The Cricketer picks the team of the season from the LV= Insurance County Championship Division Two
Haseeb Hameed (Nottinghamshire)
(14 matches, 1,235 runs, batting average 58.80, four centuries, seven fifties)
After a troubling Ashes series in Australia, it was heartening to see the ever-popular Notts batter rediscover his best form with a career-best first-class season. The leading opening batter in the country hit four centuries across the season to help Nottinghamshire return to Division One.
Mark Stoneman (Middlesex)
(14 matches, 1,025 runs, batting average 48.80, three centuries, four fifties)
Out-scored by teammate John Simpson, but there is no doubting the importance of Stoneman's runs in English cricket's problem position. This was the sixth time Stoneman had brought up four figures during a first-class season but the first since he dropped out of the England Test team, underpinning Middlesex's promotion.
Sam Northeast (Glamorgan)
(14 matches, 1,189 runs, batting average 59.45, two centuries, five fifties)
Northeast made the highest County Championship score for 127 years when he roared to 410 not out against Leicestershire in July, and the best in first-class cricket in the 21st century. It came during a memorable middle of the summer for the former Kent and Hampshire man, who a week earlier had gone to three figures against Notts having gone past 3,000 T20 runs in June.
Sam Northeast broke all kinds of records in July (Ryan Hiscott/Getty Images)
Wayne Madsen (Derbyshire)
(14 matches, 1,273 runs, batting average 60.61, three centuries, 10 fifties)
The highest run-scorer in the Championship. Madsen was unerringly consistent, reaching 13 milestone scores from the 20 innings in which he recorded a run. A 38-year-old whose hunger shows little sign of fading (this was his best first-class return over a season since 2016), he registered hundreds in both games against Sussex and in the visit of Glamorgan to help keep Derbyshire's faint promotion hopes alive.
Cheteshwar Pujara (Sussex)
(8 matches, 1,094 runs, batting average 109.40, five centuries)
Just eight games were enough for the India batter to go past 1,000 runs for the season, thanks to his five centuries. Pujara signalled his intent with a double ton on debut against Derbyshire, putting on 351 with Tom Haines for the third wicket. He plundered a second against Durham and completed his hat-trick against Middlesex. His average of 109.40 was the best of anyone in Division Two to play more than two innings.
Anuj Dal (Derbyshire)
(13 matches, 957 runs, batting average 73.61, three centuries, five fifties, 34 wickets, bowling average 29.88, one five-for)
Appointed PCA vice chair in February 2021, Dal is as important on the field for Derbyshire as he is off it. In the top 12 for runs and wickets in Division Two, he was the driving force behind the Mickey Arthur revolution. There can be no doubting the outstanding moment of his summer, a first-innings 55, backed up by an unbeaten 112, was capped by a maiden five-for to help beat Worcestershire at New Road.
Anuj Dal starred with bat and ball (Alex Davidson/Getty Images)
Brooke Guest (Derbyshire)
(14 matches, 923 runs, batting average 38.45, four centuries, two fifties, 52 dismissals)
Only Chris Cooke finished the Division Two season with more dismissals than Guest, who did justice to Arthur's insistence Derbyshire would cope with a single senior wicketkeeper. The 25-year-old very nearly scored twice as many first-class runs this season as in his whole career. He added four tons to his maiden hundred against Essex last season and was a staple of the top three.
Liam Patterson-White (Nottinghamshire)
(11 matches, 41 wickets, bowling average 27.95, two five-fors)
The leading spinner in the second tier, with 41 wickets for the title winners. Patterson-White hit the ground running with eight scalps in the season opener against Sussex including one of two five-fors in the first innings. Notts' first choice red-ball spinner since Samit Patel stepped away, he is revelling in the responsibility.
Toby Roland-Jones (Middlesex)
(13 matches, 67 wickets, bowling average 18.80, four five-fors, one 10-for)
September's shoot-out for promotion went the way of Middlesex thanks in part to the performances of their 34-year-old seamer. Roland-Jones helped break down Glamorgan (two in four balls) and then Leicestershire (three in 15) to give the Lord's county the upper hand. The ex-England bowler was consistent throughout the campaign, the top wicket-taker in the Championship, and picked up a fifth career five-for against Durham in May.
Matthew Potts bowled his way into England's Test plans (Gareth Copley/Getty Images)
Matthew Potts (Durham)
(10 matches, 58 wickets, bowling average 17.87, six five-fors, two 10-fors)
Thirty-five wickets in the opening six rounds of the County Championship forced England's hand, leading to the Durham quick debuting in the New Zealand series. Potts is now a central part of Brendon McCullum's squad and it is nothing less than the 23-year-old deserves. He ended the campaign, after only one South Africa Test, as he began it with a career-best 13 for 101 against Leicestershire while taking 24 in the final three games.
Dane Paterson (Nottinghamshire)
(12 matches, 56 wickets, bowling average 22.35, two five-fors, one 10-for)
Only Roland-Jones and Potts picked up more Division Two wickets than Paterson. But the South African didn't rip through line-ups, only collecting two five-fors and a single 10-wicket haul. That latter performance came virtue of a first-innings 8 for 52 against Worcestershire. Positioned at first change behind Luke Fletcher, Stuart Broad or James Pattinson, Paterson had a handy knack for picking up wickets whatever the circumstances.
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