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.
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.
In September 2018, the match between Somerset and Lancashire at Taunton, Somerset finished as a tie. It was the first tie in a County Championship game since 2003, Somerset's first tied match since 1939 and Lancashire's first since 1952. 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.
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)EssexCounty Ground, Chelmsford— Anthony McGrath Ryan ten Doeschate Neil Wagner Peter Siddle Murali VijayHampshireRose Bowl, Southampton— Craig White James Vince Hashim Amla Dale SteynLancashireOld Trafford, ManchesterTrafalgar Road Ground, Southport Glen Chapple Liam Livingstone (Apr.–Jul.) Dane Vilas (Jul.–) Joe Mennie Keshav MaharajSomersetCounty Ground, Taunton— Jason Kerr Tom Abell Matt Renshaw Azhar AliSurreyThe Oval, LondonWoodbridge Road, Guildford Michael Di Venuto Rory Burns Dean Elgar Theunis de Bruyn Aaron FinchYorkshireHeadingley, LeedsNorth 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 Kane Williamson Jeet RavalNottinghamshireTrent Bridge, Nottingham— Peter Moores Steven Mullaney Ross Taylor Kraigg BrathwaiteWorcestershireNew 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)MiddlesexLord's, LondonMerchant Taylors' School Ground, NorthwoodUxbridge Cricket Club Ground, Uxbridge Richard Scott (Apr.–Jul.) Richard Johnson (Jul.–) Dawid Malan Sam Robson (Apr.) Hilton CartwrightWarwickshireEdgbaston, Birmingham— Jim Troughton Jeetan Patel Jeetan PatelDerbyshireCounty Ground, DerbyQueen's Park, Chesterfield Kim Barnett (Apr.–Jul.) Vacant (Jul.–Aug.) Dave Houghton (Aug.–) Billy Godleman Duanne Olivier Lockie FergusonDurhamRiverside Ground, Chester-le-Street— Jon Lewis Paul Collingwood Aiden Markram Tom Latham Axar PatelGlamorganSophia Gardens, CardiffPenrhyn Avenue, Rhos-on-SeaSt Helen's, Swansea Robert Croft Michael Hogan Shaun Marsh Usman Khawaja Stephen CookGloucestershireCounty Ground, BristolCollege Ground, Cheltenham Richard Dawson Chris Dent Daniel WorrallKentSt Lawrence Ground, CanterburyNevill Ground, Royal Tunbridge Wells Matt Walker Sam Billings Joe Denly (Apr.–May) Matt HenryLeicestershireGrace Road, Leicester— Paul Nixon Michael Carberry (Apr.–May) Paul Horton (May–) Varun Aaron Mohammad AbbasNorthamptonshireCounty Ground, Northampton— David Ripley Alex Wakely Rory Kleinveldt Doug Bracewell Seekkuge PrasannaSussexCounty Ground, HoveArundel 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.
In total, 56 matches were played in Division One, with 70 played in Division Two.
Division One April
May
June
July
August
September
Division Two 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.
Division One
Division Two
Statistics Division One
Highest score by a team: Surrey − 592 all out (119.3 overs) vs Nottinghamshire (22−25 July) Lowest score by a team: Yorkshire − 50 all out (18.4 overs) vs Essex (4−6 May) Top score by an individual: Dane Vilas (Lancashire − 235* (363) vs Somerset (4−7 May) Best bowling figures by an individual: Jack Leach (Somerset) − 8/85 (48 overs) vs Essex (19−22 August)
Most runs PlayerTeamMatchesInningsRunsAverage100s50sRory BurnsSurrey14221,35964.7119347James HildrethSomerset14261,08945.3718436Ollie PopeSurrey131698670.42158*41James VinceHampshire142596240.08201*32Daryl MitchellWorcestershire142695736.8017841 Source: ESPNcricinfo
Most wickets PlayersTeamMatchesOversWicketsAverageBBI5w10wTom BaileyLancashire14439.46419.655/5310Morné MorkelSurrey10315.45914.326/5740Jamie PorterEssex13432.35824.637/4131Graham OnionsLancashire12379.35721.776/5520Simon HarmerEssex13526.25724.456/8730 Source: ESPNcricinfo
Division Two
Highest score by a team: Kent − 582/9d (160.4 overs) vs Gloucestershire (9−12 June) Lowest score by a team: Middlesex − 56 all out (24 overs) vs Kent (25−27 June) Top score by an individual: Chris Dent (Gloucestershire) − 214* (290) vs Leicestershire (29 August − 1 September) Best bowling figures by an individual: Brett Hutton (Northamptonshire) − 8/57 (18.5 overs) vs Gloucestershire (20−22 June)
Most runs PlayerTeamMatchesInningsRunsAverage100s50sIan BellWarwickshire14231,02754.0520452Wayne MadsenDerbyshire14271,01637.6214427Will RhodesWarwickshire142397244.1813744Jonathan TrottWarwickshire142393546.75170*26Ben BrownSussex142491243.4211617 Source: ESPNcricinfo
Most wickets PlayersTeamMatchesOversWicketsAverageBBI5w10wMatt HenryKent11382.47515.487/4253Ollie RobinsonSussex14485.07418.667/5841James HarrisMiddlesex12384.56120.547/8330Ben SandersonNorthamptonshire13422.06016.705/1620Chris RushworthDurham12386.46020.018/5131 Source: ESPNcricinfo
References