How it works and who to watch – a team by team guide to the 2021 County Championship

Nottinghamshire
Last championship win 2010 (6th title)
Captain Steven Mullaney
Coach Peter Moores
Overseas Dane Paterson
Verdict Notts have not won a red-ball match since June 2018 so the only way is up. Haseeb Hameed has been made vice-captain and this is a crucial year for the young batsman alongside Joe Clarke and Ben Duckett, who have been worryingly short of runs in the past couple of years. The seam attack has firepower – watch out for Tom Barber who once clocked 97mph in the Loughborough nets

Warwickshire
Last championship win 2012 (7th title)
Captain Will Rhodes
Coach Mark Robinson
Overseas Pieter Malan
Verdict After the retirements of Ian Bell, Tim Ambrose and Jeetan Patel, this might be a bit of a rebuilding year for Warwickshire. There is plenty of young talent in the batting department but they need some consistency. The additions of Tim Bresnan and Danny Briggs to the bowling department bring some experience

Worcestershire
Last championship win 1989 (5th title)
Captain Joe Leach
Coach Alex Gidman
Overseas Alzarri Joseph
Verdict Missing two of their young bowling talents Josh Tongue and Pat Brown at the start of the season but still have a strong seam attack (look out for Dillon Pennington). They are without a high-quality spinner after Keshav Maharaj pulled out of a deal with the county. Batting has been boosted by the signing of Gareth Roderick from Gloucestershire and Jake Libby scored almost 500 runs in the Bob Willis Trophy last year

Group Two
Gloucestershire
Last championship win Gloucestershire have never won the championship — most recent runners-up finish was in 1986
Captain Chris Dent
Coach Ian Harvey
Overseas Kraigg Brathwaite, Daniel Worrall
Verdict Gloucestershire secured promotion from Division Two at the end of 2019 and although not a team full of big names, are often greater than the sum of their parts. Brathwaite is a significant signing and James Bracey is a prodigious talent at the top of the order with an international future ahead. The all-rounder Ryan Higgins will have a huge role to play

Hampshire
Last championship win 1973 (2nd title)
Captain James Vince
Coach Adrian Birrell
Overseas Kyle Abbott, Mohammad Abbas
Verdict Abbott and Abbas bring real quality to a strong seam attack. Vince, Sam Northeast and Joe Weatherley will be key in the batting department. With no England call-ups expected — and if they can stay more injury-free than last year — Hampshire will be strong contenders to get into Division One

Leicestershire
Last championship win 1998 (3rd title)
Captain Colin Ackermann
Coach Paul Nixon
Overseas Marcus Harris
Verdict Having finished bottom of the pack in 2019, Leicestershire have been rebuilding their squad and have made a smart signing in Marcus Harris who will boost the batting. The seam attack is inconsistent and the spinner Ackermann will need to bowl a lot of overs. The left-handed opener Hassan Azad is one to keep an eye on

Middlesex
Last Championship win 2016 (11th title)
Captain Peter Handscomb
Coach Stuart Law
Overseas Handscomb
Verdict Since winning the title in 2016, Middlesex have been perennial underachievers. They should be in a strong position to compete this year largely because of their varied seam attack which includes Steven Finn, Toby Roland-Jones and Tim Murtagh. Middlesex’s top order is strong but needs consistency from Sam Robson, Steve Eskinazi and Nick Gubbins. Look out for the young seam bowler Ethan Bamber

Somerset
Last championship win Somerset have never won the championship — most recent runners-up finish was in 2019
Captain Tom Abell
Coach Jason Kerr
Overseas Marchant de Lange
Verdict Will this finally be Somerset’s year? They should be very competitive with a balanced squad that includes supremely talented young players such as Tom Lammonby, George Bartlett and Tom Banton mixed with the experience of James Hildreth and Steven Davies. Despite the loss of Jamie Overton to Surrey, the seam attack looks strong. Keep an eye out for Lewis Goldsworthy, 20, who will step into the spin-bowling role when Jack Leach is on England duty

Surrey
Last championship win 2018 (19th title)
Captain Rory Burns
Coach Vikram Solanki
Overseas Hashim Amla, Kemar Roach
Verdict Since winning the championship in 2018, Surrey have won three of their past 19 red-ball matches. They are the county hit most by England call-ups but even without their international players look very strong and are certain to be in the mix. Hashim Amla is a high-calibre overseas player. Look out for young batting talent in Jamie Smith and Will Jacks, and Dan Moriarty in the spin-bowling department

Group Three
Glamorgan
Last championship win 1997 (3rd title)
Captain Chris Cooke
Coach Matthew Maynard
Overseas Andy Balbirnie, Marnus Labuschange, Michael Neser
Verdict Glamorgan narrowly missed out on promotion in 2019 when Labuschagne was dominant in the early part of the season, earning him an Ashes call-up, but they did not win a first-class match in 2020 and this year their success will hinge on how much of their Australian overseas players they see. Neser is a good addition for early-season conditions. There is some talent in the squad but it looks thin and they are in a tough group

Kent
Last championship win 1978 (6th title)
Captain Sam Billings
Coach Matt Walker
Overseas Miguel Cummins, Heino Kuhn
Verdict Kent are building up a balanced squad who will be targeting a top-two finish in the group. Joe Denly will be available for all matches after falling out of the England team and they have a strong seam attack, which includes the evergreen Darren Stevens entering his 25th season. Keep an eye on young seam bowler Nathan Gilchrist, whom Kent managed to entice away from Somerset

Lancashire
Last championship win 2011 (8th title)
Captain Dane Vilas
Coach Glen Chapple
Overseas Vilas, Jackson Bird
Verdict A balanced squad who will be competitive albeit in a strong group. They will be fighting it out with Yorkshire and Kent for a top-two spot in the group. A good crop of seam bowlers in Saqib Mahmood, Richard Gleeson and Toby Bailey will play an important role early season. Look out for the young spinner Jack Morley

Northamptonshire
Last championship win Northamptonshire have never won the championship — most recent runners-up finish was in 1976
Captain Adam Rossington
Coach David Ripley
Overseas Wayne Parnell
Verdict Earned promotion from Division Two in 2019, putting to bed criticism that the county had given up on red-ball cricket. This season will be challenging for them in a tough group. They are lacking in big names but there is plenty of talent. The seam bowler Tom Taylor who joined from Leicestershire has real potential and spinner Simon Kerrigan returned to first-class cricket last year and will lead the spin attack. They may be hampered by a lack of strength in depth.

England captain Root will be available for the start of the red-ball season

Sussex
Last championship win 2007 (3rd title)
Captain Ben Brown
Coach Ian Salisbury
Overseas Travis Head, Stiaan van Zyl
Verdict Sussex’s four-day cricket has been nothing to write home about for the past few years but there is a new coaching team in place and they have a good seam attack — keep an eye on George Garton, the left-arm pace bowler, who if he can stay fit will be a handful. Stuart Meaker will boost the seam bowling and there are some young guns who could have a breakthrough season: Tom Clarke, Tom Haines and the spinner Jack Carson.

Yorkshire
Last championship win 2015 (32nd title)
Captain Steven Patterson
Coach Andrew Gale
Overseas Duanne Olivier, Matthew Pillans
Verdict On paper a strong squad and they were unbeaten in the truncated season of 2020. Boosted by Joe Root’s early-season availability, they will be looking to their strong seam attack to give them some wins. Look out for Jordan Thompson, the young homegrown all- rounder who averaged 47 with the bat last season. Should be very competitive in this group if the top order can find some more consistency with the bat

How Championship works

● Three conferences of six teams each, selected on basis of their standing at the end of the 2019 season. They play each other home and away for a total of ten matches.
● Top two counties in each conference progress into division one; third and fourth into division two; fifth and six into division three. They will play a further four matches each in the divisional stage. They will not play the team they have already played in the group stages and will carry over half the points they secured from the two matches they played against that team in the group stage.
● The division stage will take place throughout September in what is being named “Super September” and the winners of Division One will be crowned county champions. The top two teams in Division One will then play in the standalone Bob Willis Trophy final at Lord’s on September 27.