# 2019 County Championship

The 2019 County Championship, known for sponsorship reasons as the 2019 Specsavers County Championship, was the 120th cricket County Championship season. As in 2018, Division One had eight teams and Division Two had ten teams. The first round of matches began on 5 April and the final round of matches ended on 26 September. Surrey were the defending champions. At the end of the 2019 season only one team was relegated with three promoted. Therefore, from 2020 onwards, Division One would feature ten teams and Division Two would feature eight.

## Teams

Source:

### Division One

Team promoted from Division Two in 2018
| Team | Primary home ground | Other grounds | Coach | Captain | Overseas player(s) |
| Essex | County Ground, Chelmsford | — | Anthony McGrath | Ryan ten Doeschate | Peter Siddle Mohammad Amir |
| Hampshire | Rose Bowl, Southampton | Newclose County Cricket Ground, Isle of Wight | Adrian Birrell | James Vince (Apr.–May., Aug.–) Sam Northeast (May.–Aug.) | Aiden Markram (Apr.–May.) Ajinkya Rahane |
| Kent | St Lawrence Ground, Canterbury | County Ground, Beckenham Nevill Ground, Royal Tunbridge Wells | Matt Walker | Heino Kuhn | Matt Renshaw Wiaan Mulder Faf du Plessis |
| Nottinghamshire | Trent Bridge, Nottingham | John Fretwell Sporting Complex, Nettleworth | Peter Moores | Steven Mullaney | James Pattinson Ravichandran Ashwin |
| Somerset | County Ground, Taunton | — | Jason Kerr | Tom Abell | Azhar Ali Babar Azam Murali Vijay |
| Surrey | The Oval, London | Woodbridge Road, Guildford | Michael Di Venuto | Rory Burns | Dean Elgar Aaron Finch |
| Warwickshire | Edgbaston, Birmingham | — | Jim Troughton | Jeetan Patel | Jeetan Patel |
| Yorkshire | Headingley, Leeds | North Marine Road Ground, Scarborough Clifton Park Ground, York | Andrew Gale | Steven Patterson | Keshav Maharaj Ajaz Patel |

### Division Two

Team relegated from Division One in 2018
| Team | Primary home ground | Other grounds | Coach | Captain | Overseas player(s) |
| Derbyshire | County Ground, Derby | Queen's Park, Chesterfield | Dave Houghton | Billy Godleman | Logan van Beek |
| Durham | Riverside Ground, Chester-le-Street | — | James Franklin | Cameron Bancroft | Cameron Bancroft Peter Handscomb BJ Watling |
| Glamorgan | Sophia Gardens, Cardiff | Penrhyn Avenue, Rhos-on-Sea Spytty Park, Newport St Helen's, Swansea | Matthew Maynard | Chris Cooke | Marnus Labuschagne Shaun Marsh Kraigg Brathwaite |
| Gloucestershire | County Ground, Bristol | College Ground, Cheltenham | Richard Dawson | Chris Dent | Daniel Worrall Chadd Sayers Shannon Gabriel |
| Lancashire | Old Trafford, Manchester | Aigburth Cricket Ground, Liverpool Sedbergh School, Sedbergh | Glen Chapple | Dane Vilas | Glenn Maxwell Joe Burns Jake Lehmann |
| Leicestershire | Grace Road, Leicester | — | Paul Nixon | Paul Horton | Mohammad Abbas |
| Middlesex | Lord's, London | Brunton Memorial Ground, Radlett Merchant Taylors' School Ground, Northwood | Stuart Law | Dawid Malan | Miguel Cummins |
| Northamptonshire | County Ground, Northampton | — | David Ripley | Alex Wakely | Jason Holder Temba Bavuma Dwaine Pretorius Doug Bracewell |
| Sussex | County Ground, Hove | Arundel Castle Cricket Club Ground, Arundel | Jason Gillespie | Ben Brown | Mir Hamza Alex Carey |
| Worcestershire | New Road, Worcester | Chester Road North Ground, Kidderminster | Alex Gidman | Joe Leach | Hamish Rutherford Callum Ferguson |

## Results

Fixtures for the 2019 County Championship were announced on 26 November 2018, with the previous season's champions Surrey beginning the defence of their title against Essex at The Oval.

### Division Two
#### April
#### 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

As of 26 September 2019
* Highest score by a team: Kent − 585/7d (144.1 overs) vs Warwickshire (June 30−3 July)
* Lowest score by a team (completed innings): Kent − 40 all out (18.1 overs) vs Essex (18−20 August)
* Top score by an individual: Dom Sibley (Warwickshire) − 244 (491) vs Kent (Jun 30−3 July)
* Best bowling figures by an individual: Kyle Abbott (Hampshire) − 9/40 (18.4 overs) vs Somerset (16−19 September)

#### Most runs

| Player | Team | Matches | Innings | Runs | Average | HS | 100s | 50s |
| Dom Sibley | Warwickshire | 12 | 21 | 1324 | 69.68 | 244 | 5 | 5 |
| Gary Ballance | Yorkshire | 13 | 23 | 975 | 46.42 | 159 | 5 | 3 |
| Sam Northeast | Hampshire | 13 | 22 | 969 | 51.00 | 169 | 3 | 5 |
| Alastair Cook | Essex | 14 | 24 | 913 | 45.68 | 125 | 1 | 7 |
| Daniel Bell-Drummond | Kent | 14 | 26 | 892 | 35.68 | 166 | 1 | 5 |
Source: ESPNcricinfo

#### Most wickets

| Players | Team | Matches | Overs | Wickets | Average | BBI | 5w | 10w |
| Simon Harmer | Essex | 14 | 595.5 | 83 | 18.28 | 8/98 | 10 | 2 |
| Kyle Abbott | Hampshire | 13 | 362.5 | 71 | 15.73 | 9/40 | 6 | 1 |
| Jeetan Patel | Warwickshire | 14 | 635.1 | 64 | 26.75 | 8/36 | 4 | 2 |
| Matt Milnes | Kent | 14 | 386.4 | 55 | 25.14 | 5/68 | 2 | 0 |
| Darren Stevens | Kent | 12 | 403.0 | 52 | 17.57 | 5/20 | 5 | 1 |
Source: ESPNcricinfo

### Division Two

As of 26 September 2019
* Highest score by a team: Northamptonshire − 750 all out (227.3 overs) vs Glamorgan (11−14 April)
* Lowest score by a team (completed innings): Middlesex − 75 all out (21.4 overs) vs Sussex (18-20 August)
* Top score by an individual: Dane Vilas (Lancashire) − 266 (240) vs Glamorgan (18-20 August)
* Best bowling figures by an individual: Ollie Robinson (Sussex) − 8/34 (11 overs) vs Middlesex (18-20 August)

#### Most runs

| Player | Team | Matches | Innings | Runs | Average | HS | 100s | 50s |
| Hassan Azad | Leicestershire | 14 | 26 | 1189 | 54.04 | 137 | 3 | 8 |
| Marnus Labuschagne | Glamorgan | 10 | 18 | 1114 | 65.52 | 182 | 5 | 5 |
| Chris Dent | Gloucestershire | 14 | 24 | 1087 | 47.26 | 176 | 4 | 4 |
| Dane Vilas | Lancashire | 14 | 17 | 1036 | 79.69 | 266 | 2 | 7 |
| Billy Godleman | Derbyshire | 14 | 26 | 1008 | 38.76 | 227 | 4 | 2 |
Source: ESPNcricinfo

#### Most wickets

| Players | Team | Matches | Overs | Wickets | Average | BBI | 5w | 10w |
| Chris Rushworth | Durham | 14 | 486.4 | 69 | 18.42 | 6/39 | 4 | 1 |
| Ollie Robinson | Sussex | 11 | 380.3 | 63 | 16.44 | 8/34 | 6 | 3 |
| Ben Sanderson | Northamptonshire | 14 | 448.2 | 60 | 19.65 | 6/37 | 3 | 1 |
| Ben Raine | Durham | 14 | 463.4 | 54 | 21.83 | 6/27 | 3 | 0 |
| Luis Reece | Derbyshire | 14 | 371.0 | 52 | 19.65 | 6/58 | 3 | 0 |
Source: ESPNcricinfo