County Championship ins and outs: Division Two

The County Championship is back, here are the moves each county have made during the off-season, along with our predictions of where each team will be placed come the end of the summer...

Derbyshire

2017 finish: 8th in Division Two

Captain: Billy Godleman

Cricket adviser: Kim Barnett

In: Ravi Rampaul (Surrey), James Kettleborough

Out: Shiv Thakor, Tom Milnes, Ben Cotton, Tom Taylor (Leicestershire), Greg Cork, Tom Wood, Rob Hemmings

Overseas: Duanne Olivier (SA, CC and RLC)

The Cricketer prediction: 7th

Durham

2017 finish: 9th in Division Two

Captain: Paul Collingwood 

Coach: Jon Lewis 

In: Will Smith (Hampshire), Nathan Rimmington

Out:  Keaton Jennings, Graham Onions (both Lancashire), Paul Coughlin (Nottinghamshire), Adam Hickey, Usman Arshad

Overseas: Aiden Markram (SA, first four Championship games), Tom Latham (NZ)

*Jack Burnham is disqualified for the 2018 season

The Cricketer prediction: 5th

^{South Africa's Duanne Olivier has taken 17 Test wickets at 23.11}

Glamorgan

2017 finish: 7th in Division Two

Captain: Michael Hogan 

Coach: Robert Croft   

In: None

Out: Jacques Rudolph (retired), Will Bragg (retired)

Overseas: Shaun Marsh (Aus)

* Colin Ingram available for List A and T20 only

The Cricketer prediction: 10th

Gloucestershire

2017 finish: 6th in Division Two

Captain: Chris Dent

Coach: Richard Dawson

In: Ryan Higgins (Middlesex)

Out: Patrick Grieshaber, Brendon Gilmour

Overseas: Daniel Worrall (all matches until July 2); Michael Klinger (T20 only); Andrew Tye (T20 only)

*Jack Taylor suspended from bowling for 2018

The Cricketer prediction: 8th

^{Aiden Markram has scored four hundreds in his first 10 Tests}

Kent

2017 finish: 5th in Division Two

Captain: Sam Billings

Coach: Matt Walker

In: Ollie Robinson (youth), Heino Kuhn

Out: Sam Northeast (Hampshire), Matt Coles (Essex), Adam Ball, Hugh Bernard, Charlie Hartley

Overseas: Matt Henry (NZ, first half of season), Adam Milne (NZ, T20), Marcus Stoinis (Aus, T20)

The Cricketer prediction: 6th

Leicestershire

2017 finish: 10th in Div 2

Captain: Michael Carberry

Coach: Paul Nixon

In: Ateeq Javid (Warwickshire), Michael Carberry (Hampshire), Tom Taylor (Derbyshire)

Out: Clint McKay, Will Fazakerley (retired)

Overseas: Mohammad Abbas (Pak, first CC game, then mid‑June onwards), Sohail Khan (Pak, late April to mid-June)

The Cricketer prediction: 9th

^{Ishant Sharma will be available for Sussex's first five Championship fixtures}

Middlesex

2017 finish: 7th in Division One

Captain: Dawid Malan

Coach: Richard Scott

In: None

Out: Ryan Higgins (Gloucestershire)

Overseas: Hilton Cartwright (Aus)

The Cricketer prediction: 1st

Northamptonshire

2017 finish: 3rd in Division Two

Captain: Alex Wakely

Coach: David Ripley

In: Brett Hutton (Nottinghamshire), Luke Procter (Lancashire), Ricardo Vasconcelos

Out: David Murphy (retired), Azharullah

Overseas: Doug Bracewell (NZ, April–May), Rory Kleinveldt (SA, May–September), Seekkuge Prasanna (SL, T20)

The Cricketer prediction: 4th

Sussex

2017 finish: 4th in Division Two

Captain: Ben Brown

Coach: Jason Gillespie

Out: Steve Magoffin (Worcestershire), Chris Nash (Nottinghamshire)

Overseas: Ishant Sharma (April-May), Rashid Khan (T20)

*Tymal Mills available for T20 only

The Cricketer prediction: 3rd

Warwickshire

2017 finish: 8th in Division One

Captain: Jeetan Patel 

Coach: Jim Troughton

In: Will Rhodes (Yorkshire)

Out: Ateeq Javid (Leicestershire), William Porterfield

Overseas: Jeetan Patel (NZ), Colin de Grandhomme (NZ, T20)

The Cricketer prediction: 2nd