A panel of Wisden writers select a team of the standout red-ball performers this season.
1. Adam Lyth - Yorkshire
1,215 runs at 57.85, 5 hundreds, 5 fifties
The southpaw opener enjoyed his most prolific season for a decade, notching five centuries including 129 as part of a mammoth opening stand of 307 with Finlay Bean at Scarborough in June to set up an innings win over Gloucestershire which ignited their campaign. Lyth’s strike-rate of 64 was the highest of the six openers who passed 1,000 runs this year, his fluency setting the platform for Yorkshire to take five wins from their final seven games and clinch promotion.
2. Rory Burns (c) - Surrey
1,073 runs at 53.65, 3 hundreds, 5 fifties
Burns became the first captain to win three consecutive Championship titles since Brian Close in 1968, taking his overall tally as skipper to five in seven campaigns. He also produced his best season with the bat since being discarded by England, bouncing back from a century-less campaign in 2023 to top Surrey’s run-scoring charts and post a career-best 227 in the innings win over Lancashire at The Oval in August.
3. Dean Elgar - Essex
1,144 runs at 57.20, 4 hundreds, 5 fifties
Signed as a like-for-like replacement for Alastair Cook, Elgar slotted in seamlessly at Chelmsford, facing the third-most deliveries in Division One (behind Haseeb Hameed and Ben Compton) and finishing as the top tier’s second-highest run-scorer. Having signed a three-year deal in January, Essex will be delighted to have the 37-year-old back next summer.
4. David Bedingham - Durham
1,331 runs at 78.29, 6 hundreds, 3 fifties
Not since Rory Burns in 2018 has a batter amassed as many Division One runs in a campaign as Bedingham, and that despite the South African run-machine missing three matches due to injury. His numbers for Durham – averaging 58.05 across five seasons, with 16 hundreds from 55 matches – put him in the very top bracket of overseas signings in recent years and his six tons this year included a new club record of four in as many innings. The manner in which he made his runs only emphasised his dominance. Bedingham’s tally of 25 sixes was six clear of his nearest rival in the top tier, while his strike-rate of 78 was the highest of any player in either division to make 900 runs.
Read more: 'The old boy's still got it' - Inside Sussex's promotion-winning County Championship campaign
5. Jordan Cox - Essex
918 runs at 65.57, 4 hundreds, 2 fifties
After a lean 2023 against the red ball, Cox was rejuvenated by his move from Canterbury to Chelmsford and he forced his way into England’s Test squad for the tour of Pakistan with four blistering centuries, including a whirlwind 116 on his home debut against his former county and a double against Kent when he returned to St Lawrence in May. Sandwiched in-between was a magnificent match-winning effort against Warwickshire which demonstrated his growing adaptability.
6. Liam Dawson - Hampshire
956 runs at 59.75, 3 hundreds, 5 fifties; 54 wickets at 25.14, 5 five-fors, 1 ten-wicket match haul
Another vintage summer for the Hants all-rounder, who was the most prolific spinner in either division and scorer of three Championship hundreds for the second campaign in succession. He was subsequently named the PCA Men’s Player of the Year, becoming the first domestic cricketer to scoop the award since Joe Denly in 2018.
7. John Simpson (wk) - Sussex
1,197 runs at 74.81, 5 hundreds, 4 fifties; 42 catches, 2 stumpings
Installed as captain following his arrival from Middlesex, Simpson was the architect of Sussex’s successful promotion bid. The 36-year-old delivered the most prolific campaign of his career with the bat, taking his tally of first-class tons from 10 to 15, and was classy as ever behind the stumps, with only Gloucestershire’s James Bracey effecting more dismissals in the second tier.
Watch: England international denied first-over hat-trick as slip fielder drops sitter
8. Jordan Clark - Surrey
38 wickets at 25.97, 1 five-for; 467 runs at 33.35, 1 hundred, 2 fifties
Surrey’s talisman makes our team for the third successive season after playing an instrumental role in his team’s title defence. Clark has become one of the first names on the teamsheet at The Oval, missing just four matches across the last three seasons, and he proved the perfect new-ball foil for Dan Worrall while offering vital, and often rapid, runs from the lower-order. His century from No.9 in the late-April victory over eventual runners-up Hants proved crucial.
9. Jack Carson - Sussex
50 wickets at 22.46, 3 five-fors, 1 ten-wicket match haul; 458 runs at 25.44, 3 fifties
The emerging offie became the first spinner to take 50 wickets in Division Two since Jeetan Patel in 2018 and he produced one of the best all-round performances of the campaign when Sussex thumped Derbyshire at Hove in September, taking 11 wickets in the match and making a career-best 97. An aggressive bowler who gives it a rip, Carson is firmly on England’s radar.
10. Dan Worrall - Surrey
52 wickets at 16.15, 2 five-fors, 1 ten-wicket match haul; 93 runs at 15.50
The Aussie seamer with England Test ambitions (he qualifies to play for his adopted nation in April) was supreme throughout the summer, consistently dismissing the best players and boasting the best average of any bowler in the top tier. At 33, he is only getting better, and Rob Key recently acknowledged: “You can’t not notice Dan Worrall.”
11. Ben Coad - Yorkshire
56 wickets at 15.80, 3 five-fors; 119 runs at 14.87
The metronomic seamer was miserly and prolific in equal measure. Coad’s economy of 2.64 was the best of any bowler in Division Two and he raised his game when the campaign reached crunch time, taking 28 wickets in the final five matches of the season as Yorkshire snuck past Middlesex to seal their return to the top tier. His outstanding career record – 302 first-class wickets at an average of 19.43 – deserves more recognition.
Selection panel: Ben Gardner, Jo Harman, Yas Rana, Dan Senior, Phil Walker, Katya Witney
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