London One-Day Cup: 9th in Group A

Main man: Angus Robson
Young star: Ben Raine

Season synopsis: There was a moment of delight for Leicestershire in June when they beat Essex to secure their first Championship victory since 2012, but with just one further four-day win, against Derbyshire in August, the Foxes were consigned to bottom spot in Division Two for the third successive season. If small progress was the aim, though, then you can argue Leicestershire made some, with opener Angus Robson - brother of seven-cap England man Sam - and skipper Mark Cosgrove surpassing 1,000 first-class runs and all-rounder Ben Raine flourishing in all formats.

We'll move quickly on from the One-Day Cup, in which the Foxes lost seven of their eight matches, and their mid-table campaign in the Blast, because it's now all about next season for the Midlanders. With the Australian axis of coach Andrew McDonald, captain Cosgrove and overseas pro Clint McKay - 81 wickets in all competitions - staying put and experienced county campaigners Neil Dexter, Paul Horton and Mark Pettini arriving from Middlesex, Lancashire and Essex respectively, hopes must be high that the Grace Road outfit won't be propping up the rest for much longer.