Predicting anything in the LV= County Championship's top flight is always a risky business. Such is the nature of the competition, you can be in the title race one month and then struggling for survival the next.
MIDDLESEX
LV= County Championship Division One: 5th
Yorkshire Bank 40: Group stages
Friends Life t20: Group stages
Review: A season that at one stage looked like being sensational finished with a whimper. Middlesex looked genuine title contenders at the halfway point, but rather fell away after that. More often than not, Tim Murtagh bowled them into a winning position, then the batsmen blew it. Murtagh took 60 Division One scalps, another outstanding season. Sadly, fellow-pacemen James Harris and Toby Roland-Jones spent an awful lot of time on the physio's table and missed half the season. Otherwise they might have won the title. The good news looking ahead is that in 6'5" Ollie Rayner (41 wickets) they finally have a match-winning spinner. The bowling will be fine, but the batting needs serious attention.
Chris Rogers and the outstanding Sam Robson shone at the top of the order but the middle-order flopped. Joe Denly (average 26, no centuries), Neil Dexter (average 32, one century) and Dawid Malan (average 21, highest score 61) were nowhere near 1,000 runs and Eoin Morgan needs to play more often than twice in the Championship if they are going to win the title next year which, if the bowlers stay fit, is possible.
Star man: Sam Robson - 1180 runs in Division One, and he has thrown his lot in with England. A good series for the Lions this winter could see him play Test cricket soon.
High hopes for: Ollie Rayner - There are not many match-turning spinners around in England. Finally blossoming at the age of 27.
NOTTINGHAMSHIRE
LV= County Championship: 7th
Yorkshire Bank 40: Winners
Friends Life t20: Quarter-finals
Review: A bittersweet season for Nottinghamshire, who celebrated winning their first one-day trophy since 1989 before narrowly avoiding an unthinkable relegation from Division One. A squad littered with international talent, pre-season favourites Notts produced a number of baffling four-day performances, winning just two of their 16 matches.
Their one-day performances made amends, though, with the Outlaws powering through the Group Stages of both white-ball competitions. A third successive quarter-final defeat put paid to hopes of T20 glory, but a Lord's date in the YB0 was booked with an emphatic win over Somerset and Glamorgan were dispatched in the final.
Star man: Samit Patel - Not many candidates here but Patel's performances in the title-winning 40-over campaign were pivotal. He turned the final on its head with the wickets of Chris Cooke, Jim Allenby and Murray Goodwin, and boasted a batting average of 47.17 in the competition.
High hopes for: Jake Ball - Another tough question to answer but the 22-year-old seamer showed promise, claiming career-best figures of 4-24 in the YB40 semi-final win over Somerset.
SURREY
LV= County Championship Division One: 9th
Yorkshire Bank 40: Group stages
Friends Life t20: Runners-up
Review: Surrey began the season as one of the favourites for the title, and ended it in utter disarray, finishing bottom of Division One. True, losing new skipper Graeme Smith to injury was massively bad luck. But county cricket's richest club needs a major rethink under new boss Alec Stewart, who could not turn around their dreadful start to the season after taking over from previous supremo Chris Adams.
England internationals Chris Tremlett, Jade Dernbach, Gareth Batty and the sadly often-injured Stuart Meaker were all out-bowled by the unsung Tim Linley. He was their highest four-day wicket-taker with just 37 - which tells its own story - and none of their frontline bowlers averaged below 30. Their superstar batsmen Ricky Ponting and Hashim Amla both delivered in spades in their short spells, but none of their regular batsmen scored 1000 runs. Only Steve Davies, always excellent behind the stumps, and the promising openers Rory Burns and Dominic Sibley - he who made a double century in his third match - will look back on 2013 with any fondness. Reaching the finals of the t20 was therefore a remarkable and wholly unexpected achievement but it only papered over some serious cracks.
Star man: Steve Davies - Continued excellence behind the stumps, and a healthy 867 runs with the bat. But is his England career done and dusted?
High hopes for: Rory Burns - A Championship ever-present in his first full season, 917 runs and the kind of grit more of his team-mates need to show next year.
SOMERSET
LV= County Championship Division One: 6th
Yorkshire Bank 40: Semi-finals
Friends Life t20: Quarter-finals
Review: Somerset are not quite at crisis point, but they are not far away. In one-day cricket the Cidermen remain a major force but in the Championship they are struggling. They limped their way through the Division One season and could have gone down going into the last game. And what odds on Marcus Trescothick not scoring a single century in any form of cricket through the summer? Well, it happened, and the great man averaged just 27 in Division One. Nick Compton held the batting together, the only man to score 1,000 runs but James Hildreth, Craig Kieswetter and the rest of the much-vaunted top seven did not give him sufficient back-up. Peter Trego was brilliant in the YB40, scoring an incredible 745 runs at an average of nearly 83. But he was poor in the Championship, scoring just 374.
The ever-excellent Alfonso Thomas was the mainstay of the bowling attack in all forms; he was their leading wicket-taker in the Championship with 42. The bowling attack's future is rosier than others with the Overton brothers and spinner Jack Leach all fine prospects. Promoted duo Lancashire - who have signed Jos Buttler - and Northants will both be confident they can stay up next year, so Somerset need much more from their senior men.
Star man: Peter Trego - Incredible hitting in the YB40. Needs to do better in the Championship with both bat and ball.
High hopes for: Jack Leach - Taunton-born spinner impressed in his five Championship matches, taking 13 wickets at 24.
SUSSEX
LV= County Championship Division One: 3rd
Yorkshire Bank 40: Group stages
Friends Life t20: Group stages
Review: Third place in Division One was a fine effort, based around the bowling heroics of the ever-accurate Steve Magoffin (63 wickets), the pacy Chris Jordan (59) and the under-rated James Anyon (50), along with the batting of top-order duo Ed Joyce (1116 runs) and Chris Nash (1072). If Rory Hamilton-Brown rediscovers his best, and Luke Wells continues his rapid progress, Sussex are genuine title contenders next season.
Sussex's main priority over the winter will be to find a spinner to replace Monty Panesar and work out how on earth such a talented team managed to win just seven out of their 22 limited-overs games all summer. In the T20 arena they won just once, a shocking performance. Luke Wright's availability is key - he scored prolifically - and quickly - in all forms once he returned from featuring in the Indian Premier League.
Star man: Chris Jordan - pips the estimable Magoffin because it was all so unexpected. Nothing he did at Surrey suggested he would take 59 wickets and chip in with 408 runs. England took note.
High hopes for: Matt Machan. Brighton born-and-bred, Machan shone in limited overs cricket with some hard-hitting displays. Capped by Scotland, the 22-year-old looks a potential star.
