# 2018 County Championship

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 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) |
| Essex | County Ground, Chelmsford | — | Anthony McGrath | Ryan ten Doeschate | Neil Wagner Peter Siddle Murali Vijay |
| Hampshire | Rose Bowl, Southampton | — | Craig White | James Vince | Hashim Amla Dale Steyn |
| Lancashire | Old Trafford, Manchester | Trafalgar Road Ground, Southport | Glen Chapple | Liam Livingstone (Apr.–Jul.) Dane Vilas (Jul.–) | Joe Mennie Keshav Maharaj |
| Somerset | County Ground, Taunton | — | Jason Kerr | Tom Abell | Matt Renshaw Azhar Ali |
| Surrey | The Oval, London | Woodbridge Road, Guildford | Michael Di Venuto | Rory Burns | Dean Elgar Theunis de Bruyn Aaron Finch |
| Yorkshire | Headingley, Leeds | North 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 Raval |
| Nottinghamshire | Trent Bridge, Nottingham | — | Peter Moores | Steven Mullaney | Ross Taylor Kraigg Brathwaite |
| Worcestershire | New 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) |
| Middlesex | Lord's, London | Merchant Taylors' School Ground, Northwood Uxbridge Cricket Club Ground, Uxbridge | Richard Scott (Apr.–Jul.) Richard Johnson (Jul.–) | Dawid Malan Sam Robson (Apr.) | Hilton Cartwright |
| Warwickshire | Edgbaston, Birmingham | — | Jim Troughton | Jeetan Patel | Jeetan Patel |
| Derbyshire | County Ground, Derby | Queen's Park, Chesterfield | Kim Barnett (Apr.–Jul.) Vacant (Jul.–Aug.) Dave Houghton (Aug.–) | Billy Godleman | Duanne Olivier Lockie Ferguson |
| Durham | Riverside Ground, Chester-le-Street | — | Jon Lewis | Paul Collingwood | Aiden Markram Tom Latham Axar Patel |
| Glamorgan | Sophia Gardens, Cardiff | Penrhyn Avenue, Rhos-on-Sea St Helen's, Swansea | Robert Croft | Michael Hogan | Shaun Marsh Usman Khawaja Stephen Cook |
| Gloucestershire | County Ground, Bristol | College Ground, Cheltenham | Richard Dawson | Chris Dent | Daniel Worrall |
| Kent | St Lawrence Ground, Canterbury | Nevill Ground, Royal Tunbridge Wells | Matt Walker | Sam Billings Joe Denly (Apr.–May) | Matt Henry |
| Leicestershire | Grace Road, Leicester | — | Paul Nixon | Michael Carberry (Apr.–May) Paul Horton (May–) | Varun Aaron Mohammad Abbas |
| Northamptonshire | County Ground, Northampton | — | David Ripley | Alex Wakely | Rory Kleinveldt Doug Bracewell Seekkuge Prasanna |
| Sussex | County Ground, Hove | Arundel 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 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

* 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

| Player | Team | Matches | Innings | Runs | Average | HS | 100s | 50s |
| Rory Burns | Surrey | 14 | 22 | 1,359 | 64.71 | 193 | 4 | 7 |
| James Hildreth | Somerset | 14 | 26 | 1,089 | 45.37 | 184 | 3 | 6 |
| Ollie Pope | Surrey | 13 | 16 | 986 | 70.42 | 158* | 4 | 1 |
| James Vince | Hampshire | 14 | 25 | 962 | 40.08 | 201* | 3 | 2 |
| Daryl Mitchell | Worcestershire | 14 | 26 | 957 | 36.80 | 178 | 4 | 1 |
Source: ESPNcricinfo

#### Most wickets

| Players | Team | Matches | Overs | Wickets | Average | BBI | 5w | 10w |
| Tom Bailey | Lancashire | 14 | 439.4 | 64 | 19.65 | 5/53 | 1 | 0 |
| Morné Morkel | Surrey | 10 | 315.4 | 59 | 14.32 | 6/57 | 4 | 0 |
| Jamie Porter | Essex | 13 | 432.3 | 58 | 24.63 | 7/41 | 3 | 1 |
| Graham Onions | Lancashire | 12 | 379.3 | 57 | 21.77 | 6/55 | 2 | 0 |
| Simon Harmer | Essex | 13 | 526.2 | 57 | 24.45 | 6/87 | 3 | 0 |
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

| Player | Team | Matches | Innings | Runs | Average | HS | 100s | 50s |
| Ian Bell | Warwickshire | 14 | 23 | 1,027 | 54.05 | 204 | 5 | 2 |
| Wayne Madsen | Derbyshire | 14 | 27 | 1,016 | 37.62 | 144 | 2 | 7 |
| Will Rhodes | Warwickshire | 14 | 23 | 972 | 44.18 | 137 | 4 | 4 |
| Jonathan Trott | Warwickshire | 14 | 23 | 935 | 46.75 | 170* | 2 | 6 |
| Ben Brown | Sussex | 14 | 24 | 912 | 43.42 | 116 | 1 | 7 |
Source: ESPNcricinfo

#### Most wickets

| Players | Team | Matches | Overs | Wickets | Average | BBI | 5w | 10w |
| Matt Henry | Kent | 11 | 382.4 | 75 | 15.48 | 7/42 | 5 | 3 |
| Ollie Robinson | Sussex | 14 | 485.0 | 74 | 18.66 | 7/58 | 4 | 1 |
| James Harris | Middlesex | 12 | 384.5 | 61 | 20.54 | 7/83 | 3 | 0 |
| Ben Sanderson | Northamptonshire | 13 | 422.0 | 60 | 16.70 | 5/16 | 2 | 0 |
| Chris Rushworth | Durham | 12 | 386.4 | 60 | 20.01 | 8/51 | 3 | 1 |
Source: ESPNcricinfo