The Cricketer picks of the team of the season from LV= Insurance County Championship Division One
Keaton Jennings (Lancashire)
(11 matches, 1,233 runs, batting average 72.52, five centuries, two fifties)
Either side of leading Lancashire to two domestic white-ball finals, the left-hander compiled his best first-class season since 2016 - the only other campaign he has reached four figures. Owner of the highest individual knock in Division One (318 against Somerset) Jennings is again being spoken about as an England opener with Pakistan on the horizon.
Ben Compton (Kent)
(13 matches, 1,193 runs, batting average 54.22, four centuries, six fifties)
One of the stories of the season. Compton, the grandson of Denis, was cast aside by Nottinghamshire at the end of last term, joining Kent without a first-class hundred. By the end of April, he had three, adding a fourth against Northamptonshire in mid-May. Compton passed 1,000 red-ball runs in May for a County Select XI with 119 against New Zealand and played a major role in Kent's survival.
Tom Abell (Somerset)
(13 matches, 1,039 runs, batting average 51.95, five centuries, four fifties)
No batter in the top division reached three figures more times than Somerset's captain. It was a landmark campaign for Abell: he brought up four figures in a five-class season, a career-best 150* and averaged more than 50 for the first time all in the same summer. Signed off his Taunton season with hundreds in both innings against Northants.
Keaton Jennings starred across the formats for Lancs (Alex Pantling/Getty Images)
Sam Hain (Warwickshire)
(12 matches, 1,137 runs, batting average 63.16, three centuries, six fifties)
Another player who enjoyed a career-best first-class season. Hain looks every bit an England player of the future (perhaps that chance comes first in the 50-over game). Who knows what would have become of Warwickshire had it not been for Hain reaching 1,000 runs for the season? The highlight came in May when he added a century to a double ton against Northants. The highest-scoring player in the County Championship not to record a duck.
Harry Brook (Yorkshire)
(8 matches, 967 runs, batting average 107.44, three centuries, six fifties)
Ultimately, Brook's (blameless) absence beyond July may have played a major role in Yorkshire dropping into Division Two, but he could have done little more in the opening weeks of the season. He produced a remarkable hot streak - 101, 56*, 84, 77*, 194, 123, 41, 82*, 82, 76 - in his first 10 innings and forced England's hand for the New Zealand series. He finally made his Test debut against South Africa. With his place not yet secure, Championship outings should continue next term.
Ben Foakes (Surrey)
(9 matches, 586 runs, batting average 73.25, one century, three fifties, 45 dismissals)
Credit to Foakes for playing the majority of Surrey's Championship-winning campaign while attempting to nail down an England place. Opened the season with his one and only century while only James Bracey of Gloucestershire pulled off more dismissals, despite playing fewer games than many of his contemporaries.
Ben Compton's success was one of the stories of the season (David Rogers/Getty Images)
Keith Barker (Hampshire)
(14 matches, 595 runs, batting average 29.75, four fifties, 52 wickets, bowling average 22.38, three five-fors)
One of the players of the season even as Hants' wait for the title goes on. Barker got through more overs than any seamer, bar Oliver Hannon-Dalby and Sam Connors, in the County Championship and was a regular wicket-taker across the season. Consistent with his first-class career, Barker proved handy with the bat and narrowly fell short of 600 runs for the season for the first time since 2016, the season of his last hundred.
Jamie Overton (Surrey)
(10 matches, 355 runs, batting average 29.58, two fifties, 34 wickets, bowling average 25.64, two five-fors)
Injury probably denied him an extended run in England's Test team, but he force the issue with 19 wickets in the first four Championship matches of the season. Forty-nine boundaries in 15 innings with the bat (he struck 97 on Test debut against New Zealand) will keep Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum interested too, not least his ability to hit 90 mph.
Kyle Abbott (Hampshire)
(11 matches, 58 wickets, bowling average 19.98, four five-fors, one 10-for)
The South African quick passed 50 wickets for the season for the fourth time in five campaigns (he has 323 at 19.57 for Hants) to underpin his side's title push. Abbott finished with the best strike rate of any bowler to take more than 36 wickets and claimed a sixth first-class 10-for against Yorkshire to keep Hampshire's title hopes alive.
Ben Foakes combined his England and Surrey commitments across the summer (Ben Hoskins/Getty Images)
Sam Cook (Essex)
(11 matches, 51 wickets, bowling average 16.23, one five-for, one 10-for)
The definitive leader of the Essex seam battery attack earned comparisons with James Anderson during a campaign in which he collected a third 10-wicket haul against Kent. Indeed, he signed off with 25 wickets in September and while Essex were never in title contention following an uneven start to the campaign Cook was one of the positives to emerge from Chelmsford.
Simon Harmer (Essex)
(11 matches, 59 wickets, bowling average 20.67, seven five-fors, two 10-fors)
No team of the season is complete without the South African, who remained as influential as ever despite not being available for the whole campaign. He still topped the tree in Division One with 59 wickets, bringing his Essex first-class tally to 1,000 in July and his number of 10-wicket hauls to nine in 75 matches. He ends the season anythony but empty-handed.
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