Winter slowly turns into Spring and that can only mean the return of County Championship cricket with pitches and outfields being prepped and preened for six months of competition.
As the long summer begins, lets delve into each team. 1000 words 100 or so on each side.
Derbyshire
ππππππ πππππ ππππππππππ π
— Derbyshire CCC (@DerbyshireCCC) January 15, 2026
The Club are delighted to have signed England off-spinner, Shoaib Bashir, on a two-year deal!
Read more ‡οΈ
The 2025 third top scorer in Division Two, Wayne Madsen, will skipper his side again at the age of 41 with his sparkling form hoping to continue after a 57 average last year. Madsen alongside Caleb Jewell carried the burden with the bat with these two being exceptional in the 6,855 runs accumulated in 2025.
Depth in the batting shouldn’t be questioned and a very strong bowling line up was only bulked by the signing of English off spinner Shoaib Bashir in January. Bashir along side overseas star Mohammed Abbas could prove a very healthy combination for the team.
Durham
Relegated from Division One in 2025, no one will want to bounce back more than captain Alex Lees who will be in charge again this season. Opening pair of Emilio Gay and Lees were the leading run makers last year with just four runs separating the two when the season came to a close with 954 and 950 respectively.
A star bowling line up may come back to bight them with Matthew Potts and Brydon Carse both being regulars in England’s set up. However promotion should be a formality for Durham if enough cylinders fire this season.
Gloucestershire
Bancroft & Bracey Ltd. ππΌ
— Gloucestershire Cricket (@Gloscricket) March 14, 2026
Cameron Bancroft and James Bracey combined for 890 runs at the top of the order in last yearβs Metro Bank One Day Cup! π₯#BecomeGlorious pic.twitter.com/SsAXVgAssG
Gloucestershire will be looking to improve from their sixth place finish in last years championships. Australian skipper Cameron Bancroft will lead from the front in search of a better return than his 796 runs last year. Wicket-keeper James Bracey was the stand out man last year with 1010 runs to his name.
Struggles with the ball could be on the cards with strike bowler Singh Dale contract running dry. Marchant De Lange will take up the biggest portion of responsibility with Graeme Van Buuren being his spinning strike partner after taking 25 wickets in 2025, second most in the team.
Kent
Kent have gone for a different approach this year after handing out three rookie contracts to Corey Flintoff, Olly Curtiss and Ben Dawkins. outside of these three, an vastly experienced Kent team lies in wait of turning around last years fortunes which saw a bottom of the table finish.
Skipper Daniel Bell-Drummond leads a line up of Zak Crawley, Matt Parkinson and Joe Denly which should have the depth in quality to lift them off the bottom of the table. However losing Crawley for large chunks of the season is an inevitability due to England commitments.
Lancashire
βοΈ Lancashire Cricket is delighted to announce the signing of Gloucestershire fast bowler Ajeet Singh Dale.
— Lancashire Cricket (@lancscricket) August 2, 2025
Ajeet will move to Emirates Old Trafford on a three-year deal ahead of the 2026 season.
πΉ #RedRoseTogether
England’s greatest bowler of all time James Anderson will wear the burden of captaincy this season for Lancashire as his County career continues to flourish after his international retirement. The Red Roses fifth place finish las year was sub par for their squad that consists of some serious talent including the likes of Keaton Jennings, Saqid Mahmood and Tom Hartley.
Lancashire have also added four new names to their roster including Australian Marcus Harris and Singh Dale who had a very successful 2025 with Gloucester taking 40 wickets. Rocky Flintoff will also continue to fast track his career.
Middlesex
Lues De Plooy will lead out his side again this year after a successful 2025 which saw him score 1009 runs with the bat. Middlesex had a strong year last time out finishing fourth in the table with five wins, which was more than Derbyshire in third (more losses saw them finish fourth).
With the ball is where Middlesex shine with three of the top 10 wicket takers in Division two being from Middlesex. Toby Roland Jones, Ryan Higgins and Zafar Gohar taking 125 wickets between them in a fine effort. These three are all back this season to back up their numbers.
Northamptonshire
Sando doing Sando things. π
— Northamptonshire CCC (@NorthantsCCC) September 27, 2025
Ben Sanderson is Bowler of the Year. pic.twitter.com/uBqIjylage
Northamptonshire struggled to a seventh place finish last year with a lack of consistency with the bowling department. Calvin Harrison finished last year as top wicket taker with 36 for the squad but he wont return to the team this year which is a blow.
However a mighty effort with the bat from Saif Zaib saw him finish on 1425 runs for the season which was the highest in both divisions. You can be sure he’ll be in the runs again this season. Ben Sanderson, Rob Keogh and David Willey all return in hopes of lifting their team into a brighter position in 2026.
Worcestershire
In a similar situation to Durham, Worcestershire had a below par 2025 finishing bottom of the Division one table by 41 points. Top performer with the bat was Jake Libby in a superb effort to try save a sinking ship with 1060 runs. He found little company with his season being the standout by 300 runs to Ethan Brooks.
With the ball, Tom Taylor found himself at the top of the Division One rankings with 58 wickets in a season. Unfortunately for Worcester is was the overall match play that let them down as they only managed one win. Things will be brighter for them this season.
