Three bottom places mean fewer reasons to be cheerful. Long before the trapdoors clanged shut, the coach John Emburey (while lamenting injuries and the pitches provided by MCC, Middlesex’s Lord’s landlord) admitted his team deserved it. That is no small feat considering a wise ex-Glamorgan captain tipped them to win the Championship and that a squad which began the season featuring one reserve Test batsman ended it with three – in addition to a groovy new Compton. In all cricket, only Somerset suffered more defeats; captain Ben Hutton’s shingles must have felt doubly unpleasant. It was no surprise when he quit soon afterwards. With Alan Richardson and Mel Betts crocked and only Chris Silverwood regularly marrying penetration to control, it would be easy to blame the bowlers. But it would be more just to bemoan a batting order featuring eight Championship centurions but just two specialists who improved their reputations: Ed Joyce and Nick Compton. Owais Shah (732 one-day runs, second only to Mal Loye) continued to make some wonder why England overlook him in the short game. It seemed symptomatic of a wider unease that, in the Championship, Jamie Dalrymple averaged 32 with bat and 39 with ball, then whizzed about for England like a turbocharged Fred Titmus.

Rob Steen The Wisden Cricketer