County Championship Division One - Team of the Year

Chris Adams called it the greatest ever Championship, but it wasn't - it might have been the greatest ever finish, with the outcome in doubt until Dominic Cork lost his wicket and the chance to tell the story of How He Won The Title at thousands of after-dinner speaking engagements (so every cloud does indeed have that silver lining).

Notwithstanding the inexorable march of Twenty20 towards the promised land of global sporting riches, there was some excellent cricket played over the last five months in England fuelled, alas, primarily by overseas players and Kolpaks, to whom young English players should look for an example. Inevitably such players are well represented in the Trumpet's Team of the Year over the jump. 

1. Rob Key. Still only 28, he led his young Kent team well and formed an outstanding opening partnership with Joe Denly. With Tresco out of the picture and Strauss finding domestic cricket as difficult as the international game, England could do a lot worse than return to a man with a Test double-century to his name.

2. Michael Carberry. Have bat will travel opener who appears settled now at Hampshire under Warne's tutelage. Not yet 27, his package of reliable scoring and athletic fielding ought to be catching the selectors' eye, but I'm prepared to bet that he'll be ignored all winter.

3. Mark Ramprakash. Would he have the hunger after twenty years on the treadmill and a winter on the dance floor? 2026 runs at 101 answers that!

4. Chris Adams (Captain). Could he re-focus after his crazy few days at Yorkshire? He could. Ten seasons ago, his big money move South raised eyebrows - he was cheap at twice the price.

5. Murray Goodwin. Who scores more runs when most needed? And he has done it for years.

6. Nic Pothas. Probably the best combination on the circuit, but young Hodd at Sussex doesn't need to improve either discipline much to be the outstanding candidate for the gloves.

7. Robin Martin-Jenkins. The definition of the solid county pro. A slot that could have gone to Glen Chapple, who is probably a better player in all aspects of the game, but R M-J has three titles and Glen none.

8. Ottis Gibson. Player of the Year - 10 wickets in a innings, 80 at 21 in the season to go with over 500 runs.

9. Kabir Ali. A shining light in a nightmare season for Worcestershire. His figures don't tell the whole story of a man carrying an attack.

10. Naved-ul-Hasan. Consistency and penetration. Throw him the ball and you get 100% in return. The Trumpet wishes him a swift recovery from his late season injury.

11. Mustaq Ahmed. The best bowler in English cricket yet again.

What do Googlyers think?

[The Tooting Trumpet] [Image: Getty]