While I must admit that the highlight of the domestic cricket season was the sterling five-Test contest between England and India, the county season threw up a few welcome surprises. Surrey’s stellar squad failed to win anything, last season’s strugglers Nottinghamshire pipped them for the title at the death, my Somerset boys converted white-ball talent into Blast success and Worcestershire combined Championship relegation with victory in the One-Day Cup. Oh, and Jimmy Anderson tried – with mixed results – to reinvent himself as a supreme Twenty20 exponent. The IPL franchises were unimpressed but Lancashire were more obliging.
Now for my annual review of the stand-out performers on the county circuit. The Hundred doesn’t count, obviously. In arriving at my final Eleven, I looked at consistency across formats while prioritising the Championship ahead of the Blast and then the 50-over competition which was bereft of the one-day aces who preferred to spend their August earning larger salaries in The Hundred.
Openers
Ben
Compton’s 1,386 runs at an average of 60 were the rare jewels in Kent’s
miserable summer. Talking of which, Derbyshire’s Caleb Jewell was the top
scorer across all three county competitions. He made only one of my Teams of
the Week but accumulated his runs efficiently and consistemtly. Dom Sibley and
Haseeb Hameed may have been discarded by Engand selectors years ago, but they were
the outstanding openers in Division One. Sibley reached a triple-century out of
a massive 820-9 against Durham but in the same match, Alex Lees scored a ton in
each innings. Lees just failed to notch 1,000 runs in the four-dayers but had a
fruitful T20 campaign. Tom Banton astonished everyone by cracking 371 against
Worcestershire at the start of April but couldn’t maintain that throughout Somerset’s
season.
Middle Order
Old favourites Wayne Madsen and Colin Ingram showed no signs of slowing down. The 41-year-old Derbyshire stalwart averaged 57 in Division Two adding 431 in the short stuff. Ingram’s Glamorgan colleague Kiran Carlson had an excellent 2024 but was even better this year, especially as the county achieved its first promotion in yonks. Northamptonshire had a rotten time, but nobody scored more Championship runs than their 27-year-old left-hander, Saif Zaib. Max Holden had a few golden moments for Middlesex, James Coles of Sussex made plenty of runs, as did Essex’s Tom Westley, while Hampshire’s Toby Albert topped the batting charts in the Blast, and his counterpart Nick Gubbins did the same in the One-Day Cup. However, my next member of the team of 2025 is Jack Haynes of county champs Notts. He struck four first-class hundreds and boasted a healthy strike rate in one-day cricket, too.
All Rounders
Ryan
Higgins and Liam Dawson weren’t quite up to their traditional levels but there
was no shortage of quality batting all-rounders on the circuit. Notitnghamshire’s
Lyndon James included a double-century in his 2025 CV while Tom Lammonby of
Somerset saved his best performances for when they really mattered. Lewis
Gregory continued to deserve Somerset fans’ adoration, particularly when he
whacked the winning six in the Blast final. Ben Kellaway and Rehan Ahmed added
considerable runs to their customary spin bowling, and young Ethan Brookes of
Worcestershire looked a useful player in both red and white-ball formats.
However, my pick is Warwickshire’s Ed Barnard, mostly for his runs in a year
when Hain, Davies and Yates didn’t often deliver.
Wicket-Keeper
Lewis
McManus claimed more victims (20 than anyone else in the Blast, while Garth
Roderick topped the charts in the Championship, but their batting wasn’t quite
up to scratch. James Rew of Somerset looked back to his best and even enjoyed
some useful middle-order partnerships with younger brother Thomas. However,
like last year, the wicketkeeping slot comes down to a fight between James
Bracey (Gloucs) and John Simpson (Sussex). A third of Bracey’s runs came in the
One-Day Cup but the South Coast skipper contributed everywhere, excelling in first-class
cricket, both with gloves and willow, averaging 60 in his side’s push for
fourth place.
Bowlers
Five men took at least fifty Championship wickets, and three of them make my XI. It wasn’t an easy decision. Ben Sanderson (Northants) and Riley Meredith (Somerset) were the most prolific in T20, Ben Allison (Worcs) in the One-Day Cup, while Ben Green (Leics) picked them up in all three competitions.
The evergreen Kyle Abbott ended the Championship season with almost identical figures to those of 2024 and is an automatic selection. Ben Raine’s seam bowling bailed Durham out of a few holes, also contributing useful lower-order runs. George Hill (Yorks) and Luis Reece (Derbys) achieved the half-century with eye-catching sub-20 averages. Spin wasn’t really to the fore this summer. Even Simon Harmer struggled so, for a second consecutive year, I am delighted to induct Somerset’s Jack Leach into the 2025 Eleven. He rarely featured in limited-overs but in the long-form the ex-England left-armer worked hard all season. Surprise bowler of the season must be Tom Taylor. Before April was out, Worcestershire looked doomed, but the 30-year-old plugged away throughout. Nobody took more wickets – 78 in total, including fifteen in the Blast.
Like the whole country, players and fans alike, I have no idea what the hell is happening to county cricket next year. However, here is my hotly-awaited County XI of 2025;-
Jewell (Der),
Lees (Dur), Haynes (Not), Carlson (Gla), Barnard (War), Zaib (Nor), Simpson
(Sus +), Abbott (Ham), Raine (Dur), Taylor (Wor), Leach (Som)
Just missed out:
Brookes (Wor), Madsen (Der), Bracey (Glo +), B Green (Lei)
