2012 County Championship

The 2012 County Championship season, known as the LV= County Championship for sponsorship reasons, was the 113th cricket County Championship season. Warwickshire won their seventh County Championship title, clinching the trophy with a match to spare in early September following an innings victory over Worcestershire.

The tournament was contested through two divisions of nine teams each. Each team played the others in their division both home and away, for a total of 16 matches per team. However, the season was significantly disrupted by exceptionally wet weather—notably the wettest summer in 100 years—leading to 82 drawn matches across both divisions and several total abandonments.

Derbyshire won the Division Two title on the final day of the season. They were promoted to Division One for the 2013 season along with runners-up Yorkshire. The bottom two sides from Division One, Worcestershire and the defending 2011 champions Lancashire, were relegated to the second tier.

Teams

Division One

The following teams competed in Division One during the 2012 season:

Team	Home ground	Captain	Coach/Director of Cricket
Durham	Riverside Ground	England Phil Mustard	England Geoff Cook
Lancashire	Old Trafford	England Glen Chapple	England Peter Moores
Middlesex	Lord's	England Neil Dexter	England Richard Scott
Nottinghamshire	Trent Bridge	England Chris Read	England Mick Newell
Somerset	County Ground	England Marcus Trescothick	England Andy Hurry
Surrey	The Oval	England Rory Hamilton-Brown	Australia Chris Adams
Sussex	County Ground	England Michael Yardy	England Mark Robinson
Warwickshire	Edgbaston	England Jim Troughton	England Ashley Giles
Worcestershire	New Road	South Africa Daryl Mitchell	England Steve Rhodes

Division Two

The following teams competed in Division Two during the 2012 season:

Team	Home ground	Captain	Coach/Director of Cricket
Derbyshire	County Ground	England Wayne Madsen	England Karl Krikken
Essex	County Ground	England James Foster	England Paul Grayson
Glamorgan	SWALEC Stadium	England Mark Wallace	England Matthew Maynard
Gloucestershire	County Ground	England Alex Gidman	England John Bracewell
Hampshire	Rose Bowl	England Jimmy Adams	England Giles White
Kent	St Lawrence Ground	England James Tredwell	England Jimmy Adams
Leicestershire	Grace Road	England Matthew Boyce	England Phil Whitticase
Northamptonshire	County Ground	South Africa Andrew Hall	England David Ripley
Yorkshire	Headingley	England Andrew Gale	Australia Jason Gillespie

Standings

Pld = Played, W = Wins, L = Losses, D = Draws, T = Ties, A = Abandonments, Bat = Batting points, Bowl = Bowling points, Ded = Deducted points, Pts = Points.

Teams receive 16 points for a win and 3 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

Team	Pld	W	L	D	A	Bat	Bowl	Ded	Pts
Warwickshire (C)	16	6	1	9	0	43	45	0.0	211
Somerset	16	5	1	10	0	32	45	0.0	187
Middlesex	16	5	4	7	0	33	38	0.0	172
Sussex	16	5	5	6	0	28	41	0.0	167
Nottinghamshire	16	4	2	10	0	26	43	0.0	163
Durham	16	5	5	5	1	18	45	4.0	157
Surrey	16	3	4	8	1	26	40	2.0	139
Lancashire (R)	16	1	5	10	0	25	35	0.0	106
Worcestershire (R)	16	1	8	7	0	17	42	0.0	96

Division Two

Team	Pld	W	L	D	A	Bat	Bowl	Ded	Pts
Derbyshire (C, P)	16	6	2	8	0	31	43	0.0	194
Yorkshire (P)	16	5	0	11	0	41	40	0.0	194
Kent	16	4	3	9	0	39	40	0.0	170
Hampshire	16	4	5	7	0	28	40	0.0	153
Essex	16	3	3	10	0	27	40	0.0	145
Glamorgan	16	3	6	6	1	28	35	1.0	131
Leicestershire	16	3	3	10	0	24	33	5.0	130
Northamptonshire	16	2	5	9	0	37	34	0.0	130
Gloucestershire	16	3	6	6	1	22	35	0.0	126

Results summary

The fixtures for 2012 were announced in November 2011.

Division One

	Durham	Lancashire	Middlesex	Nottinghamshire	Somerset	Surrey	Sussex	Warwickshire	Worcestershire
Durham		30 May - 2 Jun Lancashire	27-30 Jul Durham	12-15 Apr Nottinghamshire	9–12 May	7-10 Aug Durham	11-14 Sep Durham	5-8 Jun	21-24 Aug Durham
Lancashire	28-31 Aug		23–26 May	2–5 May Nottinghamshire	1-4 Aug	11-14 Sep	12-15 Apr Sussex	19-22 Apr Warwickshire	18-21 Jul Worcestershire
Middlesex	19-22 Apr	4-7 Sep Middlesex		11-14 Jul	5-8 Jun	12-15 Apr Middlesex	30 May - 2 Jun Middlesex	1-4 Aug	3–6 May Middlesex
Nottinghamshire	15-18 Aug Durham	6-9 Jun	9–12 May		19-22 Apr	18-21 Jul	27-30 Jul	11-14 Sep	5-8 Apr Nottinghamshire
Somerset	22–25 May Somerset	11-14 Jul Somerset	21-24 Aug	4-7 Sep		30 May - 2 Jun	11-14 Sep	12-15 Apr	7-10 Aug Somerset
Surrey	19-22 Apr Durham	9–12 May	28-31 Aug	23–26 May Surrey	12-15 Sep		6-9 Jun Sussex	11-14 Jul	4-7 Sep Surrey
Sussex	3–6 May	7-10 Aug	15-18 Aug Sussex	23–26 May Nottinghamshire	2–5 May Somerset	19-22 Jul Sussex		28-31 Aug Warwickshire	5-8 Jun Sussex
Warwickshire	18-21 Jul	15-18 Aug Warwickshire	9–12 May Middlesex	30 May - 2 Jun Warwickshire	27-30 Jul	3–6 May Warwickshire	4-7 Sep		12-15 Sep Warwickshire
Worcestershire	2–5 May Durham	27-30 Jul	11-14 Sep	22–25 May	19-22 Apr	15-18 Aug	11-14 Jul Sussex	7-10 Aug Warwickshire

Division Two

	Derbyshire	Essex	Glamorgan	Gloucestershire	Hampshire	Kent	Leicestershire	Northamptonshire	Yorkshire
Derbyshire		11–14 Jul	22–25 May Derbyshire	11–14 Sep	15–18 Aug Derbyshire	19–22 Apr	30 May – 2 Jun Derbyshire	28–31 Aug	5–8 Apr
Essex	2–5 May Derbyshire		4–7 Sep	15–18 Aug Essex	30 May – 2 Jun Hampshire	11–14 Sep Essex	22–25 May	12–15 Apr	27–30 Jul
Glamorgan	7–10 Aug Derbyshire	19–22 Jul		12–15 Apr Glamorgan	2–5 May Hampshire	15–18 Aug	11–14 Jul	30 May – 2 Jun	12–15 Sep
Gloucestershire	12–15 Apr Derbyshire	6–9 Jun	31 Aug – 3 Sep Gloucestershire		11–14 Jul	3–6 May Gloucestershire	7–10 Aug Leicestershire	23–26 May	18–21 Jul Yorkshire
Hampshire	4–7 Sep	19–22 Apr Hampshire	28–31 Aug Hampshire	22–25 May Gloucestershire		6–9 Jun	12–15 Apr	18–21 Jul	9–12 May
Kent	27–30 Jul Kent	9–12 May Essex	30 May – 2 Jun Kent	18–21 Jul	4–7 Sep Kent		2–5 May	7–10 Aug Kent	22–25 May
Leicestershire	19–22 Jul	28–31 Aug	19–22 Apr Leicestershire	9–12 May	12–15 Sep Leicestershire	27–30 Jul		6–9 Jun	30 May – 2 Jun
Northamptonshire	6–9 Jun Derbyshire	7–10 Aug Essex	11–14 Sep Northamptonshire	19–22 Jul Northamptonshire	3–6 May Hampshire	22–25 May Kent	11–14 Jul		4–7 Sep
Yorkshire	28–31 Aug	11–14 Jul Yorkshire	15–18 Aug Yorkshire	7–10 Aug	11–14 Sep	12–15 Apr	3–6 May Yorkshire	19–22 Apr Yorkshire

Results in full

Complete match reports and scorecards for all fixtures in both divisions are available via the official ECB and ESPNcricinfo archives.

Division One

Click [show] to view all Division One match results
Date	Venue	Result
5–8 April	The Oval, London	Surrey (264 & 273) beat Sussex (196 & 255) by 86 runs.
5–8 April	Trent Bridge, Nottingham	Nottinghamshire (118 & 403) beat Worcestershire (130 & 299) by 92 runs.
12–15 April	Lord's, London	Middlesex (256 & 106) beat Surrey (222 & 137) by 3 runs.
12–15 April	Edgbaston, Birmingham	Warwickshire (243 & 262/8) beat Somerset (147 & 354) by 2 wickets.
12–15 April	Riverside Ground, Chester-le-Street	Nottinghamshire (161 & 335) beat Durham (129 & 253) by 114 runs.
12–15 April	Aigburth, Liverpool	Sussex (300 & 4/0) beat Lancashire (124 & 176) by 10 wickets.
2–5 May	Old Trafford, Manchester	Nottinghamshire (385 & 143/3d) beat Lancashire (190 & 153) by 185 runs.
23–26 May	The Oval, London	Surrey (457) beat Nottinghamshire (164 & 246) by an innings and 47 runs.
15–18 August	Edgbaston, Birmingham	Warwickshire (471/8d) beat Lancashire (179 & 189) by an innings and 103 runs.
11–14 September	Edgbaston, Birmingham	Warwickshire (420) beat Worcestershire (134 & 84) by an innings and 202 runs to clinch the title.

Division Two

Click [show] to view all Division Two match results
Date	Venue	Result
5–8 April	Derby	Derbyshire (244 & 123/2) drew with Yorkshire (228).
12–15 April	Grace Road, Leicester	Leicestershire (295 & 232/6d) drew with Hampshire (202 & 23/1).
19–22 April	Headingley, Leeds	Yorkshire (403/9d) beat Northamptonshire (115 & 178) by an innings and 110 runs.
2–5 May	SWALEC Stadium, Cardiff	Hampshire (400) beat Glamorgan (148 & 249) by an innings and 3 runs.
30 May – 2 June	St Lawrence Ground, Canterbury	Kent (489) beat Glamorgan (207 & 188) by an innings and 94 runs.
11–14 September	Derby	Derbyshire (275 & 197/4) beat Hampshire (272 & 198) by 6 wickets to clinch the Division Two title.
11–14 September	Chelmsford	Essex (437/9d) beat Kent (226 & 202) by 9 wickets.

Statistics

Division One

Individual performances in Division One were led by Somerset's Nick Compton and Durham's Graham Onions.

Most runs

Player	Team	Mat	Inns	Runs	Ave	100s	50s
England Nick Compton	Somerset	11	18	1,191	99.25	5	2
England Varun Chopra	Warwickshire	15	23	1,012	53.26	3	3
England James Taylor	Nottinghamshire	13	22	915	50.83	2	4
Australia Phil Hughes	Worcestershire	9	17	902	60.13	3	3
England Chris Read	Nottinghamshire	15	21	891	49.50	3	3

Most wickets

Player	Team	Mat	Wkts	Ave	BBI	5w
England Graham Onions	Durham	11	64	14.98	9/67	6
England Chris Wright	Warwickshire	15	62	24.32	5/52	3
England Keith Barker	Warwickshire	14	56	20.91	5/45	2
England Steve Magoffin	Sussex	11	51	18.52	8/20	3
England Toby Roland-Jones	Middlesex	11	48	21.08	5/44	4

Division Two

Statistics for Division Two highlight the leading performances from the second tier, including David Balcombe's 64 wickets.

Most runs

Player	Team	Mat	Inns	Runs	Ave	100s	50s
England Jimmy Adams	Hampshire	15	24	987	47.00	2	5
England Joe Root	Yorkshire	15	22	937	46.85	1	6
England Wayne Madsen	Derbyshire	16	24	905	43.09	1	5
England James Foster	Essex	15	20	885	59.00	2	4
England Brendan Nash	Kent	10	16	872	72.66	3	4

Most wickets

Player	Team	Mat	Wkts	Ave	BBI	5w
England David Balcombe	Hampshire	13	64	20.31	8/71	4
Sri Lanka Chaminda Vaas	Northamptonshire	15	52	20.94	5/41	2
England Matt Coles	Kent	14	52	23.36	6/44	2
England Mark Footitt	Derbyshire	11	46	19.34	6/56	2
England Charlie Shreck	Kent	16	46	29.58	4/44	0

Awards

The following individual awards were presented at the conclusion of the 2012 season, recognizing the leading performers in the County Championship and domestic cricket.

Award	Winner	Team	Achievement
PCA Player of the Year	England Nick Compton	Somerset	Scored 1,191 runs at an average of 99.25 in Division One.
PCA Young Player of the Year	England Joe Root	Yorkshire	Scored 937 runs in Division Two and helped secure promotion.
Cricket Writers' Club County Championship Player of the Year	England Nick Compton	Somerset	Voted the best player specifically within the four-day format.
Cricket Writers' Club Young Cricketer of the Year	England Joe Root	Yorkshire	Recognized as the most promising young talent in English domestic cricket.